The Seven Falls in Colorado Springs is a series of seven cascading waterfalls, reaching a total height of 181 feet!

Back in 1872, Nathaniel Colby owned 160 acres of land that included the present day Seven Falls and South Cheyenne Canon. He sold the land to the Colorado Land Company who sold it on to a James Hull. Hull was an environmentalist who was disturbed to find the scenic grandeur of the canyon being threatened by people chopping down the surrounding forest for its lumber.

Hull was also a businessman, and he understood the value of the property as a scenic destination and began to improve the site by constructing a road through the canyon to the Seven Falls and building a stairway along the side of the Falls. He installed a toll gate at the foot of the canyon and proceeded to do business. Back then, a local entrepreneur paid Hull $500 for the privilege of taking passengers by carriages to the Falls for 25 cents each. Business flourished and the Seven Falls park became a prominent tourist attraction.

Today, Poppy and I took a complimentary shuttle to the entrance of the park where you walk 0.8 miles to the base of the Falls, or there is the opportunity of taking a tram if you don’t wish to walk. Then the big climb begins – 254 steps in total to the top of the Falls.

In the middle of November, the park and the Falls are lit in colour to mark the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. As Poppy and I walked the route today, you could already see the lights in the trees which I can only imagine would be magical to experience at night! Note to self: come back next year when the Falls are lit!

Poppy and I made it up the first 185 steps to view the sixth waterfall (named Shorty) but I didn’t press her to go any further as the one thing Poppy hates in life is water! Bless her, she was such a trooper and made so many new friends as we caught our breath before descending to terra firma!

The Falls are named in alphabetical order (not top to bottom): Bridal Veil, Feather, Hill, Hull, Ramona, Shorty, and Weimer.

If you look at the top of the centre rock formation, you’ll see a base for a zip-line experience that you can take at the Seven Falls – what fun that would be!

The Garden of the Gods is a 1,300-acre park in Colorado Springs which has a range of incredible rock formations. There are more than 15 miles of trails with a 1 1/2-mile walk running through the heart of the park that is paved. The distinctive formations attract more than two million visitors a year who come to enjoy the beauty of the Park and learn the secrets of this amazing place.

Cast your mind back to about 65 million years ago when there was an intense period of geological upheaval along a natural fault line caused by the old Pacific plate slamming into the North American plate! Sedimentary rocks, which were lying horizontal at the time, were tilted vertically and faulted into “fins” by the immense mountain-building forces caused by the uplift of the surrounding Rocky Mountains. The Ice Age that followed caused weathering and glaciation of the rock, the softer rocks eroded and valleys were created leaving harder rocks standing as the tall ridges. The resulting rocks had different shapes – toppled, overturned, stood-up, pushed around and slanted – and are simply magnificent to see up close!

Archaeological evidence shows that prehistoric people visited Garden of the Gods about 1330 BC. At about 250 BC, Native American people camped in the park; they are believed to have been attracted to wildlife and plant life in the area and used overhangs created by the rocks for shelter.

The red colour of the outcrops is due to the presence of iron oxide or hematite. Exposure to the elements causes iron minerals to oxidize or “rust,” resulting in red, orange and brown-coloured rocks.

Many of the rock formations have names! Top Left: two camels kissing! Top Right: the three graces!

 

As aviation advanced following the Wright Brothers’ first flight, so did discussions about the establishment of a separate aeronautical academy within the military system. Fast forward to June 1959, and the first class of 207 cadets graduated from the US Air Force Academy built in Colorado Springs.

Nestled into the base of the Rocky Mountains, the Air Force campus covers some 18,000 acres of breath-taking scenery. And, soaring 150 feet towards the Colorado sky is the US Air Force Academy Chapel, an all-faith house of worship designed to meet the spiritual needs of cadets and the most visited man-made tourist attraction in the state.

