'Rocky Mountain high' trip enjoyed by Hi-Line seniors
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By Steve Edwards
BCJ News
Reporter's note: Forty-six seniors from along the Hi-Line recently completed a seven day, six night motorcoach trip to Colorado Springs. My wife and I organized and were group leaders for the trip. Since coming to Chinook I've wanted to put together such a trip and the experience was a lot of fun for us, and I hope for the other 44 travelers who made the trip with us.
Coordinated through the senior centers along the Hi-Line, we had 27 passengers from Blaine County, the rest from Fort Peck to Chester and as far south as Polson and Great Falls. We used a 'canned' tour which required a minimum of 30 people for a trip to happen. We started promoting the trip in January and quickly realized we would have to have a bigger pool to draw from than just Blaine County to make the numbers work and assure a trip. A side benefit of including more senior centers was we all got to meet a lot of new people and that was part of the fun.
In limited space it would be difficult to write about all the places we visited and things we saw and experienced. I've decided to share some of the highlights of the trip and some observations about Colorado, generally, and specifically about Colorado Springs and its environs. We spent four days in the Colorado Springs area so got a pretty good feel for the area, at least the most popular tourist spots.
The trip began and ended at the senior centers in Chinook and Harlem
Although we had passengers from all along the Hi-Line and beyond, our loading points were at the Chinook Senior Center and then in Harlem. We used the Presbyterian Church in Harlem because of some parking challenges at the senior center. By 9am on the first day of the trip we had the bus loaded and were on our way to the first overnight stop in Sheridan, Wyoming. The trip to Sheridan was uneventful, though we noted with some envy that things were a bit greener down in that part of the country.
The tour company (Diamond Tours in Fort Myers, Florida) subcontracts their transportation and our bus came from Bismarck, North Dakota (from Harlow Bus Line). The driver was a native of Brooklyn, New York, who had lived all over the country. He was a real delight with a keen sense of humor and a gentle nature. He had family in Colorado Springs and his knowledge of the city was invaluable to avoid traffic jams in the second largest city in the state.
The end of the second day, after roughly a 500 mile drive, we arrived in Colorado Springs. The 'metroplex' is nearly continuous between the two cities, but they are only 40 miles distant. Colorado Springs has a much more 'outdoorsy' feel than Denver. The Springs has a highly developed park and trails system and is home to many sports organizations connected to the Olympics. The United State Olympic Committee is located downtown.
It's difficult to define the population of the Springs and the number depends on how much of the outlying area is included. Most say "the area of Colorado Springs" has about 700,000 residents, and unlike Denver which is surrounded by incorporated suburbs, the Springs still has room to build.
Colorado is one of only a few states with legalized marijuana. Unlike Washington state, where the pitch to buy marijuana is a bit in your face, an occasional sign advertises weed for sale, but it's subtle. Still, marijuana sales run about a billion dollars a year, netting $200 million dollars to the state in revenues.
Colorado generally, and Colorado Springs specifically, is heavily dependent on tourism. Out tour hit the major attractions around Colorado Springs which draws six million visitors a year, with the Grand Canyon a close second at 5.9 million. Within the Springs area, top attractions include the Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak and the Royal Gorge.
Our first day in the springs we had a 'step on guide'-a professional guide, set up through the tour company, who got on the bus with us, directed the driver where to go and then explained what we were seeing. She said in addition to tourism, Colorado Springs is sometimes referred to as "Silicon Mountain" (a reference to Silicon Valley) because of the number of high tech companies based and operating in the area. There are also a number of military installations, like the Air Force Academy, NORAD inside Cheyenne Mountain, Fort Carson and Patterson Air Force Base. There is virtually no manufacturing sector in the Springs.
The first stop was the Glen Eyrie Castle, an English Tudor-style castle built in 1871 by Jackson Palmer. Palmer was a Union general during the Civil War and later a railroad developer and land baron. He is credited with founding Colorado Springs. The castle is part tourist attraction and part conference center. It's now owned by the Navigators, an evangelical Christian group with outreach around the world and especially on college campuses. Billy Graham once considered buying the old castle to house the Billy Graham Crusade organization.
For lunch and some shopping, we went to Old Colorado City. It was the first territorial capital and many historic buildings make up the area. It's a bit of an upscale area for dining, shopping and dotted with art galleries. There are no chain food outlets, part of the draw. My wife and I had lunch at a Cuban/Mediterranean art gallery/café operated by a native of the Springs and of Mexican descent. You can't much more cosmopolitan than that.
The restaurant owner said, "We do get locals for lunch as they are trying to avoid the panhandlers and homeless people downtown." Colorado Springs seems to attract a lot of homeless people and drifters. Nearly every freeway exit ramp and stops on major streets had someone with a sign asking for money, never for work, I noticed. There must be a strict seniority system for the best corners to beg as the same people were always in the same place.
