Colorado Springs: Garden of the Gods

I had one day in Colorado Springs, it was the destination day of a 2 week roadtrip across The States and I ended up seeing quite a lot! It started off with a morning at the scenic Garden of the Gods for a hike: https://shellsadventures.com/2023/11/19/garden-of-the-gods-colorado-springs/ At the Garden of the Gods there are lots of trails, from short ¼ mile and longer trails up to 5 miles. All around there is beautiful scenery with the red rocks, and there is a visitor’s centre available. The great part about visting Garden of the Gods is that it is free.

After the Garden of the Gods, I discovered the Ghost Town Museum along the way to checking into my accommodation, and what in interesting stop it was for someone interested in history. The Ghost Town Museum is like walking into a by-gone era. It’s a great example of what one of Colorado’s Wild West towns would have looked like in the mid-1800’s. Besides some very interesting displays, it has some hands-on activities to keep people entertained: cranking a butter churn, trying out some of the old arcade games and panning for gold. I met someone there who actually managed to find a few gold nuggets. Me? I was not so lucky but had fun trying! All artefacts at the museum were found in the surrounding Pikes Peak region, showcasing some real-life history from the area from the towns which were established from the 1860’s and 1870’s by gold prospectors.

Another interesting stop I found along the way was the Garden of the Gods Trading Post. The Trading Post is one of the oldest and largest gift shops in Colorado, right at the entrance of the Garden of the Gods. I really enjoyed seeing the beautiful and unique Colorado themed gifts at the Trading Post. Taking my time to take a look at all it had to offer, while drinking one of the locally made sodas.

After checking into my accommodation I went to the Cracker Barrel for the first time and tried my first catfish and fried steak, and it was surprisingly good.