Old Colorado City - "Old Town"

Every morning while staying in Colorado Springs, Ken and I would be up well before the sun. We would walk over to Old Colorado City which was just a few blocks from our campground and explore.  Sipping on our hot coffees we would wander the quiet streets and watch as things slowly came to life.  I think it was Simon's favorite part of the day, and I know it was mine.

There were some really great coffee shops in Old Town.  Our favorite was a place called "Jives."  They had the best caramel coffees I've ever had and there were always nice people hanging out there.

Those two ladies over there were so nice. 

Inside Jives.  They had live music there sometimes.

This was our favorite breakfast place.  The green chili was fantastic and the service was outstanding. 

The Farmers Market was small but had great stuff.  Isn't this pretty??

Most mornings we would see city deer.  These were eating the flowers.  Oops.

They were really quite calm in spite of us being so close to them.

Goodwill wasn't open yet.  Hmmph.

 See how tiny some of the shops are?  I did some research and learned that these little prime pieces of real estate used to be horse alleys.  Back in the days before cars, some of the fancy ladies in town complained about the horses leaving piles right in the way of where they walked, so they influenced the important men in town to design these horse alleys in between the buildings where they could park their horses.  With the invention of cars the alleys were no longer needed and were then sealed into tiny rooms which most people used as storage.  Many, many years later (not sure how many) someone had the idea of renting out these tiny locations and people jumped all over the more affordable opportunity to have their own shops in Old Colorado City.  This one is now a Honey shop, one of Ken's favorite things.

This is the tiniest thrift shop ever.  :)  Oh, excuse me, I mean, "resale boutique."

Dogs are welcome just about everywhere.  Even in jewelry stores and antique shops.

A Shop for the Curious Soul, eh?  Hmm..  Curious about what that blue sign says?  Click on the pic and zoom in on it.  My soul is curious about  how much money they actually make doing that.

This makes me curious too.  lol

Ken, I can still see you.  You are not hiding in the mural.  

The guys at this bike shop were SUPER NICE and helpful!

They perform actual puppet shows here!

Sunday morning we went to church.  I love the post we locked our trikes up to.  Click on the pic to see what it says.  The people at this church were really wonderful, especially the sunday school class ladies.  I enjoyed the class a lot and appreciate the donations they gave to help with our expenses.  Oh, and the pie was awesome!

How many 7-11s do you go to that have this in the background??

And how many WalMart parking lots look like this?  No matter where you go in this town, there is always a mountain background to make things beautiful.  I felt so happy just looking around.  Even the boring things were special simply because of the view.  And it's not just me that gets a peaceful easy feeling (singing) here in the Springs.  Did you know that the crime rate here is less than half that of other cities it's size?

My feet were happy in Colorado Springs...  I think one day we might have to come back for another visit, and maybe we can stay longer next time.  And maybe next time we can stay in a motel:

Because this was tough.  The price was right and the people who ran the park were very nice, but we hated sleeping in between all these RVs.  It was crowded and loud and after three months of quiet back roads, parks, churches and bike hostels, this was quite the culture shock and I'm afraid it took a bit of a toll on our sanity.  Walking around town, exploring the area, staring off into the mountains and riding through the Garden of the Gods kept us centered.  And to meet Dillon I would have slept anywhere, so it was all totally worth it.