Miramont Castle, Manitou Springs

Soooo, a new day dawns, and we're off to see another sight!  We found ourselves in Manitou Springs again, getting ready to tour Miramont Castle.  We had been told by the Visitors'Center that it had been in the process of being rehabilitated for years and it was really something to see inside now.  But first, we saw the Manitou Incline.  This is what remains of the old 3 foot narrow guage funicular railway that washed out during a rockslide in 1990.  There are over 2700 "steps," more or less, depending on what maintenance has been done recently.  Here's my picture, this is as close as we would get.  They grade is as much as 68% and the top is about 2000 feet higher than the base, which is already over 6800 feet above sea level.  There are signs all over warning hikers not to attempt it unless they are physically fit and able to complete the hike.  There is no vehicular access, to any portion of the trail, so the only way out in case of panic or injury is by the kindness and physical capabilities of fellow hikers.  In other words, if you get hurt, the only way out is down, carried by complete strangers.  Not my cup of tea, for sure.

Here is a public photo of the actual trail.  Not exactly a walk in the park, is it.

So, we were really intent on seeing this beauty. inside and out.

But first, let's see how what dangers lie in wait...

So, we pulled up our socks and went on in to the basement of the mansion, where Margie was waiting to take our money for admission.  Always admission fees, always.  But, I guess it's worth it, since all monies go to restoration and maintenance costs.  Knowing we were in the basement was a bit incongruous with what we were seeing. The front desk was handcarved and tremendously ornate; and the stained glass window in the stairwell was just stunning. 

We made our way under the staircase, into a maze of small rooms, each displaying memorabilia and artifacts all relating to the Manitou Fire Department.  I've always been a fan of Smokey Bear, and there was a whole window dedicated to his story.  

They had one of the original hose wagons of the town, which was pulled by the firefighters themselves, until one of the town's leaders had the means and generosity to lend them one of his prized horses, day or night, whenever the need arose.  I'm sure the guys in the photo were relieved when that gift was bestowed!

We made our way up the grand staircase, and into the drawing room, where guests were entertained.  Miramont, which means "look at the mountain" construction was started in Fall, 1895.  It was built by and for Fr. Fancolon, and his widowed mother, who supposedly financed the whole project.  They had travelled the world due to the father's diplomatic career, so he was very familiar with the chateaus and estates of Europe, and wanted to replicate them for his mother.  The entire castle was constructed of the native green sandstone blocks you see below.  

You can see the extent of the tableware they stored, just for entertaining visitors.

The monk and his mom only lived here a couple of years, after which, The Sisters of Mercy took it over as a tuberculosis sanitorium.  While the monk was here, The Sisters prepared all the meals in a smaller house, down the hill, and transported everything up to the castle.  After they were given the castle, they installed a small kitchen to prepare meals onsite.

This is the main staircase, which has been lovingly and painstakingly restored (some of the spindles have been recreated by the Historical Society).  It covered the 3 stories of the castle.  The 4th story was for servants only, and you'll see THEIR stairway in a moment.

Every room had a magnificent view of the mountains (remember, the name of the estate translates to "look at the mountain").  This is from the solarium, which was actually turned into and operating room for The Sisters.

This was mom's room... 

And here is the austere and narrow stairway for the servants' use.  It was VERY steep, and closed to the public. 

And here is the monk's room; a little smaller and plainer that mom's.

We interrupted our tour to visit the Queen's Tea Room for lunch.  They were kind enough to reserve a table for us...even though we were two of only 6 patrons for lunch that day.  We told them it was our 30th anniversary, hoping they would at least offer us a small dessert, but, nope, not a thing.

I had to admit though, it was a charming little room and the food was beautifully presented.  Dick got his favorite Reuben, and I got a fruit, nut and Spring greens salad with a delicious raspberry vinaigrette.  No crackers or breadsticks or anything extra, so, if you go, just beware that portions are not exactly overwhelming.  My lemonade was made using the mineral water from the natural springs of the town.  It was fizzy and a bit Alka-Seltzery tasting, but once I got used to it, it was actually pretty tasty.  In truth, it was better than the raspberry tea that Dick had ordered.  He agreed, but he didn't want to make a fuss and trade it in for a lemonade.  In retrospect, had he known our drinks were 3 bucks each, he says he would have traded for one that tasted better.

We resumed our tour up on the 4th floor, the servants' quarters.  There were 3 rooms this size, which were each shared by 2 servants, and 1 room much smaller, that is now off limits, and used as a closet.

Each floor of the castle is stepped up the mountainside so that you can exit them all and still be on "ground level."  As a result, the stone walls must be anchored into the mountainside.

It was only about a foot from tip to tip!

The gardens were on each level, and they were overgrown, but still very calming and quiet.

This is one of the "tuberculosis cabins" that The Sisters of Mercy had built on the premises.  We were actually very fortunate that there was another party of guests that had arrived shortly after we finished our lunch.  As it turns out, it was a lady about my age, her mom and a friend.  Her grandpa, who has since passed, was the caretaker there for years, and the mom was raised on the grounds.  She and the grandma are the original founders of Manitou Springs Historical Society, and spearheaded the entire restoration efforts.  It's been done over several years, and the original grant was for $15,000.  The rest of the millions were raised by gift shop sales, admissions and Tea Room luncheons.  It's amazing how much work and love has been poured into this remarkable building.

