Garden of the Gods

In 1871, General William Jackson Palmer founded Colorado Springs while extending the lines of his Denver and Rio Grande railroad.  In 1879, General Palmer repeatedly urged his friend, Charles Elliott Perkins, the head of Burlington Railroad, to establish a home in the Garden of the Gods and to build his railroad from Chicago to Colorado Springs.  Although the Burlington never reached Colorado Springs directly, Perkins did purchase two-hundred and forty acres in the Garden of the God for a summer home in 1879.   He later added to the property but never built on it, preferring to leave his wonderland in its natural state for the enjoyment of the public.  Perkins died in 1907 before he made arrangements for the land to become a pubic park, although it had been open to the public for years.  In 1909, Perkins' children, knowing their father's feeling for the Garden of the Gods, conveyed his four-hundred eighty acres to the City of Colorado Springs.  It would be known forever as the Garden of the Gods "where it shall remain free to the public for all eternity." 

When we entered the Garden of the Gods, we saw The Balanced Rock.  Like everyone else we had our picture taken by the rock.

We continued around the loop and the scenery was breathtaking.

We next went to the Trading Post established in the early 1920's by Charles Strausenback.  He built the Trading Post to resemble the homes of the Pueblo Indians.  Since that time, the Trading Post has expanded six times to become Colorado's largest art gallery and gift shop.  We had lunch at the Balanced Rock Cafe.  We ate out on the patio, which was shaded and we had a very pleasant lunch.

We headed up to the Visitors Center and took these pictures from the deck on the second floor.  We also ate ice cream.  When you are retired ice cream is a requirement daily.

As we continued around the loop we saw more and more of God's beauty.

Amazing!

Unbelievable.

No more words.

We headed home after another wonderful day.  We are asked all the time what is the most beautiful part of the country.  As you can see, that is a question that has no answer.  America is Beautiful!

FYI:  The lyrics for America the Beautiful was written by Katharine Lee Bates as a poem, Pikes Peak. Katharine, a Professor of English at Wellesley College, hastily jotted down the first draft of this poem, later song, during the summer of 1893.  Bates spent that summer teaching English at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado.