Colorado Springs, Colorado: Olympic City USA

The last city on our Colorado/Wyoming Tour was Colorado Springs. We've been there several times as we have friends there so the photos are from several trips. Of all the cities we've visited in Colorado, I think we like "The Springs" the best. It has the best vibe and the best views.

In 1871, Colorado Springs was founded as a resort city for wealthy British ex-pats. 

Then in the 1880s, thousands of people with Tuberculosis descended on the city. The dry air and lots of days of sunshine were thought to cure the disease. As a result, several sanitariums were built. The Pioneer Museum in downtown Colorado Springs tells you all about it as well as the rest of the history of the town.

There's gold in them there hills! That's right, Colorado Springs became a very wealthy town when gold was discovered in Cripple Creek, a small town not too far away. The Cripple Creek Gold Mine produced one of the richest gold strikes in American History.

In 1806, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike, an American explorer, sighted Pike's Peak. 

Now you can catch a cog train out of Manitou Springs to take you up the mountain. This is the cool train station.

When we did that back in 2022 in June, the top of the mountain was covered in snow and you couldn't see anything.

It was sleeting so bad that we had to run to the visitor center after we snagged a couple of selfies.

This year we drove up the mountain with our friends. As we neared the top, we could see the cog train going back down.

The views from the top were amazing...

And definitely much clearer. We couldn't have asked for a better day. 

Colorado Springs is the county seat of El Paso County. This is their old courthouse. Built in 1903, it served as the county courthouse until 1973 when it was abandoned for the newer more modern courthouse across the street. In 1979, this gorgeous building became home to the Pioneer Museum.

Inside the county courthouse on the first floor. The museum is free and has all kinds of cool things about the history of Colorado Springs. 

Upstairs, they even have a restored courtroom. This is definitely a place you'll want to go back and spend some time in. I sure do.

In 1909, the children of Charles Elliott Perkins gifted 480 acres of these monumental rocks to the City of Colorado Springs under the condition that it always be a public park and that it remain free.

The rock formations are incredible. This one is the kissing camels and can be seen from several places around the city. Some of the other formations were that easy for me to identify.

The trail leading into the Garden of the Gods has breathtaking views as well. You don't even have to go in! It's a great place to go and walk and to just soak up the ambiance.

In 1947, the United States Air Force became an independent military branch of the armed forces. The officers were trained at the US Military Academy (aka West Point) or the US Naval Academy. It was determined that the Air Force needed their own school.

In 1955, Dwight Eisenhower selected Colorado Springs as the site for the new academy. The state and the city lobbied hard for it by offering 18,000 acres of land free of cost to the federal government. That plus the more than 300 days of sunshine, suitability for flying and being close to a city without being in a city helped make that decision. Our niece-in-law, Destiny, attended the Air Force Academy and graduated in 2026. In 2025, we took a tour with our friends. Can you imagine getting to see this view everyday from your dorm room?

The building on the left is Polaris Hall which is precisely aligned with the North Star. The campus is pretty cool and we enjoyed our tour given to us by one of Destiny's friends. She gave us the scoop on a day in the life of a cadet and it was cool.

Colorado Springs is called Olympic City USA and they take that very seriously. We have a friend that works for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and she hooked us up with a tour of the training facilities located right there in Colorado Springs. In 1978, an abandoned Air Force Base was available and the US Olympic Committee decided to move their training facility here. They were able to repurpose existing infrastructure, which I love. Don't tear it down, use it for something else.

Depending on the sport, the athletes train here in the Springs at this amazing training facility. We got to see the basketball courts where they have training for several sports, the swimming pools and we even had lunch at the cafeteria where the athletes eat! The tour was cool. The training for the runners is unbelievable. Wouldn't I like that kind of attention? No. Then I'd have to perform accordingly.

After the training facility, Evangeline took us to her office where they have tons of Olympic memorabilia just hanging around. This is a paralympic display for Team USA.

Nancy Kerrigan's figure skating dress.

And if that wasn't enough Olympic history, you can go to the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum, also right there in Colorado Springs. It opened in 2020, which couldn't have been good but they are still around. It houses tons of things like the torches from the various Olympic Games, halls for the different sports and other interactive exhibits as well.