The chapel has two main levels, with the Protestant nave on the upper level and the Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist chapels are located beneath. This is also another level housing a large all-faiths room and two meeting rooms. Each chapel has its own entrance, and services can be held simultaneously without interfering with one another.

We were only able to visit the Protestant Chapel which is designed to seat 1,200 individuals. Stained glass windows provide ribbons of colour, progressing from darker to lighter as they reach the altar. The chancel is set off by a crescent-shaped, multi-coloured altar-piece containing semi-precious stones from Colorado and marble from Italy.

The pews are made of American walnut and African mahogany, with the ends being sculpted to resemble World War I airplane propellers. The backs of the pews are capped by a strip of aluminum similar to the trailing edge of a fighter aircraft wing.

The aluminum, glass and steel structure features 17 spires and was designed by Walter Netsch, an American architect based in Chicago. Completed in 1962, the Chapel has become a classic and highly regarded example of modernist architecture. In 2004, it was named an US National Historic Landmark and is stunningly beautiful inside and out!

Bottom Left: in the rear of the Protestant nave, reaching the uppermost heights of the chapel, is the classical pipe organ and a 100-seat choir loft.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford signed legislation allowing women to attend the nation’s military academies. In 1976, the first female students enrolled in the Air Force Academy; today, women make up about 19 percent of the US Air Force.

 

We have now moved onto Colorado Springs where the temperature is scheduled to drop to 20 degrees Farenheit tonight (minus six Centigrade)! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

Down the road from us is Fort Carson, an American Army base which was first established in 1942, following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour. The city of Colorado Springs purchased land south of the city and donated it to the War Department to enable the base to be built.

During World War II, over 100,000 soldiers trained at Fort Carson and more than 100 units were transferred to the mountain post from other installations. Starting in 1943, it was also home to nearly 9,000 prisoners of war – mainly Italians and Germans. The POWs helped to alleviate the manpower shortage in Colorado by doing general farm work such as canning tomatoes, cutting corn and aiding in logging operations on Colorado’s Western Slope.

Today, Fort Carson covers 137,000 acres and has a military population of over 21,000 soldiers who are served by nearly 5,000 civilian employees. There is an additional training area located approximately 150 miles to the southeast of base which is used for large force-on-force maneuver training.

Colin Powell, a retired four-star General, who became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and US Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, served as Assistant Division Commander of the 4^th Infantry Division at Fort Carson in the early 1980s.

 

The beautiful scenery around Fort Carson has made it one of the most requested duty stations in the US Army. In 2007, it adopted “Best Hometown in the Army” as its motto!

We are staying just outside Pueblo in Colorado which has an elevation of over 4,600 feet above sea level. The area has four distinct seasons, yet is a semi-arid desert land, with an annual rainfall of about 12 inches. Summers are hot and dry, winters are usually mild, and snowfall is light. Due to the high altitude and the accompanying stronger sun, snow rarely remains on the ground for long.

Pueblo and its metropolitan area is a sizeable town of over 200,000 people. The Arkansas River slices through Pueblo’s downtown area is a recreation rock star, offering everything from fly-fishing and rafting to world-class bird watching and fishing.

For nearly a century, the main industry and the largest employer in Pueblo, was the Colorado Fuel and Iron Steel Mill. It attracted large numbers of immigrant labourers and led to Pueblo becoming the most ethnically and culturally diverse city in Colorado and the West. At one point, more than 40 languages were spoken in the steel mill and more than two-dozen foreign language newspapers were published in the city.

Not only is the city culturally diverse, but for some unknown reason, it produces heroes! The Medal of Honor is America’s highest and most prestigious personal military decoration that recognizes US military service members who distinguish themselves by acts of valor. Pueblo is the hometown to four Medal of Honor recipients – more than any other city in the US. President Dwight D. Eisenhower on presenting Raymond G. Murphy with his medal in 1953 commented, “What is it… something in the water out there in Pueblo? All you guys turn out to be heroes!”

The view from our motor home camp site.

