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Seventy miles south of Denver on I-25,
COLORADO SPRINGS
was origi-nally developed as a vacation spot in 1871 by railroad tycoon William Jackson Palmer. He attracted so many English gentry to the town that it earned the nickname of "Little London." Despite sprawling for ten miles alongside I-25, modern Colorado Springs, a bastion of conservatism compared to liberal Denver, still retains much of Palmer's vision, thanks to a high military presence, fundamentalist religious organizations, the exclusive Colorado College and a well-to-do Anglo-American community.
Motorists whisk through the incredible
Garden of the Gods
, on the west edge of town off US-24 W, without bothering to get out of their vehicles. This gnarled, twisted and warped red sandstone rockery was lifted up at the same time as the nearby mountains (around 65 million years ago), but has since been eroded into finely balanced overhangs, jagged pinnacles, massive pedestals and mushroom formations. The
visitor center
, at the park's eastern border (tel 719/634-6666), has details on hiking and mountain biking
trails
.
At the
Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame
, 101 Pro Rodeo Drive, off I-25 exit 147 (daily 9am5pm; $6;
www.prorodeo.com
), videos and displays explain the sport's various disciplines (calf roping, barrel racing and the like). Other local exhibits of note include the painting and sculpture gardens of the
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
, 30 W Dale St (TuesFri 9am5pm, Sat 10am5pm, Sun 15pm; $6), ranging from Native American art to Post-Modern pieces; the displays and demonstrations of specialized mining equipment at the
Western Museum of Mining and Industry
, east of I-25 exit 156A (MonSat 9am4pm, Sun noon4pm; $6); and the town's history museum, the
Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum
, 215 S Tejon St (TuesSat 10am5pm, Sun 15pm; free), part of which is a restored courtroom, location for a number of Perry Mason episodes.
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