Manitou

April 10, 2018

Manitou





Kerry





Our new house in Colorado Springs is technically on the west side of the city, just inside the city limits, but it is actually much closer to the small funky community of Manitou Springs than it is to Colorado Springs. The town is known for its mineral springs and scenic location at the foot of Pike’s Peak. The downtown is especially popular with tourists during the busy summer season with its quaint shops, restaurants and pubs that line the main drag.







We love hanging out there while we are in town and frequent many of the restaurants and bars including the Loop and the Manitou Brewing Company. We also like it because it is where Kathy’s brother, Chris and his wife Kari live and it sort of feels like home when we are there. Besides Key West, it is one of our favorite places. It has something of an old-timey feel with tons of candy and ice cream shops and a huge arcade that features all sorts of classic video and pin-ball machines as well as skee-ball and other games of chance where you collect tickets based on your ability and if you happen to get thousands of tickets you can trade them for a cheap prize.









We were happy to have one of our best friends down from Estes Park to visit. We have known Kerry for closing on thirty years, when she lived in Key West and once upon a time worked with me at the Waterfront Market. Thankfully we have all moved on to much bigger and better things as Kerry now owns one of the most popular and yummy restaurants in Estes, The Rock Inn Mountain Tavern. We try to see her as often as we can either when we visit Colorado or when she visits Key West.

Kerry





This time she came to visit us and we all spent the weekend together hanging out. She is one of those rare and classic friends who just being around puts you in a better space and it was such a pleasure to be able to spend some quality time together. We spent part of one day hiking in the Garden of the Gods, the trail head begins just behind our house and within a few minute walk we can disappear from the urban suburbian landscape into one of the more beautiful sections of Colorado.









The beautiful park features ancient sedimentary beds of deep-red, pink and white sandstones, conglomerates and limestone, with many red rock features seemingly jutting directly out of the ground hundreds of feet in the air. Not exactly a wilderness, the park is a very popular tourist destination and roads cut through much of it to the most prominent features, you can still find isolation if you stick to the trails off of the main roads.





Ironically the place got its name from a fellow beer lover when one of the first surveyors of the place noted that it would be a great place for a beer garden and his companion, the young Rufus Cable, awestruck by the impressive rock formations, exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods.







It was just an incredibly beautiful day in an amazing place with some of my favorite people ever, not bad. We also took the opportunity to go with Kathy’s brother, Chris to see the middle school where he works as the Principal. It was spring break, but students were there nonetheless, creating a beautiful undersea mural along one of the hallway walls. It was cool to see such dedication of students giving up part of their break to work in the school and Chris is understandably proud of the school and the students there.











Another one of our favorite places to spend time is at the Buffalo Lodge. We had spent the previous New Year’s Eve there and return almost every visit to the quaint little bar that serves a wonderful happy hour and is located a short two blocks up Columbia Road from our house. The Buffalo Lodge is a classic vintage hotel property that until somewhat recently had fallen into disrepair and become something of a blight on the neighborhood. No more as a young family purchased the property and turned it into a wonderful bicycle resort and began an on-going process of renovation and upgrading of the facility that has transformed it into one of the hidden gems of the area. We love going there to hang out and the owners, staff and quality guests always provide for a fun evening.



Kari and Chris