Welcome to my first time exploring and entering the great state of Colorado from cliffs to caves please enjoy some of the most beautiful landscape i have ever had the privilege to explore and experience.

Index of landmarks

Before now I’ve always had a different impression of what a mountain actually was, my perception has since shifted since entering the great state of Colorado.

Fowler Colorado

In the early hours of the morning we drove through some of the most beautiful scenery and as each city passes we got more and more elevated, with each mile another mountain peaking over another,drivers few and far in between at this hour on a distant road.

Rye Colorado

Bishops castle

Going up, and up and up a curvaceous road we among many other travelers made our journey up the mountain to get to the long awaited destination.

A epic castle built by a single man by hand.

A true spectacle that you must stop and see, something you only hear about in books or some sorts, steep incline to enter and greeted with a spiral staircase lined with Expanded Metal Mesh Sheet’s to ensure no one slips through the rods that are bound together to make a stairway up to the first floor, this absolutely elegant event room with stained glass windows a place that can be rented out for events such as graduations or weddings.

There is another area if you keep going up and up and up you are able to access this Steele rod globe that is spotted at the top of the photo above, only the brave enough climb the rickety spiral staircase and keep in mind that there isn’t any lights on the stairs so you are relying on a flashlight or your eyes to adjust and see each stone and step in front of you to lead you to the top, some small areas have larger “resting areas” where one or more person can pass and there is a larger wire cover then the staircase has to offer but man does the view pay off!

Pacing to the top each step construed almost as the last one below you see the people, look out below! The dome

Royal gorge bridge and park

This attraction draws people from all over the world to take in its beautiful scenery and feats of nature, a train car used to go down the side of of the mountain that forms the canyon down the Arkansas river.

I had the pleasure of riding a gondola across the gap of the river from one side to the other, this was not only exciting but very thrilling!

I was excited as I like trying new things and all, so we get into this car that holds eight with four on each side.

A few beeps from the doors alert you they are about to shut and the ride is about to begin, it starts slow as they are powers via chord operation electronically ran by motors, and you are off! Not long before you see the beauty of the gorge a total of 956 feet above the Arkansas River, and boy when they say don’t look down they really mean it!

I’m not usually one to be afraid of heights but it was very windy the particular day we went (gusts reaching up to 29 mph) so as we were traversing across the gorge you could definitely tell how high we were, not realizing that the ride was not even half way through I couldn’t help but look down and TRY not to think of all the horrible possible outcomes if this line (god forbidding) snaps or any danger becomes present, or what if we get stuck?? The winds started to howl and whistle adding to the paranoia, as the ride continues it speeds up right after the middle so the ride feels a little smother and calms me down, I found that reading a pamphlet that was handed to us when we entered the park, it was fun but I don’t think would do it again, maybe if it was less windy, next time I go here I want to take a train to see the other perspective.

The ride took a total of 5:33 to go from one end to another, it beats the long walk back over the bridge pointed out below.

Garden of the gods

Welcome To The Garden Of The Gods
a park of dramatic colors, rock silhouettes, grasses that ripple in the wind. trees gnarled with age, and wildlife soaring in the sky or scurrying across the ground. The Garden of the Gods – a meeting place symbolizing beauty, strength, and diversity – in which nature blends the elements of life. Where Indians, settlers, and travelers throughout time have paused, We invite you to discover and enjoy this unique park and Registered Natural Landmark.

Good morning, literally! We hopped in the car day two and took a journey, I wasn’t really aware where we were going, arrive around 8 am, just as the sun is cresting over the clouds, it’s still a bit chilly and windy, unknowing of what I was looking at I turn around and see the beautiful formations that is garden of the gods, the rocks are towering and the landscape around it is so serene.

Plenty of people weee gathered there already, both near and far, I went down several different parts of the open rocks at the particular outlook we went to, gritty sandy course and everything else you would associate with a super course rock, sandy and home to many critters and animals alike, I saw a few chipmunks while we were there too!

It would be really cool to live in the crest of one of those mountains!

Manitou Cliff Dwellings

The entrance to the side of the mountain is right off the road just a a sharp right turn off the main highway and you are there, entering into how native Americans lived, ate and the everyday walks of life.

The creation of the Manitou Cliff Dwellings Museum and Preserve was the vision of Virginia McClurg and Harold Ashenhurst. It was undertaken to create a museum that preserves and protects the fine stonework architecture of the cliff dwellers, which at that time, were unprotected from vandals and artifact hunters. The impact of these careless people threatened to wipe out the great architectural achievements of the Ancestral Puebloans. In 1907, our preserve was acknowledged by Dr. E. L. Hewett, Director of American Archaeology and father of the Antiquities Act, for its detail of workmanship and educational purpose.

I stuck my head into a few “windows” and saw some of the rooms that they slept in, shallow ceilings hard floors the collection that they had with the enticement around them, living off what they could being as resourceful as possible, hulling corn, baking bread, all while not wasting anything this included sharing and cooking every part of the animal, special tools were created for skinning and cleaning while others were for entertainment, they had some stones you could ground corn at right before you enter the museum.

