Cowboys, Cadets & Shopping

Friday was „Adventure Day“ - congress participants could choose one of different day tours to the area around Colorado Springs. We went on the „Cowboys, Cadets and Shopping“-tour (mostly because of cowboys & cadets part), which departed at 7:15 am in the morning from The Broadmoor and started with a breakfast at a golf course in Colorado Springs before heading over to the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, a huge exhibition of rodeo relicts of all kinds, nicely presented, a Hall of Fame and a sculpture park. Wished we would have had more time to explore this interesting exhibition! The more we are looking forward now to experience La Fiesta Rodeo in Tucson in two weeks.

On to the USAFA - the U.S. Air Force Academy - founded in the late 1950ies in Colorado Springs. In the modern Visitor Center and on a tour we learned about military education, drill and rules and got to see the architecturally phantastic chapel with separate praying rooms for lutheran, catholic, jewish and buddhist denominations. About 4.400 students are attending school at the same time for a total of 4 years and the toughest time for them is the first six weeks of basic training. 29% of the students are female and about 1/5 doesn’t make it - at least that’s what we’ve been told. Since studies are free - which is the exception in the U.S. (though it’s hard to qualify), the graduates are obliged to work for the U.S. Forces for another 5 or 6 years in their profession. Learned a lot today.

Last stop: shopping at Castle Rock Outlet Shopping Center, where we got vouchers and had plenty of time to spend money, too much for our taste, but since the group consisted of many asian people, it was cleverly calculated. Back at The Broadmoor at about 4 pm, picking up our stored luggage and waiting for our next bus. We had opted for a 4-day post-fam-tour to Southern Colorado (where we’ve never been before) and it started with a 2,5 hour drive into the Rocky Mountains, to Salida/CO, where we arrived at 7:30 pm in the dark and checked into an amazing boutique hotel with suites only in a historic building.

Ceiling in our room were double the hight of regular ones and covered with tin tiles. Never would have expected a hotel like this in a small town like Salida! Didn’t really have a chance to enjoy the room and didn't see much of the town this evening, but got a great meal and local brews in „The Boathouse“ before falling into bed bone-tired at about 10 pm.