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We’d never heard of Garden of the Gods before, but when you see a name like that on the map, you have to check it out! This Colorado Springs city park did not disappoint. Boasting numerous stunning rock formations and well-paved pathways for an easy walk, this is a must see location when visiting this area.

The magnificent landscape formed millions of years ago by geological movement along a natural fault line, and people have been visiting the site as early as 1330 BC. Several Native American tribes are known to have camped among the towering rocks, including the Utes, who left behind parts of their history in petroglyph carvings. The whimsical name originates from two surveyors, M.S. Beach and Rufus Cable, who explored the site in 1859. When Beach suggested that it would be a “capital place for a beer garden,” reminiscent of the rock-adorned ones in Europe, Cable saw a place “fit for the Gods to assemble” and decided upon the name “Garden of the Gods.”

Cable’s marketing genius has certainly paid off! The “Garden of the Gods” draws instant intrigue and adds a dash of mysticism to the experience. If you allow yourself, you can feel a spiritual calm as you walk among this rocky garden.

In 1879, Charles Elliott Perkins purchased the land encompassing the Garden of the Gods, and upon his death in 1909, the land was donated to the City of Colorado Springs, with the provision that it would forever be a free public park. We’d come across a similar story in Idaho, where the Shoshone Falls region was also donated to the city of Twin Falls to be used as a public park, but this one had the added bonus of being free. We’re thankful that these generous donations paved the way for two of the most astonishing places we’ve visited so far. Don’t skip out on city parks!

Black-billed Magpie with the “Kissing Camels” in the background

“Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.”
Balanced Rock, Thanos’s favorite rock

We planned a simple evening outing to check out the Garden of the Gods and then head over to nearby Manitou Springs, a popular small town at the base of Pike’s Peak, where we could find a place to eat and try some of the free flowing natural spring water. Sometimes having a rough plan like this, rather than nailing down every detail, yields the best experience. Instead of finding a restaurant, we stumbled upon the Manitou Springs farmers market at Memorial Park. A woman stepped out to cross the street right in front of our car, but quickly made up for our abrupt stop by telling us about the free(!!) potluck dinner in the park. The delicious soup even had its own song (appropriately titled “Community Soup”) performed by a live band. It was amazing to share in a hearty meal and music with the local community, and we hope to return for another!

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Happy Trails,

Dan

A Rugged Landscape for the Strenuous Life

We’d never really thought of Theodore Roosevelt National Park until we decided to make touring national parks one of our major goals for this journey. To be fully honest, we didn’t know much about what North Dakota had to offer other than what we gleaned from a few North Dakota tourism airport advertisements featuring notable local Josh Duhamel beckoning visitors to his home state. And while there is a lot of what you might imagine – open roads over vast, nondescript plains – we were taken by the unexpected natural beauty and fascinating history of the state’s sole national park.

In 1883, a 24-year-old Theodore Roosevelt visited North Dakota and fell in love with the frontier life he found there. Investing in two ranches, he was eager to develop his hunting, ranching, and other cowboy skills as well as confront his physical issues with asthma. When he tragically lost both his wife and mother on Valentine’s Day the following year, he returned to the badlands of the Little Missouri River Valley, now found in the national park in his name, to grieve and to find solace. He frequented the rugged region throughout his life, even crediting his ascension to the Presidency and conservationist mission to his time spent there.

In 1899, Roosevelt gave his famed “The Strenuous Life” speech, in which he extolled the virtues of rejecting ease and seeking out hard work: “I preach to you, then, my countrymen, that our country calls not for the life of ease but for the life of strenuous endeavor… [L]et us shrink from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided we are certain that the strife is justified, for it is only through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness.” The speech reflected the very core values that he lived out in North Dakota.

**Theodore Roosevelt – Rough Rider, Conservationist, President**
[Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Harvard College Library (520.14-008)]

The focus on the importance of this place to President Roosevelt sets this park apart from every other national park that we’ve seen. While boasting the natural splendor visitors typically seek out from national parks, Theodore Roosevelt National Park felt like a much more personal experience. If you allow yourself the time to stop and take in your surroundings – the awe-inspiring badlands and vast herds of buffalo roaming nearby – you can feel first-hand why Roosevelt came here for both physical and emotional healing, as well as personal growth.