In celebration of the first day of autumn, my husband and I make our customary pilgrimage into the mountains. Spoiled by a wide array of choices, we nonetheless seem to gravitate to Pancake Rocks year after year. As we leave Colorado Springs and wind up Ute Pass, we detect first flecks of orange among the scrub oak, and … Continue reading Fall Equinox
While hiking the Paul Intemann Memorial Trail between Crystal Park Road and Ruxton Avenue not long ago, scenes of Manitou Springs gradually unfold, and with them reminders of how marketable the hamlet has been from the moment it was put on the map. Since George Ruxton, British explorer, travel writer, and namesake of a prominent … Continue reading A View of Manitou
Were it not for visionaries like General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs, who realized early in the town's history that precious land needed to be set aside to preserve and protect forever, it is unlikely that his generous gifts, which included North Cheyenne and Bear Creek Canyons, as well as Monument Valley … Continue reading The Enchanted Garden
Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote loomed on my literary horizon for over 30 years, ever since I enjoyed a portion of a German translation as a teenager. Still venerated as one of the masterpieces of world literature, Cervantes (1547-1616) published part one in 1605, but required the impetus of a fake sequel by another writer … Continue reading Back to La Mancha-Some Thoughts
It is a human trait to be attracted to beautiful natural locations, and Manitou Park in Teller County, north of Woodland Park, along Colorado Highway 67, is no exception. The broad mountain valley parallels Trout Creek, a tributary of the South Platte River, and is bounded in the east by the Rampart Range, and in … Continue reading Dr. Bell’s Retreat
tanja britton 