U.S. Air Force Cadet Chapel Colorado Springs CO.

Saturday August 18, 2007








North entrance to the installation, which is located at the base of the Rampart Range on 18,500 acres; elevation is 7,163 above sea level at the terrazzo level. It is the headquarters of the US Air Force Academy and is supported by the 10th Air Base wing. Cadet wing strength is limited to 4,000.

























Entering from the North Gate, one view of this massive installation as we drive to the Cadet Chapel.

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A U.S. Air Force Cadet passes the front of the chapel.

These stairs lead up to the Protestant section, the largest, consisting of the entire top floor. Stairs down, lead to the Catholic and Jewish portion. Catholic is the larger, about 70 % of the lower floor, Jewish the remaining.

Each church affiliation is different in design, and each are equally beautiful according to their traditions.















Catholic Chapel.














Back of the altar.













Stained Glass of the Catholic Chapel.

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Talk about your souvenirs! As you may know, Deinna is a stained glass artist. As fate would have it, we just happened to be there when workers were replacing broken panels in the Catholic Chapel. We stopped and chatted, and asked if we could have a piece they were discarding. Here she holds the glass they gave us.





















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The Jewish Synagogue.

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Interior of the Protestant Chapel.





















Ceiling of the Protestant Chapel. This stained glass is interlaced between the lance pointed shape of the roof line.

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Memorials like this, surround the Chapel. Listed, are those Air Force personnel who have died in service to this country.

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Holy Cross Abbey

We stopped for the night at a KOA in Pueblo Colorado.















The next day, 15 August we headed west on Rt 50 to the Royal Gorge. In Canon City, we passed this beautiful building. Seeing that it was both a monastery and a winery, we added it to our check list of places to stop on the way back to the trailer. We were going to get some first class altar wine for mass in Jamul.





















We did stop, only to find out the remaining eight monks were not enough to keep the Abbey financially viable. It is a massive complex. Sadly, it was forced to close this year, in February 2007. The chapel and the large complex attached has been sold to a New York City firm. This firm will, supposedly, 'conduct events in the spirit of the buildings original intent'. We guess that to mean, weddings, bar mitzvahs ??? etc. Uh ... who knows.
















The winery (below) was sold separately. They were allowed to keep the name, and it is known as "The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey". A very nice man inside informed us they sell only first class, superior wines ... from imported grapes he called, 'juice' from California. When we asked about altar wine, he gave us that look, and might as well have said they didn't make anything cheap enough to be called 'altar' wine. So, no treat for Jamul.


For more info click here http://www.abbeywinery.com/

Royal Gorge in Canon City, Colorado

Yep, we're off to see the gorge and the bridge.
Click any image to see a larger view.



























The first view is pretty amazing. We are on the East side of the bridge.

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The first part of our tour started with the incline, which descends into the gorge at a 45 degree angle. The funicular, uses three rails. Each car uses two of the three until they pass in the middle of the trip, where there are four rails to allow for passing.



































It is steep. This photo looks down from the top.





















Once at the bottom, you are 1053 feet below the bridge!









































Looking North up river.















Looking down river.

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Looking up 1053 feet at the suspension bridge.

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After returning to the top, our next leg of the journey was the Sky tram.































































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Arriving on the west side the gorge, Deinna took a breather. She can never find a chair where her feet reach the floor.





















I, of course, was busy checking our position.

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This White buffalo (where is Charles Bronson when you need him?) is one of the many animals on display on the west side - along with elk, moose and goats.

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One of the really fun things to do on the west side is the Skycoaster, which hurls you out over the gorge at 50 MPH. I did want so bad to do this, but on this particular day, I was wearing the wrong color shorts.





















This young lady prepares for launch.











































Yes, she was screaming!



































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Deinna starts off on the return trip. The bridge is 18 feet wide. You can drive your car , motorcycle, or just walk - there is also a trolley that will take you across both ways.















The flags of all the states are flown across the bridge. Here, I try to hold the Pennsylvania flag still, as the wind is really blowing up here.

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Another way to see the gorge is by white-water rafting down the Arkansas river - way down there below the bridge .





















And of course, what every good gorge needs is a great train ride on the Rio Grand Railroad.















There is a helicopter also available.

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Deinna reaches the center of the span - you can see by how low the cable is to the bridge.















Also at the center, you can see how large the cable is - my hand is next to a splice made in a single strand - there are 2,100 strands in each cable.























































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Returning back to the east side, we found the marker that tells some of the history of the gorge.













































































































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