In 1948, 16 World War II Veterans, men and women with spinal injuries, competed in archery at the Stoke Mandeville games. This started the paralympic movement. To compete as a Paralympian you have to have an "eligible impairment". Not all disabilities qualify. Their symbol is the Paralympic Agitos, the three curved shapes which represent movement. The colors were chosen because they appear is most national flags.

This is the 1980 USA Hockey team who became known as the Miracle on Ice as they beat the heavily favored Russian team. "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"- Al Michaels. It's a cool museum and certainly worth a visit.

Back in the day, this area was known as the Broadmoor Dairy. Then in the 1880s, it was developed into an upscale residential neighborhood. It wasn't until 1918 that mining entrepreneur Spencer Penrose purchased the property and opened the Broadmoor Hotel. It has 350 lavish guest rooms, indoor swimming pool and beautiful grounds. No, we didn't stay there because it also has a lavish price tag.

We did, however, stop in to check it out. They have this cool library off the lobby where, I assume, you can check out books to read while you're staying there. They had quite a collection.

We ended up hanging around and having a drink on the patio. That was pretty cool too.

We love Colorado Springs. We go every year to visit our friends and, every year we swear we're moving there. It's very alluring with the magnificent views, mild climate and outdoor activities. Just under 500K people live here. I'm sure even more come to visit. 

So why haven't we packed up and moved yet? There's still time...

Fort Collins, Colorado: The Choice City

Upon leaving Wyoming, we drove down 287 for a quick stop in Fort Collins. We'd landed there once before and been completely charmed but only had the time to sleep over. This time we wanted to see what we really thought.

Fort Collins was actually an Army military outpost founded in 1862. It was established to protect the travelers and the Overland Stage Line and it was named for Lt. Colonel William Collins. It was given the nickname the "Choice City" because at the stopover on the stage line, travelers had to choose whether to move on or settle here. Interesting, no?

When the fort was abandoned in 1867, the remaining settlers turned to agriculture growing mostly sugar beets and wheat.

One of the earliest settlers was Elizabeth "Auntie" Stone. She arrived in 1864 and she and her husband ran the dining hall for the soldiers at Camp Collins. She lived in this log cabin. She also started the first flour mill and brick kiln in Fort Collins.

Elizabeth was an ardent supporter of women's suffrage and voted for the first time in 1893. When she died a year later at age 94, all the businesses in town shut down and the firehouse tower bell tolled 94 times, one for each year of her life.

This is the Carnegie Library. I love these things! It was built in 1904 using a grant of $12,500 from Andrew Carnegie. By 1977, the city had outgrown this building and they built a bigger library on the street behind it. Instead of tearing it down, they repurposed this building to be the Fort Collins Museum. Later, a new, bigger building was constructed to house the museum and this building became a civic arts and creativity center.

This is the Joseph Antoine Janis Cabin. Janis moved to Ft. Collins in 1844 and built this cabin in 1859. He was married to First Elk Woman, a member of the Ogalala Lakota Tribe. In 1878, the Federal Government forced the Lakota people to relocate to a reservation. I guess that included women married to white settlers. Not wanting to leave his family, Janis went with them to what is now the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.  

This is the Franz-Smith House. German immigrants Henry and Caroline Franz built this house in 1882 on a farm where they raised sugar beets and lambs. In 1936, the house was sold to the Smith family wo raised sheep and cattle on that farm. The Smith family wired the house for electricity but had no plumbing. Since they didn't actually live in this house, I guess that's okay. All three of these cabins are on the property of the Carnegie Library and are part of the Heritage Courtyard.

Ft. Collins is also the county seat of Larimer County. Like most county courthouses, the original was a log cabin of sorts and was used until something more appropriate could be built. In 1887, this cool looking courthouse was erected. Unfortunately, as the county grew, this place became inadequate to handle all the business of the county. In 1957, it was demolished. I read that the tower of this courthouse was so sturdy, it took two days to knock it down! It's too bad. The current courthouse is a modern judicial building with zero character.

In 1870, a land grant established the State Agricultural College which eventually morphed into Colorado State University. We drove over to take a look. It was deserted because it's summer and school has let out. That lone smudge on the steps of this cool building is John.  It's their administration building.

