Month: August 2017

(Photo credit: peterson.af.mil)

I spent the first hour or so as I began posting these items tonight in panic mode.  There are lots of photos I took today which I can’t seem to transfer to my computer.  That is always the first thing I do each night, both to save them and to make them easier to review and access.  I can still see them on the phone so I’ll stop by Verizon Wireless today to see if they have any suggestions as to how I can save them.

I can’t access any of the pictures I took this morning.  I spent 2 1/2 hours getting a private tour of the museum at this Air Force Base just east of Colorado Springs.  I’ll save the commentary for when I can actually post the photos.  I’ve already decided that when I extend my trip after September 22, Colorado Springs will be one area I definitely will be coming back to.  I may have to revisit the museum, but it will be worth it.

 

After I toured the Peterson Air Force Base museum I had planned some other outdoor activities.  The weather looked threatening, however, with rain trying to work it’s way towards town so I decided to do some of the indoor things on my list.

This museum had several different exhibits and I took lots of photos.  I am having a problem getting them offloaded from my phone to my computer but hopefully I can get them recovered.  I can see them on the phone in the Gallery, but they won’t transfer.

Here are two that I can access.  There were many, many etchings by Rembrandt.  Most were quite small (maybe 8 or 10 inches square) but some were larger. ALL of them were incredibly detailed.  And I mean incredibly!

I noticed a guy using a magnifying glass to examine one of the etchings.  I whispered  “That’s a great idea” and he turned around and pointed to a table in the middle of the room.  The museum had lots of magnifying glasses available for people to use.  What a great idea!

It’s no wonder Rembrandt is considered one of the Masters.  I could hardly believe what I was seeing.  The detail simply defies description.  There are so many subtle things, often in the background, which you might miss with the naked eye.  And the etchings are so lifelike.  Facial features, shading, expressions, depth, surroundings.  Just incredible.

This picture is very blurry.  This etching was one of my favorites and I spent quite a bit of time examining it.  I think I am going to buy a book with clearer pictures (or at least borrow one from a library) so I can study them at my leisure.

Here is another, a landscape scene.  A much simpler etching but, again, the details (of both the objects close to the viewer and those in the distance) were amazing.

And keep in mind, Rembrandt made these etchings in the early 1600’s!

 

Show me the money!

This museum in Colorado Springs is all about money – coins and paper money, foreign and domestic.

Paper money in the United States is quite detailed, in part to prevent counterfeiting, but is basically green.  Paper money in foreign countries remind me of postage stamps.  They are often much more colorful than ours.

The photos you are seeing are all taken through glass cases (they don’t just leave cash lying around…) so they might appear slightly blurred.

What’s wrong with this next picture?  (Hint: there is a mirror behind the bill)

 

This is a free park on the northwest side of Colorado Springs.  These photos were taken Tuesday evening.  I plan to go back to the park on Wednesday to get more pictures with the sun at a higher angle.

I’ll let these pictures speak for themselves.

I drove down to Colorado Springs from Breckenridge on Sunday morning.  My nephew, Sam, attends Colorado College here.  My brother Stephen and his wife Jen had flown out Saturday morning to help Sam get his apartment set up for his senior year and buy stuff for him (dishes & kitchen supplies, a bed, some used furniture, etc).  I met them on campus around 1015am.  Sam arrived from upstate soon after that.  I spent the bulk of the day with them, tagging along while they shopped, helping carry stuff upstairs from the car to his second floor apartment, and had lunch with all three of them.  Sam had to leave to head back to Grand Lake, where he has been working all summer, and meet his sister Ali who was to arrive there Sunday evening.  She and a friend are driving cross-country from upstate New York on their way to Portland, Oregon where Ali attends Lewis & Clark College.

After Sam took off, Stephen and Jen were going to go back to their hotel to wash the kitchen and bedroom linens they had bought for Sam.  I went down to the south side of town to check in to my Airbnb.  The three of us met at 800pm to have dinner together.  They were heading to Durango on Monday and will be making a big loop around southern Colorado before flying back to New York next weekend.

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I will be in Colorado Springs for 4 nights.  I have a very busy schedule of places I want to go and things I want to see.

This is the view I have of Cheyenne Mountain from the cul de sac where my Airbnb is located.

