Colorado Springs and Manitou's Penny Arcade

I went down to Colorado Springs for just two days to have a look. In retrospect, it's hard for me to form an opinion because it was raining so much i really didn't have the opportunity to look around much, especially in the downtown portion of the city. That part looked run down but the streets were flooding so i didn't look too closely.

On the way down i stopped at the Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel. It's a futuristic construction built in 1963 to, i assume, echo the design of fighter jets. It certainly seems misguided to model a church on the design of a war machine, but that's America.

The roof was leaking badly in a dozen places. Crazily they were not doing anything about it and some of the pew bench pads were soaking wet.

As colorful as the chapel was on a dark and dreary day it must be a kaleidoscope of color in the sun.

In Colorado Springs i wanted to see Valley of the Gods, so that was the first thing i did. I wasn't that impressed. Colorado Springs left me with a two impressions. I saw a lot of run down buildings and rif raf but i certainly did not see the majority of the city. What i did see of the surroundings was environmentally pleasing. The air was much clearer than Denver. There was a lot of spread out space and vertical topography throughout the town. There were some cool neighborhoods and Pikes Peak looming overhead was certainly appealing. I would go back to give it another chance under better weather conditions.

It was remarkably more desert like than Denver, even though it's only an hour drive south. I stayed in Manitou Springs, which is a very touristy old mining town that is now a part of Colorado Springs, right at the base of Pikes Peak. If you want to do touristy activities that little town has got you covered. There is the train up the mountain. There is the Valley of the Gods. There is a touristy cliff dwelling as well as "Cave of the Winds". All these attractions are within two miles of each other. There are also some good restaurants, not necessarily in this same area but within an easy drive.

Garden of the Gods. The tilted spires reminded me of ends of the pews in the Cathedral.

 I didn't like that everything was fenced off and mostly paved. There really wasn't much to do here other than walk in a short loop.

 Pikes Peak broiled in clouds in the distance.

At first glance the rock looks just like the sandstone in the 4 corners area but it's much more abrasive and quartzy. The tactile feel is more like Joshua Tree. The mud was more like a fine gravel than sand.

 At sunset one distant cloud over the plains picked up a little color.

The first day it rained for nearly 24 hours. I thought i might need to climb into this boat.

 I stayed at the old but clean Mel-Haven Lodge. It was operated by a nice old Polish guy.

I had insomnia and deja vu in my old room.

Around the Mel-Haven Lodge were examples of decaying Americana.

The beginning of downtown Manitou Springs. The cool thing about this clock was that it was also a fountain, possibly associated with the springs, but it wasn't working.

 Fountain Creek flows through downtown Manitou Springs.

 One neighborhood has a stream (Ruxton Creek) in front of the houses. Both of these creeks (Ruxton flows into Fountain) flooded violently in 2013.

 During a period of light rain at sunset i walked around in a city park/bike trail area that offered exploration of the red cliffs without all the fencing and people. 

Red Rock Canyon Open Space offers hiking and biking and is larger than you think.

 You can see how the spires continue off in a straight line. The state park is on the left. It's cool that over by that distant street people have homes around the spires.

 This is about the best view of Pike Peak that i got between storms. It was snowing up there.

 An overview of what you see when you get to the pond. I don't know how far back the trails go but it looked like a pretty fun place to ride a bike.

Manatou Springs Penny Arcade

After a good morning it started raining again and i retreated into a penny arcade i happened to pass by. It's an extensive arcade with several unjoined rooms featuring arcade games from the early 1900's all the way to modern times. I hadn't ever been to a real penny arcade so i had a lot of fun particularly around the old mechanical games.

 This English Football game was originally released in 1926 under a different name. You have to keep score manually with the beads on the top of the cabinet. There are divots in the field that attract the ball to the player and cranking the lever moves all your teammates at the same time.

 I played this crazy Space Pilot game. The controls were bizarre.

Chicago Coin's was a big game manufacturer back in the day. This hockey game had cool control levers and the basketball game below was from 1957.

Chicago Coins Pistol explicitly explained the purpose was to have fun.  This one is from 1947.

The cabinets were well used.

I could not pass up playing Arctic Gun. I love the gas station pump score displays in these old games.

I remember this shooter. I think i played it as a kid. There are tanks and jeeps that will go by. I think i played it in a 70's arcade in Raleigh, Tennessee called Sullivan's Castle.

This game is really just work. You pay money to have a real job operating a crane at a quarry. I have a vague memory of this as a child.

Designed for Charlie Sheen, this game was all about winning. Winning women, specifically. The kind of women who are really impressed with high scores and gold trophies. Looks like somehow 4 people can play this game. These old pinball games excelled at taking your balls quickly.

 In contrast Williams "Honey" was a half assed attempt to attract women. The art on the table was poor and, if anything, looked like a journey through fallopian tubes.

 Wagon Train managed to be both sexist and racist and even promoted smoking.

The story behind some games, like 1963's Jumpin' Jack's (possessive, even), was totally over my head. I have no idea what is going on here. There are both men and women dressed in bunny suits, jumping around and occasionally asking you how your are doing (the answer is "annoyed"). There's also this "saint/devil" thing going on at the bottom. I can only assume this game is somehow Satanic.

 Appropriately close to the anti-aircraft game they had some strip tease flip movies.

 Possibly the most interesting game i played was this anti-aircraft game by Mutoscope. I didn't know it at the time but it was released in 1940! This game used something like a reverse telescope effect to make it look like you were shooting at bombers flying over a very distant metropolis. Pretty cool. Mutoscope made a number of innovative mechanical games, even one where you drop an atomic bomb on civilian populations.

 A Mutoscope driving game from the mid 1950's. I think i played this when i was a kid in the '70's. It uses a scrolling paper road system and a big die cast car.

 These were some of the actual controls for the air bomber game.

The other really clever mechanical game i played was this bomber/shooter game. An elaborate scrolling and tilting conveyor provided the illusion of flying over navy warships and military bases on land. They did an amazing job of using lights, reflections, and projections to communicate your flying missiles and explosions. Stupidly i did not take a picture of the cabinet so i don't know what it's called.