That building sits at one end of what is called "The Oval", which is this cool park. There's a side walk that goes around and through it and it's great for getting steps on a lovely afternoon. It's definitely a cool campus.

Back downtown, we stayed at The Elizabeth Hotel, which is where we stayed the last time. We lucked into this place on our first visit and liked it so much that we stayed here again. It's named for Auntie Elizabeth Stone. Among her other accomplishments, she turned the outpost from Camp Collins into the city's first public hotel. This place was nice and is music themed. All the rooms have record players and they have a lending library consisting of tons of record albums in a variety of music genres.

The charm of the downtown area has all these cool restaurants in some old buildings. I love the ghost signs that you can still see on a lot of them. This was one of my favorites because I'm a sucker for a Coca-Cola mural. This is called a "privilege sign" and was painted back in 1958 when Angell's Delicatessen was housed in this building. A privilege sign is a vintage term for when a big company provides the sign to local merchants for free in exchange for the privilege of prominent free advertising on the store front. So, I'm guessing Coca-Cola helped out with this. I love it!

Music is a big thing in downtown Ft. Collins. This is in the Old Town Square where they have live music. This is a really good Tejano Band called Banda La Patrona. They were really good.

We drove around Ft. Collins looking at houses for sale and found that the vibe that charmed us so much the first time we came here didn't really extend outside the downtown area. We also found that while there's a regional airport here, all commercial flights come in and out of Denver International Airport which is about 70 miles from here.

Another thing we realized was that it was as hot in Ft. Collins as it was at home. So why move? 

We thoroughly enjoyed two days of rest and relaxation in Ft. Collins at the lovely Elizabeth Hotel. But while it's a great place to visit, we wouldn't want to live here. But don't take my word for it! Check it out.

Laramie, Wyoming: The Gem City of the Plains

As we continued on our adventure into Wyoming, we headed to Laramie. Why? Why not! 

Laramie was another town that was founded along the Union Pacific Railway back in 1868. It was named for a French-Canadian trapper named Jacques La Ramee who disappeared into the nearby mountains in the 1820s. Laramie was notoriously lawless and filled with saloons like the infamous Bucket of Blood. The first mayor of the town resigned after three weeks calling the place "ungovernable". The biggest threat to the town were three brothers: Steve Long, Lon Moyer and Ace Moyer. Long was the Marshal, for Pete's sake but not a good one. The brothers owned the Bucket of Blood Saloon. They would force settlers into signing over their deeds. Those who refused were shot. They were eventually lynched by the sheriff. But more on the history later.

Leaving Cheyenne, we took the scenic route along Happy Jack Road. It's beautiful up here.

Along the way we made a couple of detours. This is Curt Gowdy State Park. For $12 you can go into the park and drive around and hike. We hiked to the top of this hill and had the most amazing views.

This is the Granite Springs Reservoir. The view at the top of this hill was breathtaking. I could have stayed up here all day and just soaked it all in.

There were several camp sites like this one so I'm sure this place is pretty popular in the summer months.

We also learned that Interstate 80 is the Lincoln Highway and was the first transcontinental highway in the U.S. It started in 1913 and goes from Times Square in New York City all the way to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. The purpose was to encourage automobile travel and it established the "great American road trip". At this rest stop just outside of Laramie is a Lincoln monument.

Meanwhile, the lawlessness in Laramie continued. The citizens would form vigilante groups led by Marshal Nathaniel Boswell. He eventually brought order to the town. In 1873, the creation of the Wyoming Territorial Prison helped tame things. Boswell was the first warden.  The Wyoming Territorial Prison is one of the oldest buildings in Wyoming. It operated as a federal penitentiary from 1872 to 1890 (that's when Wyoming became a state) and then as a state prison from 1890 to 1901.

This was the warden's house. It was built in 1875 by the convicts in the prison. Originally, there was a basement built into the hill in front of the house that was the entrance. Sometime in 1890, the basement was closed and a door was cut into the front.

It's now a museum and it's pretty cool. This is the North Cell Block. There are three levels and each cell housed two prisoners.

The prisoners would bathe once a week. There were also toilets in this room. Most of the prisoners used buckets in their cells. (Gross!)

I would not want to be locked in a cell in this prison. John doesn't look too happy in there.