This is a less obstructed view from a nearby intersection.  I am too close to the mountain to get it all in one photo (it’s a VERY big mountain).

Cheyenne Mountain is probably best known for being the original home of NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command.  They keep track of things in space (satellites, space junk, incoming missiles from North Korea, etc).  The Cheyenne Mountain Complex also has a ginormous underground bunker which is designed to withstand a direct hit with a nuclear device.  There are actually many different things located at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, many of which aren’t talked about.  It is a super-secret facility and is not open to the public.  Guards there have shoot-to-kill authority.  They don’t screw around.  I didn’t even bother to go up and try to get a picture of the entrance.

Most of the NORAD operations have actually been moved to Peterson Air Force Base east of town.  I’ll be going there tomorrow (I had to submit a visitation request 24 hours in advance.  I’ve already been advised that I’ve been approved so long as I show up with the proper documentation).  There are still some NORAD operations housed in the mountain to serve as backup.

Colorado Springs has a huge military presence.  There are multiple army and air force bases here, as will as the Air Force Academy.  I am staying right across the highway from Fort Carson, a US Army Base which is home to the 4th Infantry Division as well as the 10th Special Forces Group.  The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is home to the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station.

 

Many of the places I planned to visit in Colorado Springs are closed on Mondays so I decided to knock out the two scenic roads west and south of town.  I headed west on Route 24, which was how I came in to town from Breckenridge on Sunday.

I turned south on Route 1 when I got to the town of Florissant.  First stop was the Pikes Peak Historical Society Museum, located just off the highway.  They had displays of many types of things but what I found most interesting were the gems and fossils found in the area.

This is a 4 foot long, 439 pound piece of Smoky Quartz Crystal.  It is the largest such specimen unearthed in North America.  It was found near a hill which I could see by looking out the window next to where it was on display.

This is another piece of Smoky Quartz Crystal found by the same man.  It is just over 4 feet long and weighs 345 pounds.  Both specimens are thought to be over a billion years old!

Next were the fossil samples:

Two bird feathers:

Some redwood foliage:

And finally, two teeth from a Columbia Mammoth

They were each a little bit smaller than a football.

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Further on down the road I stopped at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.  This is where I was when the eclipse reached it’s peak at 1147am local time.

I borrowed a pair of safety glasses from someone and took a picture with my cell phone (in selfie mode) with the glasses covering the lens.  This was taken in the parking lot at 1113am.

They had some telescopes set up behind the Visitor Center and one projected the image of what it was looking at on a white sheet.  It wasn’t quite centered on the sun, but still shows what was happening.  This was taken at 1139am, 8 minutes before peak.  We were in an area which was to experience 91% totality.

This is why I travel scenic back roads.  I would have never found this little town unless I had gotten off the beaten path.  Cripple Creek and nearby Victor were gold mining towns.  The restored buildings here are simply gorgeous.  Most are now quaint little casinos.  I’ll keep you in suspense and post photos of many of the buildings in a future entry.

These are some of the other things I spotted around town.

Get it?  Gimme two tickets to parrot dice…..

Doesn’t every town in America claim to have invented the root beer float?

It’s two, two…. two mints in one.  A Hotel AND Motel.

This one really cracked me up.  Be sure to read all the lines on the sign.

Atlas Powder Company.  For all your explosives needs….

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After taking pictures of both sides of this sidewalk “sandwich board” I went inside to tell them I’d be posting it on my blog.  I met Kim, the young lady working there.  She and I had a delightful conversation.  She gave me some important guidance about some of the scenic roads I was planning to take after I left Cripple Creek, and told me about a place I’d find down the road which wasn’t on my radar.

Finding this little town and spending part of my day here was a pleasant, unexpected surprise.

 

I didn’t have time to ride this train today but there will be others in my near future which I have budgeted time for.  These old-style railroads are often a great way to see parts of an area you won’t experience from the road.

As I was walking back towards downtown from the railroad station I noticed a statue of a distinguished gentleman on a park bench holding a gold coin.  I thought he’d look even better wearing my Safety Sam vest.

Before I left Cripple Creek I noticed this vehicle right up the street from where I had parked my car.  I’ve always said I’d never buy another black car, but even I think this looks really cool.

I think this would look perfect parked right next to my space shuttle golf cart.