The mom told me that back in the old days (well before my time), if you suffered from tuberculosis, your remedy was cold, dry air.  You were quarantined in cabins like this until you either recovered or died.  Pretty stark, eh?

After leaving Miramont, we ventured on down to Rock Ledge Ranch, down at the base of the enormous rock structures of Garden of the Gods.  Unfortunately, the Ranch happened to be closed during this time.  We were permitted to walk the grounds and visit the animals (who took absolutely no interest in two hot people and a really hot puppy dog).  There were some pictures taken, but only the Good Lord knows where they were put.  Don't ask - it was an ordeal just to get where we are today, and that's good enough.  

Last night, I heard Hurricane Dorian was headed straight for Inverness, as were Lolly and Allen.  This morning, I heard they arrived safely yesterday evening, around 6 pm, and this afternoon, I have seen the predictions for the cone to be much farther east, and to remain off the coast of Florida, sparing most of the state the brunt of the storm.  I've spoken with Bob Wallace, and Brandi & Mike, all up in Lake City, and they are all hunkered down and stocked up on water and have their generators fueled up and ready to be put to use.  Hopefully, things will, literally, just blow over quickly, and not cause catastrophic damages.  

 Y'all stay safe!  Till next time...

Well, today was fun, but did we or didn't we?

I'm such a lucky girl - Driver ALWAYS asks me, where do you want to go today, what do you want to do today?  Well, today, I tried to make it all about HIM.  (notice the operative word, TRIED)  Apparently, we are in an area of the country that is famous for (what else..) Pueblo Chilis.  Peppers, that is.  And we all know Dick likes his hot stuff almost as much as he likes his ice cream!  So when I learned there is a "farm tour" of about 10 family farms, I thought, we can do that!  We got the addresses and figured out where they all were, and headed out.  At the very first one, there were a lot of garden art objects, as well as flowering plants and produce.  I just HAD to stop to admire flamingo corner!  They were all so tempting, luckily, they were all priced way over our budget, so none of 'em got adopted today.

This was also the business where I took a dive and face-planted right into asphalt.  That's the "tried" part.  One moment, I was looking for Driver, and the next I was sending Bailey to look for him, while I laid flat on the ground, trying to catch my breath and figure out exactly how I was going to stand up.  What did Bailey do??  That little hussy, she went about 4 steps, into the store doorway, where it was shady, and SAT DOWN.  And watched me!  I was hoping that SOMEone would notice a stray leashed dog walking around the store all by herself and come wandering out, but, nooooo.  She just sat down and watched me!  I guess, since she stayed by me, she was watching OVER me, huh.  Anyway, Dick heard me calling for help and came running around the corner.  A few minutes later, and I was able to get up and get dusted off.  They took me back to the restroom (no public restrooms, so I guess I should feel privileged) where I could wash my cuts and scrapes with soap and warm water, then they got me a bandaid and a bottle of cold water (since they had no ice).  Despite a black eye (didn't take long!) and a pretty bad headache, I wanted to carry on with our day.  This was supposed to be HIS day, and HIS adventure!

We programmed the next farm stand, and we knew we were at the right place when we saw this sign post.  We went down the dirt road, and then the next dirt road, but it was apparent that this particular stand was not yet open for business.

The pepper plants were still all in the ground, and they were loaded with peppers, but none had been picked yet.  We wondered about the next field (below) which seemed to be much more sparsely planted.  

Closer inspection revealed this to be a field of hemp.  We've seen lots of dispensaries, but this was our first time actually seeing a huge field of it being grown, legally, and out in the open.  There seemed to be a workamper trailer over at the edge of the field.  Hmmmm. not particularly a job I want to apply for!

This is the manner of irrigation.  They pull water straight out of the Arkansas River, pipe it up to the fields, then they flood the fields, letting it soak in and drain right back out to the river.  The new method is to bury pipe UNDER the plants, then fill the pipes up with water and let it soak UP.  It must be working; the fields were all full of healthy looking plants!  We did find out though, that because there was so much rain throughout the Spring, the farmers were late in planting, which made the pepper harvest a little late this year.  

 This was the field from the third farmer.  The green, in the back, is all kinds of peppers.  The front 10 or 12 rows were all dahlia flowers.  They were gorgeous!  There were dahlia seeds for sale inside, but, being on the road, we didn't see any point in purchasing those.

It was hard to resist the hot & spicy olives though!

At our final farm stand stop, we found the Ken Williams Studio right next door.  The photo below was taken at the end of the Riverwalk a couple of days ago.  Turns out, this beautiful installation was done by the very same Ken Williams family!  See the cement walkway?  Well, yes, the stone pillars too.  That was all done by the husband/wife team along with their 4 daughters.  One of the daughters was in the studio working, and she showed us all around and explained how they stack the soft bricks, sculpt them, number them, and take them all apart only to reconstruct them again at the final installation spot.  They are currently working on 2 double-sided 40 foot tall entrance markers for the town of Pueblo.  There was a scale model of them in the gallery, and they were stunning!  I found a sink, a lamp and a tea light candle holder, all of which I wouldn't mind having.  However.  I still live in a camper, and none of that would fit!

