Will Rogers Shrine of the Son

Posted on April 8, 2017 by Roger

Spencer Penrose made millions in mining. He invested in the Colorado Springs area — the Broadmoor Resort was his most notable achievement. He sponsored the first race up Pikes Peak, and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is his creation.

He also built a tower on the side of Cheyenne Mountain and named it for his friend, Will Rogers, who died in a plane crash in 1935 while the tower was being built. It’s called the Shrine of the Sun because, for a few seconds every morning, the sun catches it just as it rises in the east and lights it up in a spectacular way.

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Our admission to the zoo gained us access to the tower. We were let in through the front gate of the zoo itself and drove through the crowd, hazards flashing, at five mph. The road then curled up the side of the mountain for a mile or so to a parking lot by the tower.

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We climbed to the top, stopping at little rooms along the way. The first floor room had a mural of local history.

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The rest of the rooms had photos of Will Rogers arranged in no particular order.

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The stairway was crowded, but everyone else cleared out shortly after we got up top. The views were spectacular.

Pikes Peak

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Looking north along the Rampart Range. Pikes Peak is on the left. Garden of the Gods is in the hazy distance on the right. The road up to the tower can be seen in the foreground.

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The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

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The Broadmoor Resort

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Downtown Colorado Springs

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Spencer Penrose is buried in a chapel in the bottom of the tower. There’s a little exhibit about him in a building in the parking lot.

We’d probably skip the sky ride on future visits to the zoo, but I would definitely climb the tower again.

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Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Posted on April 8, 2017 by Roger

Colorado Springs’ zoo was recently named the sixth-best zoo in the country. It’s also the only one situated on the side of a mountain. We spent much of the day there, and saw everything there is to see.

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We began with the giraffes. They have one of the largest herds in any zoo. There’s a walkway around the outside of the yard. For $3, we purchased six leaves of lettuce to feed them.

While my wife bought the food, I watched two of the giraffes doing … whatever this is.

 

The Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun (next post) can be seen on Cheyenne Mountain in the background.

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My wife did most of the feeding. It was hard to get a photo because they were quick with their tongues. I kept one last piece, split it in two, and took this shot.

 

I think this was the most entertaining day I’ve ever had at a zoo. Several of the animals were very entertaining.

Two of the lions were sparring over a giant barrel in their enclosure until one of them stood it upright and struck this pose.

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One of the orangutans stuck a bunch of straw on top of its head and then sat right next to the glass, playing with pickles.

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It wasn’t just the animals that were entertaining. Our fellow zoo visitors were an assortment of characters. This woman, for instance. She sat for several minutes rubbing the back of a gorilla. Except she wasn’t — she was rubbing the outermost of three panes of thick glass that separated her from the gorilla. There’s no way the animal could have felt anything, and was probably unaware of her presence. But she sat there rubbing away as though they were best friends.

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Other animals just chilled in the sun.

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Have you ever considered that a zoo could totally get away with having 75% of its animals be stuffed. Who would know?

And then there were the views.

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Note the lion at the bottom of the photo.

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We paid an extra $7.50 to take the sky ride up the mountain and back. There wasn’t much to see at the top except a snack stand, a playground, and the view.

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We’re not real big on zoos, but we both agreed this one was worth a return visit sometime.

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Uncle Sam’s Pancake House

Posted on April 8, 2017 by Roger

We drove by this restaurant a while back, and I thought it looked interesting. I looked it up online and saw that it got good reviews. I also discovered that it was decorated with Uncle Sams!

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I ordered bacon, eggs and hash browns, with pancakes. The bacon and hash browns were good. The eggs were fine, but tiny. The pancakes were boring — odd for a pancake house.

Our waitress was a hoot. Her  name was Samantha (Sammy) Joe, “from Texas.” And there were a lot of Uncle Sams.

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We probably won’t make a special effort to return, but if we’re in Manitou Springs in need of breakfast, we’d go here again.

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Money Museum

Posted on April 1, 2017 by Roger

I used to collect coins. (At one time or another, I’ve collected just about everything.) I’ve retained enough knowledge and interest to make me want to visit the Money Museum of the American Numismatic Association.

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There were four exhibit areas. The first was a temporary exhibit featuring commemorative coins and medallions from the Olympics.

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Torches used to light the Olympic flame in different years.

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There was an exhibit on gold mining and assaying in Colorado. This giant scale was built for the Denver Mint in 1910 and was used to weigh gold bars.

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Coin scales

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This has very little to do with money, but I thought it was cool.

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Another room contained a collection of U.S. gold coins and other interesting early U.S. coins.

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The most interesting part of the museum was the history of money exhibit in the basement.

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A $5 Federal Reserve Bank note from 1907 showing Andrew Jackson and a pioneer family, and a $5 Silver Certificate from 1896 showing electricity as the world’s dominant force.

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Hobo nickels — Buffalo” nickels from 1913 to 1938 that were carved during the Great Depression. Hobos would trade them for a meal, clothing, or a place to sleep.

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When banks shut down during the Great Depression, businesses and towns printed “money” so they could operate during the “bank holiday.” The large white one in the middle of the display is from Des Plaines!

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We both found the museum much more interesting than we expected, but there was an awful lot to take in. We’ll probably go back sometime when the temporary exhibit strikes our fancy.

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King’s Chef Diner and BJ’s Velvet Freez

Posted on April 1, 2017 by Roger

It snowed much of the day, so we decided to stick close to home. We drove to downtown Colorado Springs and ate an early supper at King’s Chef Diner.

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It’s as tiny inside as it looks outside. There are only 14 stools, 10 of them along the counter and four along the window. When we entered, there were two open seats, but they weren’t together. A woman sitting by the door called this to the attention of Cassandra, the server. Cassandra had two guys do the “Diner Shuffle,” and they moved down so we could find seats at the corner.

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The woman who got us our seats took it upon herself to tell us about the menu and warn us about how hot the green chili is. I ordered the “mini” half-size breakfast burrito with country gravy.

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My wife got the “grump,” which was basically my burrito without the wrap. She ordered the ¼ size, which was still huge. The green chili was, in fact, very hot. And Cassandra asked her if she wanted Tabasco Sauce to put on top of it!

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Our friend left and another couple came in. The woman announced to the entire place that it was her husband’s birthday and that it always snows on his birthday. She ordered the same thing my wife had and an order of French toast and they compared their experiences. Then another couple came in, and we all did the Diner Shuffle to make room for them. They were from Massachusetts and moved to The Springs two years ago. I warned them about the chili. Since all of us were basically sitting in each other’s laps, it seemed perfectly normal to chat with everyone.

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I think next time I’d order the ¼-size Grump with gravy and split an order of the French toast. But the food is only secondary. The cool thing was the way total strangers from very different backgrounds instantly became friends, if only for 15 minutes.

Later in the day, after we toured the Money Museum (next post), the snow really picked up. So of course I thought … ice cream. We drove to BJ’s Velvet Freez. I got a chocolate dip cone and my wife got a turtle sundae. The ice cream was creamy and delicious.

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