Peterson Air and Space Museum

Monument, Colorado         High 81 Low 61

The weather since we have been here has been absolutely delightful. It has been cool enough at night that we have been able to sleep with the windows open. Afternoon thundershowers are predicted for the next few days, but we hope not.

Today we decided to go see the Peterson Air and Space Museum. We went to the gate we were told only to find it closed and locked. We then went to another gate and were told to go to still another gate. They were supposed to have our base passes ready for us at the gate, but-------someone forgot to send over the paperwork. So as a consequence, we got to wait for almost an hour while they checked us out. We weren’t alone since there were several other cars in the same situation. We saw two cars leave because they got tired of waiting.

Once we finally got on the Air Force base, we were able to find the Museum with no problem. The docent in the Museum was very knowledgeable. He told us about some small airplane models of all the countries involved in the War hanging from the ceiling of the theater. It seem that during World War II, to be a gunner on a plane you had to know which plane you were seeing from just the silhouette. They asked school children to make the models, for which they got a certificate for the help in the war effort. The gunner candidate had to pass a test with 90 % accuracy. I assume so that he would not shoot down friendly aircraft. There were over 10,000 model airplanes made that went to different Bases.

We then got to go to one of the hanger that housed a lot of the displays, which included a plane and a missile control center. The docent there told us how strict the firing of missiles was. There were enough safeguards in place that it would have been very hard if not impossible to accidentally fire any missiles.

There was one display that showed the layout of the Cheyenne Mountain NORAD complex. The docent told us that the entrance tunnel was drilled clear through the mountain so that if an attack were to take place, the explosion would go clear through the mountain with no loss of the Control Center. The buildings inside the mountain are two stories high and are sitting on large springs which protect them from earthquakes and even a nuclear explosion.

If you look carefully, you can see the mountain with all the antennas. That is Cheyenne Mountain. 

One chart on the wall showed where existing and former missile sites were located. On the picture the ones with the red dots are the ones still in use today.

This told about the bombing of Japan. Note the number of casualties. 

We were told that the saying “the whole 9 yards” came from the length of the bullet belts that were loaded onto the plane. I looked on Wikipedia, and while that was one explanation, it was felt that the saying had a much earlier start than World War II.

We then went outside and looked at some of the planes exhibited there, including a large radar plane that was in use until 1963. It had a normal crew of 16 and as able to stay flying for 15 hours. There was a lot of radar equipment on board, that would tell where any threats against the United States might be.

The plane was airborne so long that they had a kitchen.

This and the following charts were used to exactly pinpoint where the plane was. The navigator found the location of three stars and using the charts could see where they were.

It was interesting seeing all the planes and displays. It was also refreshing to be able to take pictures in a Museum.

After the Museum we went to a "Farmers Market" in Monument. It was mostly craft items with the exception on one produce stand that wanted $4.00 for one tomato, which we declined.

Thanks for visiting.

Garden of the Gods

Monument, Colorado     High 77 Low 55

Today we went to the Visitor Center at Garden of the Gods. The whole Park is a 1323 acre park owned by the City of Colorado Springs. In 1909, railroad magnate Charles Elliot Perkins bequeathed the Parkland he had purchased in 1879 to the City with the stipulation that it remain open and free to the public. The Park is known for its towering red sandstone formations. The visitor center shows some of the history of the Park and, and has a lot of displays about the local flora and fauna.

Cindy liked the welcome sign in all the different languages.

We found out that Pike's Peak name sake never reached the summit.

This was taken from the upper deck of the visitor center.

Today there were a lot of people enjoying the sights around the Park. The first large parking lot was so full that we were unable to find a parking place. Cindy wanted to get a picture of Balanced Rock without people, but was unable to do so. When we started to leave there was a class C motor home trying to go through a really narrow place in the road. I don’t know if he scrapped his mirror, but if he didn’t, he only missed by inches. The road is so narrow and twisty that he really shouldn’t have been driving a motor home on it. 

Cindy wanted to get a picture with no one in it, but when you look at all the people, you can see that it would have been impossible.

After leaving The Garden of the Gods, we drove through downtown Old Colorado City. It reminded us a lot of downtown Park City. There were a lot of touristy type shops.

This mural was o one of the buildings in Old Colorado City.

Tomorrow we are going to see the Peterson Air and Space Museum. In order to see it, we had to call at least 24 hours in advance and give all of our information, divers license number, age, and phone number. We will be going onto the base and I guess they need to check us out before allowing us in.

Thanks for visiting.

Slowly Headed Home

Monument, Colorado            High 79 Low 55

Yesterday I wasn’t able to post because the RV Park we were staying in had no Wi-Fi and the Verizon service only had 1G and couldn’t get Wi-Fi.

We left Russell Kansas fairly early since we had a long drive yesterday. Cindy took some pictures of the Park in Russel and of the reindeer and the Oil Services Museum across the street from the Park. We didn’t visit the Museum. 

We drove for almost 5 hours to Siebert, Colorado to the Shady Grove RV Park. The name is a misnomer, because there isn't much shade and definately no grove. We were there with Passport America. The only amenity was their over the air TV connection. His antenna was a lot higher than I could have been and we had a good variety of channels. It was not too bad for one night and we liked having power for the AC. It did cool off enough last night that we were able to sleep with windows open.

Today we had almost a three hour drive to Monument. We are at the Colorado Heights Camping Resort with Coast to Coast. We almost didn’t want to stay here because of some bad reviews I had read, but decided to go ahead and originally booked four days. But after seeing all there is around Colorado Springs, we raised it to 6 nights. We have 30 amp electrical, which with the cooler weather than we have been having is adequate. We could have had 50 amp, but decided free was better than $5.00 per day.

This fountain is by the entrance to the Park.

Anyway, who ever gave this Park the terrible reviews must be way fussier than we are. Yes, some of the trees make getting to you site a little hard. We had an escort that made sure we didn’t have any problems. The Park is having a relatively inexpensive dinner tomorrow night and pancake breakfast Saturday. It has what looks like a nice swimming pool, which we might try after the kids leave for the week-end. Some of the sites are too short for us. In fact, the site we were originally assigned to wasn’t near long enough. Our escorts then showed us two other sites and let us have the one we thought would work best for us. On one side the RV next to us is a little close, but we are backed up to a common area with a large fire pit, which is next to what they call the amphitheater, where the meals are sold. We both like this Park.

The large common area.

This afternoon we went into Colorado Springs to look at some of the Quilt stores. I asked Cindy if she wanted to see the quilt stores, but not buy any material. She said sure, but then we could go to some ice cream stores and just look without any tasting. LOL We were good though, and only got the Row by Row patterns at the 3 stores we visited. (She said that because I like ice cream so much.)

This is the Row by Row quilt designed by the stores in the area.

Cindy liked this quilt hanging in one of the stores.

We are slowly heading home, and should be there a week from Monday.

Thanks for visiting.