At 6,530 above sea level at this point you descend down some stairs and find the start of museum of the right, and a huge oven that is fully functional and can bake 20 loafs at a time!

The museum has many levels, each dedicated to its own unique time period, they even had some human remains that were found in the cliffs, tools used for everyday use, bowl types and materials used for making storage containers and food preservation methods such as racks used for sun drying meats and Hyde’s.

Not only is this site extremely educational but you could very well spend hours there reading all of the information and learning about how they adapted to the environment and the struggles of daily life.

“Into the side of the earth I lay, watching the sun day to day, breathing and living the finest around, Mother Nature will never let me down, being hopeful that she will protect and provide, listen to the wind in the trees and the song of the earth the rain provides, as dusk arrives I am transported to the skies of life, twinkling and glimmering, records of the past, shooting by in the distance look up steadfast”.

Original poem by me

Denver Broncos Stadium

At a whopping 1 mile above sea level this was our midday attraction for day two now since the off-season it really wasn’t that busy but there was probably 20 people who were also there to tourist the stadium at the same time when you walk in your greeted with a Hall of Fame room like something out of a payroll after an ad played at a football game the foyer is nice and large and they have the original floor from the basketball court for the Denver nuggets, a man comes out and starts to explain the itinerary of the tour the rooms we’re going to see but explains to us that since there was a concert we wouldn’t be able to go out on the actual green of the field , as we are going suit to suit each one is more expensive and classy then the last, some rooms had beer taps on the wall and some were like small houses stocked with food, places to sit and lots and lots of windows, these can be rented out for hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout the season and some of them even require you to sign for five years if you want that particular suite.

As the man is sitting there giving his speech about the history of the stadium and the construction he also goes into detail about why the seats are orange, which may surprise you!

The seats at the lower level are orange not Becuase it’s the fever broncos and they love to represent but rather they are “color coded removable seats to expand the felid” says the tour guide in hopes for FIFA to host a match there, but even after all the adjustments made FIFA decided against it, here’s hoping empower will host a game soon!

As we keep progressing ( the total tour was around 1 1/2 hours ) we find more and more rooms, heading down more towards the field there is a liquor lounge, some more suits to rent and then in the very middle is where the offices are, yeah everything from security to the writers desk to the announcers two different TV broadcast stations (fun fact each casting and TV station suite was empty and had no decoration as they choose to decorate each year for maximum space and preferred layout), we did get to see the press room where all of the writers go to plan and write out scripts for the players,

We also stopped by the radio room which had a bunch of control boxes headsets microphones you name it it was there, so cool to get to see what the conditions are to write in that environment, now keep in mind that this is the off season so it was really quiet and easy to for us if you were trying to write a script, the same couldn’t be said for a game day, so I sat there for a few moments taking it in, wondering if I’ll ever have the chance to work in a setting like the same one I’m sitting in, but as a photographer and not a writer.

We walked through an area that was slightly under construction as the escalator down to the bottom floor wasn’t working and it’s cool the long drop off of the side as you’re looking to the left walking down to our final elevator, you get a fantastic opportunity to see the Denver skyline, tall buildings, trains, cars , people, even an amusement park not too far away!

The scene is truly spectacular as it quickly puts you into perspective of how large this arena really is and how high you are.

As we reach the end of the tour we are finally on ground level seeing the locker rooms, the medic tables and even the sign that states how to overcome altitude sickness.

( it’s worth mentioning that the tour guide said he’s seen not a one player look at the sign before hand as it’s sort of ment psych you out, since the air is so much thinner especially here at empower.

Turning the other direction we finally get to see the entrance, the big tunnel , the grand opening, this is where the players come out at the start of the game,sadly there was construction on the field so we were not able to access it.

The tour guild points at the horse “Bucky” and mentions that he’s only affixed up there with three MASSIVE screws.

Quick history on how the horse became an icon, Roy Rogers came calling to commission a tribute to his famous equine costar, a palomino horse named Trigger. They took the horse’s measurements, expanded them at scale, made a mold and then produced the fiberglass figure that Rogers would later display at the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum in Apple Valley, California. Nearly 10 years later, they’d return to the mold they made for Trigger.

Bucky’s installation was completed at some point in the summer of 1975; he made his first appearance in The Denver Post in a photo of scoreboard construction on the second page of the Aug. 28 edition of the paper.

Sadly, Jim died just two years later and never got to see it atop the scoreboard where it became famous and beloved.

“Jim Rorie delivered the statue that he and his wife created to Mile High Stadium, happy to have it arrive in one piece,” Joelle Klein wrote in her article for the Post. “He then turned around and headed back home to Alpine, California.”

Making your way out of the Stadium there is several photo opportunities, as well as four horse heads.

As you exit the building you begin to realize exactly how high off the ground I’ve spoken to some close friends who have sat at the top of the bowl, they reported saying that it shakes up there when the crowd is getting excited or rowdy, the tour guide also mentions that when you reach those seats and make the trek down there is a falling phenomenon due to the steep incline of the stairs, at the very top of the bowl up in the nosebleeds when looking down at the field, it’s as if there is no space at all which leads to the falling sensation, I personally can’t attest to this as I’ve never been all the way to the top but something that definitely is interesting, maybe one day I’ll safely make my way to the top and see what it’s like.

