Our Western trek next took us from Estes Park to Colorado Springs (144 miles). The Marriott Hotel where we stayed offers a great view of Pikes Peak.
That’s snow-capped Pikes Peak, elevation 14,115 feet, in this photo. Great views of the Rocky Mountains abound!
We would spend two nights in Colorado Springs where a highlight for me was going to Fort Carson, a nearby U.S. Army post where my family and I lived in the early 1970s.
The post was first called Camp Carson when it opened in 1942 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Colorado Springs donated the land south of the city to the U.S. Army. The quickly bustling training center was named for the legendary Western frontiersman and scout Gen. Christopher “Kit” Carson. He died in 1868 at age 58 and is buried in Taos, N.M. (wish I had tried to find his grave when we were in Taos a couple days after this Ft. Carson visit).