After we explored the 6 room house-turned-gallery, we went over to the hubby's side of the business, and our primary reason for being there...PEPPERS!  They had two long planter boxes full of various varieties of pepper, and Dick really enjoyed looking through them.

Inside, they were picked, cleaned, and ready for purchase!

Roasted chilis are a big thing here, and they will roast them with or without garlic, and right there while you wait.

There was a whole room full of everything chili pepper!

And crickets.  Crickets! Nope, we didn't buy any of these either!

Outside, there were lots of varieties of watermelon, yellow, seeded, seedless, you name it.  We did buy one of the seedless green ones, and it is DELISH!  Of course, we only kept half of it; the other half went to the park owner to share with her husband and grandson.  

After that, we hurried home, because we wanted to get there before the rains came.  Our campground is located directly in the path of that sheet of rain on the left.  We made it home in time, but somehow, we only got a few drops of rain and a bit of wind from the storms.  We are truly blessed.  Monument, several miles to the North, and where we were oringially SUPPOSED to be staying, got hit hard.  Really hard, with lots of hail and wind.  We are truly blessed.

Oh, but wait a minute!  You want to know all about our visit to the hot springs, don't you!  I bet you are dying to know if we went skinny dipping too, don'tcha.  Pervert!  😄😏  Well, let's see.  I checked all the reviews and found Desert Reef was the more favorable option.  On the way to the spring, we found this sand and gravel operation.  

It got bigger and bigger, and we finally found a company logo - Holcim, the largest cement manufacturer in the world!

And exactly how is this product transported?  Why, on the Rock & Rail, of course!

The little town of Florence, CO, where the spring is located, and where we ate a quick and tasty lunch, has some interesting architecture and bills itself as the antique capital of the state. 

But, you didn't read this far to look at buildings, did you!  See that little bitty sign?  THAT's how we knew where to turn!  We had been warned that the GPS may not be accurate...it was, but we were relieved when we saw the sign at the entrance to the dirt road.  Relieved not that it was a dirt road, but that there was a sign, since the road was dirt!

A mile and a half down this dirt road, and after one slightly wrong turn (yeah, can you believe that?  There were lots of people living on this dirt road, and at one of the turns in the road, there was a driveway, so, naturally, we went straight.  Straight into the front yard of some random family.) we came upon this wooden bridge.  And another sign saying "Yes" so we knew we should proceed.  Slowly.

Another quarter mile, and we passed through the gate to the spring and found this little building.  Sort of non-descript, eh?  Well, we were here, so let's go see!  Not you, silly, YOU didn't pay your entry fee!  Yes, we went in.  Yes, there were lots of sights to see.  Most of the visitors this morning were ummm....tan-line free.  Take that any way you want, but, yeah, most of the bathers were nekked as jay-birds.  Us?  Well, we kept our suits on and took the plunge.  No recording devices or phones were allowed in the swim area, so you'll just have to take my word for what we saw and what went on.

The pool was really pretty, and the view was breathtaking, as promised.  There was a shaded area right by the pool and a Quonset hut that served as a party room.  It had tables, a 'fridge, microwave, towels and a fan.  It was lighted, too, for evening events.  The water was warm and comforting, and there was a manmade (of natural rocks) waterfall, where they filled the pool with the hot water from the spring.  The deepest part of the pool, by the waterfall was the warmest, about 90 degrees, and about shoulder deep.  We just kind of kept to ourselves and chatted about our adventures so far.  A younger (!) couple came, and they also kept their suits on.  So, that made about 6 of us, total, with suits, and probably 8 or so without.  We relaxed for about an hour, then went on into Florence to grab a bite to eat.  When we returned, we were the ONLY ones with suits on, but that's OK.  Some things just aren't meant for public viewing, and it didn't seem to bother the others either.

Doggie was waiting for her dinner, back at the camper, though, so we knew our remaining time there would be short.  We were talking about leaving when all of a sudden, we saw a bolt of lightning on the horizon.  Yup, it was time to leave!  Once people found out we were exiting the pool due to the lightning, everyone else hopped out as well.  Chickens!  

On our way back down the dirt road, we stopped to take this picture of the spring.  Yes, the water here was warm too. All in all, a very relaxing day, wooden bridge excepted.  heehee  So, tomorrow morning (Friday), we move back up to the Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs.  Now that we have toured the actual Academy, we will have lots of time to concentrate on the features and sites of the area.  We do plan to visit Cripple Creek (no mine tour for us; Fed regs prohibit doggie, and I darn sure won't go without her!), Garden of the Gods, Cave of the Wind, and Manitou Springs.  Funny story - when the dude first told us about Manitou Springs, I thought he had said MANATEE Springs.  LOL, we had a good laugh at him, thinking there'd be manatees up here!!  Guess he had the last laugh though.