This is the cell that John was in. Two people shared this tiny space. Note there's no toilet. They had to use a bucket. There were also lots of rules about neatness, etc. that the prisoners were supposed to follow. For a while, escape from this prison was rampant. There's a note that prior to the building of the stockade, the prisoners could see the mountains from their cells and at least 25% of them escaped. The chances of them being recovered were very low.

One of the cool things about the museum is that they have pictures like these (enlargements of the original mug shots taken of the prisoners as they entered the facility) along with their story. You might recognize this guy. He was the prison's most famous inhabitant. Butch Cassidy! He was incarcerated for cattle rustling and spent just under two years here. He was a model prisoner and was eventually pardoned. He went on to become one of the most elusive train and bank robbers in the U.S. He was eventually killed in Bolivia in an ambush.

The town continued to grow pretty quickly. In 1886, they installed the first electrical plant in the Rocky mountains which illuminated the city giving it the nickname Gem City of the Plains. Also in 1886, the University of Wyoming was established. It's the only four year university in Wyoming. We decided to walk around the campus and check it out. It's a beautiful campus.

We found an art museum on Campus and went in to see what they had. I love these on campus museums. Most of them have cool exhibits and the admission is free.

This one had a cool exhibit of art done by people that were associated with the school. This one was one that I liked by Sarah Konrad called Rise.

This is the Plains Museum, aka The Ivinson Mansion. Edward Ivinson was a banker who came to Laramie on the first train in 1868. He built this mansion in 1892 and was quite the philanthropist. He funded the Memorial Hospital in 1916 and a home for aged ladies in 1930. You can tour the mansion just not on the day we were there. Next time.

St. Matthew's Cathedral was established in 1887. Missourian Ethelbert Talbot was elected bishop and he chose Laramie to be the seat of the diocese. The cathedral was built between 1892 and 1896. In 1916, Edward Ivinson funded the building of the towers in memory of his wife, as she was one of the founders of the parish.

Laramie is the county seat of Albany County and this is the courthouse. This was the original courthouse built in 1872. It was funded by...you got it, Edward Ivinson. That guy must have had unlimited funds! This was the first building in Wyoming that was constructed specifically as a courthouse. As the town grew, this courthouse became too small. It was demolished in 1931 to make way for the new courthouse.

This is the current courthouse which was completed in 1932. Not as much character as the original but certainly more spacious.

In 1903, Andrew Carnegie granted the city of Laramie $20,000 to build this library. The conditions for the grant were that the city had to provide the land and pledge $2,000 per year to maintenance and the running of the library. The town overwhelmingly accepted and the library was completed in 1905. This was the official public library of Laramie until 1981, when a new, larger building was constructed to house the library. I love that instead of demolishing the building, it was repurposed as office for the city.

The Wyo Theater opened in 1928 as the Crown Theater. It showed both silent movies as well as "talkies" on its single screen. In 1949, the theater underwent some renovation and updating and became the Wyo Theater. As big megaplex theaters became popular, the theater struggled. It found it's niche as an independent movie theater. In 2017, after 90 years and standing as Wyoming's oldest continuously operating theaters, it closed. It's currently undergoing community efforts to repurpose it. I hope they do.

Wyoming is big on women's history in the state. The statue is of Louisa Gardner Swain who became the first woman in the world to cast a ballot back in 1870. The museum, called the Wyoming Women's History House celebrates Wyoming's legacy as the "Equality State" and honors the 13 pioneering women who achieved major historical milestones in the state. Cool, no?

Downtown Laramie. Lots of cool old buildings.

On the drive from Laramie to Fort Collins, this was our view. You won't see that in Dallas, Texas!

Laramie was interesting. Its history as a lawless place didn't really end in the 1800s. If you'll remember, this is where Matthew Sheppard was murdered for being gay. It was in 1998. He was a student at the University of Wyoming and he was beaten and tortured and left to die. This resulting in Hate Crime Legislation. The guys who did this got life sentences, as they should.

Laramie is at an elevation of 7,200 feet and is the fourth populous city in Wyoming with 31K people. The biggest employer is the University of Wyoming followed by the Albany ISD and the Ivinson Memorial Hospital.

Despite the bad reputation, I thought the town had a cool "University Town" vibe. I wouldn't want to live there but, I could go back and visit. But don't take my word for it. Check it out!