After lunch we headed to the Air Force Academy, a short drive north of the Springs. The only area open to the public is the chapel, a soaring building of stained glass and steel with a great deal of symbolism used from the structure to the furnishings. The first class of cadets began their training at a nearby Air Force base and moved to the new 18,000 acre site in 1958. One factoid I'd never heard, a search committee charged to find a location for the new academy, looked at 582 possible locations for the academy, narrowed the choice to three, then chose Colorado Springs.
The chapel was four years in the planning stage and was completed a few years after the main campus was in use. It's the only facility, outside a visitors' center, open to the public. At the time the chapel was built, Sunday church attendance was compulsory. Planners polled the student body, then and still averaging about 4000 cadets, to gauge the religious preferences of the cadets at the time. Three chapels were built initially-a 1200 seat worship area for Protestants, a smaller Catholic chapel below the main floor and a small Jewish worship area. Later worship centers for Buddhists and Muslims were added. The chapel will be closed for three to four years, starting in 2018, for major repairs. Biggest problem as a chaplain/officer noted, "it leaks like sieve."
The tour members were on their own for lunch each day, breakfast was served at the hotel where we stayed. Each night we would have a dinner covered by our tour fee, but at some location away from the hotel. One night we went to a large conference center, hooked up with another Diamond Tour group from Chicago, and enjoyed a buffet dinner and a "Las Vegas-style" show. The folks from Chicago were all Asians. It was fun to see a bunch of Montana country folks interacting with hardcore urbanites from a different culture-an unusual experience and part of what makes travel a great adventure.
The big three of tourism in Colorado Springs: Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods and the Royal Gorge
During our stay we visited the three biggest tourist draws in the Springs. My favorite was Manitou Springs-an historic district located at the foot of Pikes Peak. Manitou Springs, as well as much of Colorado Springs, got its start as a draw for people suffering from tuberculosis. From the late 1800's to just after World War II, the area was a mecca for people seeking relief from the symptoms of TB-of which there was no cure until antibiotics were available in the late 1940's.
Manitou Springs has a number of mineral springs, most available to the public at no charge. At several locations there are 'fill stations' along the city sidewalks. In 1989 a three story bottling works was built and produced 20,000 bottles a day. The water was promoted as "the best table water in the country" and enjoyed widespread acceptance at upscale restaurants and health resorts around the world. The bottling works still stands but stopped operating in the mid-1970's.
In addition to the mineral springs, the clear mountain air and 300 days of annual sunshine also helped drive the health-based economy. Small huts, no longer needed after the cure for tuberculosis, housed 'lungers' who came to the area for relief. The 'TB huts' were spartan affairs with only minimal furniture and plenty of ventilation, often located on the grounds of a larger sanitarium. Few of the huts still remain as curiosities of a deadly era.
Our next stop, the Garden of the Gods, a 1300 acre city park owned by Colorado Springs, is a must see. The red, sandstone formations are evidence of a time when the earth heaved and shook. We had another step on guide to tell us about the Garden of the Gods as we drove through it. Unfortunately, in my opinion, she was a former teacher who thought she was still explaining things to preschoolers. Not one of my favorite parts of the trip but the park was awesome.
Number three on the big three list, the Royal Gorge, owned by Canon City, is about an hour's drive out of Colorado Springs. In 1929 the world's highest suspension bridge was built across the Arkansas River, which runs through the bottom of the gorge. In 2013 a wildfire jumped the gorge and burned virtually all the developed parts of the attraction, sparing only the bridge. Much has been rebuilt but it will take decades for some of the facilities to be replaced and probably a century for the vegetation in the high desert region to regrow. Now only service vehicles can drive across the bridge, but the bridge is open to pedestrians.
One highlight of our visit to the Gorge was a rainstorm...it felt great to get wet from rain. Several of our seniors did a zip line across the 1200 foot gorge with the river below. Of the zip line experience, Jack Siemens from Harlem said, "Doing a zip line was one of the things on my bucket list." Ralph Snider, from Turner and master of the understatement, did the zip line with Jack. Ralph said, "It was okay."
Because many of us wanted to see Harlem-native Bob Ragsdale's exhibit after his recent induction to the PRCA Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, we asked the bus driver if he could arrange a quick stop at the PRCA headquarters. Ragsdale attended school with several people on the tour. The Hall of Fame is one of those places you could spend all day and not see it all, but it was great to see Bob's memorabilia displayed among other rodeo greats. And it was special to know he was a neighbor who reached the pinnacle for professional cowboys.
We left Colorado Springs and after two days on the road, with an overnight stop in Sheridan, we were back home. Travel is fun but there's also something special about coming back home, no matter how much fun you had or what great adventures you enjoyed.
I can't speak for everyone on the trip, but on our Rocky Mountain trip each traveler seemed to have their favorite thing-whether feasting on a large buffet, screaming down a zip line, looking at a friend's exhibit in the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame or simply enjoying the scenery from the bus window.
Back home I was thinking, "Why would 46 people travel 800+ miles to spend four days in a new place?" In a motel in Great Falls I once saw a quote that explained a lot about our urge to see new places and do new things. It read: "We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us." I'm already thinking about where I'd like to take a group next time...for life not to escape me or them.
