Today we drove to a small town called Manitou Springs. Bob remembered it from being stationed here. After decades of stagnation, in 1970's, Manitou began to reinvent itself based on its original strengths. The formation of a National Historic District encouraged the restoration of neglected structures and an art colony began to grow. To me that meant shopping. There were many unique shops.....
and beautiful flowers.
Also many antiques! Made us think of our friends Larry and Judy Drake, as they have several old gas pumps.
We then headed up to the summit of Pikes Peak. It was 19 miles up, with several construction delays. When Bob drove to the summit in 1968 only part of the road was paved. Today, it was paved all the way. Bob even came to the mountain to watch a race, where various types of cars raced to the top of Pikes Peaks from the 6 mile mark and it was called, "Pikes Peak Hill Climb." Today that race is still run in July of each year. Driving up this road with all it's switchbacks I can't imagine anyone doing racing on this road.
It took us almost an hour to reach the summit.
Bob and I thought maybe Pikes Peak was so famous because it must be the tallest mountain in the US. So of course we Googled it and found out we were wrong. In fact, Colorado has 54 mountain which are at least 14,000 ft. and Pikes Peak is the 3lst in that list. But it is the second most visited mountain next to Mt. Fuji in Japan. It also was the symbol of the 1859 gold rush, "Pikes Peak or Bust."
What a view from the top!!
and rocks.
From the bottom, another beautiful view.
We had a great trip.
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