Pueblo’s river walk – a mile-long walk through the centre of downtown with shops, restaurants and bars lining the route. 

Nestled into a valley some fifty miles from where we are staying, with the magnificent Rocky Mountains rising up on the horizon, sits the US Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado – a federal supermax prison for male inmates! It is nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies!”

The prison has four separate units each with its own security classification, the supermax being the highest. Over 400 occupants are housed in the supermax facility who are deemed to be too dangerous, too high-profile or too great a national security risk for even a maximum-security prison.

Inmates are confined in specially designed single-person cells for 23 hours a day. Their one-hour time out of their cell, for showering or exercise, may occur at any time of the day or night and they are moved between places under restraint – handcuffed, shackled or both. The exercise location is a concrete pit resembling an empty swimming pool designed to prevent those using it from knowing their location in the facility.

Each cell has a concrete desk, stool and bed, plus a toilet, a shower and a sink lacking a potentially dangerous tap. Rooms may also be fitted with an electric light that can be shut off only remotely, a radio, and on rare occasions, a black-and-white television that shows recreational, educational, and religious programming. In addition, all cells are soundproofed to prevent prisoners from communicating with each other.

Cell windows are four inches high by four feet wide and are designed to prevent inmates from knowing their specific location within the complex because they can see only the sky and roof through them, making it virtually impossible to plan an escape.

Officers in the prison’s control centre monitor inmates 24 hours-a-day and can activate a “panic button” that instantly closes every door in the facility should an escape attempt be suspected.

Pressure pads and 12-foot-tall razor wire fences surround the perimeter, which is patrolled by heavily armed officers with attack dogs. Mike and I were somewhat nervous at stopping the car to take a couple of pics of the facility from the roadside!

 

 

 

Buddy Holly was born Charles Harden Holley in Lubbock, Texas in September 1936.

He learned to play the guitar and sing alongside his musical family absorbing influences of gospel music, country music and rhythm and blues acts, and performing in his home-town alongside friends from school.

In 1952, Holly made his first appearance on local television, following which he formed a band called “Buddy and Bob” with his friend Bob Montgomery. In 1955, he opened for Elvis Presley, which he repeated two more times before permanently shifting his musical style from country and western to rock and roll. Later in the year he opened for Bill Haley and His Comets where he was spotted by a Nashville scout who helped him secure a contract with Decca Records.

Holly was unhappy with the recording sessions at Decca and moved to producer Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico where he recorded a demo tape of “That’ll Be the Day”. Petty sent the tape to Brunswick Records which released it as a single and credited it to “The Crickets” which became the name of Holly’s band. In 1957, as the band toured, “That’ll Be the Day” topped the US “Best Sellers in Stores” chart and the UK Singles Chart. Its success was followed later in the year by another major hit, “Peggy Sue”.

Holly’s album “Chirping Crickets”, released in November 1957, reached number five on the UK Albums chart. In early 1959, he assembled a new band and embarked on a tour of the Midwestern US. After a show in Iowa, Holly chartered a plane to travel to his next show. Soon after takeoff, the plane crashed, killing Holly, the pilot and two others. Holly was 22 years of age.

The tragic and premature loss of Buddy Holly is immortalized in Don McLean’s song “The Day the Music Died”.

 

 

 

Buddy Holly was one of the first artists inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

 

 

Following a visit to Lubbock in August last year, Mike returns home with a kitty who is begging outside his hotel room! We name the kitty Buddy Holly until we can determine its sex. Meet our very own Buddy Holly who now answers to Holly!

Spread over 1,800 acres, the Texas Tech University campus is stunning! Built in a style of Spanish Renaissance architecture, over 36,000 students wander around the extensive campus each day.

As you enter the manicured campus, there is a statue of gentleman called Will Rogers and his horse Soapsuds. Legend has it, that the backside of the horse points towards College Station, the hometown of rival Texas A&M University! Cute!