DNVR – Downtown

Driving through downtown Denver was exciting! It’s very diverse, lots of architectural beauty with the fair balance between old and new Colfax Avenue has everything For you!

We worked up quite the appetite from the broncos stadium tour, and stopped at the bar better known as “THE DNVR BAR” a true sports bar with a tv covering every square inch of wall space you could imagine, it was a Saturday but at the time there really wasn’t any major sports on so it was just two shows, someone interviewing Olympian Team USA participants and lacrosse.

When I go somewhere I’ve never been I like to take the risk of trying something new, I love Cesar salads and so naturally I got the wrap with peppers, and some of the best bar fries I’ve ever had!

The DNVR BAR not only serves as a bar, a great place to catch lunch or catching a sports game to cheer on your local Colorado team, it also is the home of the “DNVR”s sports Toyota lounge, and I got the absolute privilege of seeing and sitting in one of the chairs, it’s secluded away behind a sliding door that’s to the right of the bar unless your looking for it as it’s right above the door and faces towards the street you would never know.

Going up each 7 blue wide padded stairs leads you to the Toyota lounge, truly a reflection of the atmosphere of the topic with sports memorabilia covering all parts of the walls, lights couches chairs and tables, small but so cozy and comfortable, it’s like something someone writes about being interviewed at the end of there career or something, mic arms halogens to the left and right, and a writers area adjacent from that, when I sat in those chairs, man, when I tell you I felt like I was meant to be in journalism, comfy, great company, soft lighting and just warm enough where you didn’t need a jacket, the chairs looked professional but modern and very comfortable, all above a bar, how perfect to smell the food and see the people of your great city and do what you love!

Absolutely beautiful studio 👏🏼

We also went to a few oddity shops that included interests like Entomology,Geology or Horticulture and even some live specimens!!

Cave of the Winds Mountain Park

The cave of the winds was truly phenomenal as you make your way up to the top of the cave it is a long and steep drive up the mountain you can practically see the town from the cusp of the road driving up it’s something that you would see in an extreme Grand Prix race .

They have several different activities to pass the time you can pan for different types of minerals and rocks or you can simply play some corn hole or watch the nature as you’re sitting inside a carved out mountain essentially we saw a few chipmunks we were waiting for the tour to start at 11 AM.

Going upstairs about 200 total steps but the first 20 up to the actual mountain entrance are pretty steep, as you enter the mouth of the cave the walls are narrow and they advise you to not touch the walls as your oils will ruin the rock and if water ever comes back through this particular area it will prevent stag tights and stag mites from forming they have a few different pillars and there is even some holes that are carved out in the shape of an opera room.

There’s also a really fascinating wall where these- Two unmarried women were touring the cave and were disappointed with a room on the tour, they asked the manager if they could add a small cigar box which unmarried women could place hair pins in hope of finding husbands. The management agreed. The legend is that the women returned the following year and they were both married. This room is now known as the Old Maid’s Kitchen.

There’s a part of the tour that detours into the cave that is totally dark that is for the haunted lantern tour our tour guide says that sometimes people get lost in there for 2 to 3 days at a time it’s not something that I would adventure into it definitely sounds extremely adventurous living off the land inside of a cave trying to escape and find your way out without any light, speaking of;the next part of our tour is a trip into a small crack into the rock which is to demonstrate how dark it is exactly without any light the tour guide tells us to turn off all of our devices as we’re walking deeper and deeper into this cut out of the rock very narrow single file he tells us to turn around and power off all of our devices even a little unnatural light will ruin the experience , unknowing this was gonna happen I had preemptively put on a hoodie because I didn’t want to be cold in the cave and it’s known to be very windy in there (hence cave of the winds) so I was wearing a Cody Rhodes hoodie that was glow-in-the-dark (which I had totally forgotten) and when I tell you… The light from the glowing charged mask off of the rock couldn’t have been more embarrassing as the tour guide said well… Almost pitch black so I fold myself into a lawn chair position to try and dim any kind of illumination coming from the center of my hoodie, he also specifies that when you’re in the dark for so long your brain starts to make things up and you start to hallucinate and sometimes the people in the haunted cave frequently do because they are in the dark.

Jokingly the tour guide was attempting to give us a method to do so by wiggling your fingers in front of your face and then touching your nose and then you were supposed to close your hands and then he was telling us to close our hands he turned on the light and said just kidding you fell for it you can’t make yourself hallucinate, we finally reach apart where there is active water and stalactites and stalagmites formed you can actually touch the water but you can throw coins in

and shortly below there is the exit where the original founders heard of the whistling of the cave of the winds.

All in all if you ever have the opportunity to go to Colorado I would highly suggest it as someone who perspectively put Arkansas as the most beautiful place in the United States I have been successfully put out of my place and shown the tribute that Colorado has to offer whether it’s hiking climbing swimming or even just sitting outside and enjoying the sunshine The fresh air and the natural environment around you of every type of nature is abundant and you have endless possibilities of exploration Colorado is truly spectacular.

Elbert County, Colorado

Thank you for reading!

TheFrameQueen

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