The student recreation centre is vast and includes seven basketball/volleyball courts; an indoor soccer arena; weight areas; cardiovascular machines; and a four-lane, elevated jogging track. There is also a 53-foot climbing wall, an indoor Olympic-size swimming pool, and an outdoor leisure pool and access to all of this is free for students!

The Office of International Affairs integrates the global vision of Texas Tech University by fostering international leadership, awareness, education, research, and outreach for the university and the greater community.

The university even has its own classical music and public radio news stations that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week providing service to listeners within a 75-mile radius of Lubbock. And, its own Police Department employing 56 officers and 38 civilian employees. The officers are licensed by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and are fully commissioned.

Top Left: My stepson Chris who is a senior at Texas Tech University majoring in Maths. Top Right: the department of Maths and Statistics; middle, the statue of Will Rogers and his horse Soapsuds; bottom, the department of Chemistry building in the Spanish Renaissance style. In 2016, Texas Tech had an endowment fund of $662.6 million.

 

 

Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, was formally known as Texas Technological College and fielded its first inter-college football team during the 1925 season. The team was originally known as the “Matadors”, a name suggested by the wife of the first football coach, to reflect the influence of the Spanish Renaissance architecture on the campus. The school’s short-lived Matadors logo was officially replaced in 1937 with “Red Raiders”, a nickname given to them by a journalist impressed by their bright scarlet uniforms that remains to this day.

Today, the Red Raiders are playing Iowa State University and Mike, Chris and I went to the game. Wow, what a spectacle it was even though the home team played miserably and lost, again!

The Red Raiders’ stadium – branded the Jones AT&T Stadium – is a 60,000 seater, state-of-the-art facility which includes luxury suites, club seating, decks for television cameras and the press and a 1,000-car park.

It has a unique Double T scoreboard modeled in the fashion of Texas Tech’s logo which sits on the roof of the athletic department offices in the south end zone and was installed prior to the start of the 1978 season. The scoreboard has remained in place through multiple renovations due to its iconic and symbolic value, and received upgraded white LED panel installations in 2013.

During the game a “Good Year” blimp flew over the stadium providing us with fantastic aerial views of the players, the audience and the “show” that took place – the band, the cheer leaders, the mascot and a masked Lady Raider riding a horse!

 

Top: an aerial view of the stadium. Bottom row, from left: a Red Raider’s cheer leader, Lady Red Raider and Raider Red, the team’s mascot.

 

As we drive between the Texas towns of Sweetwater and Lubbock (where we are now staying), the landscape reflects the county’s economic evolution that is now in its second century!

In 1910, cotton was first planted in and around the Sweetwater area accounting for almost 72 percent of the county’s cultivation income. Except for a brief recession after World War I, cotton cultivation continued to expand in the area and by 1930, 80,000 acres of cotton were planted.

The cotton economy was severely shaken during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and although World War II helped to revive the local agricultural business, by the 1950s farm consolidations, the decline of farm tenancy, and an extended drought caused a drop in the population.

With the impact of the Great Depression hitting farming community, families packed their belongings and headed west to California, so oil was discovered in the Sweetwater area in 1939. Although production was initially low, it peaked in 1956 at over eight million barrels of oil a day – a day!

Driving along the road you see what the US calls a “Pump Jack” which in the UK we know as a “Nodding Donkey.” They are both one and the same thing and refer to the equipment used to extract oil from an onshore oil well – the mechanical arm moves up and down pumping oil from the well – in this area usually around two to three thousand barrels a day.

In 2000, wind energy developers arrived in the area erecting over 1,300 wind turbines and pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy.

As you drive from Sweetwater to Lubbock, all you can see, as far as you can see, are wind turbines spinning in the ever-present breeze, cotton balls swaying on their plants and all too often a Nodding Donkey sitting in the middle of the field!

Fields of cotton with wind turbines as far as the eye can see!

A nodding donkey/pump jack!