Hey Ags, taking the family to Colorado Springs for a few days this summer. Looking for recommendations of things to do and places to eat. We are staying in Old Colorado City.

Most of the stuff I knew is a decade out of date. You can look them up anywhere. But I'll put in a plug for USAFA.

Check their web site, but you should be able to visit, unless we hit some heightened security. Just take your ID, your insurance card, and maybe your registration, in case some lame brain at the gate doesn't know the sticker is the registration in Texas.

North gate is usually the best for visitors, avoid the South Gate at morning rush hour

Don't take any weapon.

Once inside the gate, you are pretty free to explore. There is a B-52 on a stick near the north gate, and a nice overlook past that. There are a few more planes , including an A-10 and an F-16 near the south. At that one, you can watch parachute and glider ops.

From the north gate, or a long drive from the south, you can reach the visitor center, then hike over to the Chapel. The Chapel wall overlooks the Terrazo (Quad/dorm/classroom/mess hall area) You can tour the Chapel, but only look, you can't enter the Terrazo

If it is after about June 20, you may see the class of 2027 4th class men (fish) doing their training. They'll all be wearing the same color baseball caps. Maybe red or blue or green. Can't remember them all

Pikes Peak Cog Rail to the top of the mountain is pretty neat. Your kids will like it. This could take up all afternoon or morning . You can bum around Manitou Springs before or after. The Broadmoor is great but you kind of need to be a guest there to enjoy the amenities. It's worth just walking around the grounds though.

Seven Falls is a cool experience. Lots of steps to the top, but manageable and worth it. Cool restaurant and bar on property. Zip lines look amazing…but I haven't experienced yet. Hope to next time with the teenagers.

https://www.sevenfalls.com/

There are some cool things to do an hour drive from The Springs. Dependent on age of kiddos of course.

Cripple Creek has an interesting mine tour called the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine. You go down 1000' in a small mining elevator and then tour through the mine.

Also an hour away is Canon City where you can do white water rafting down the Arkansas River through the Royal Gorge. There are also fun zip line tours in the immediate area.

As an added bonus, you will be able to see the Florence Supermax prison in the distance while driving to Canon City. Home of many well known bad guys including lots of terrorists and bombers.

The Broadmoor Sunday brunch is a good time if that's your kind of thing. King Chef's was pretty popular when I lived there a little under a decade ago. Mollica's was always good for a solid Italian sandwich over off of garden of the gods. These are just a few off the top of my head after living there in the early to mid 10s. Fixin to move back in a few weeks and can't wait.

Oh Cerberus has decent beer but a pretty kickass brisket grilled cheese sandwich. I go more for the food whenever I'm back in town for work.

Few other things not already listed:
Hike up the incline
US Olympic training facility
Garden of the Gods
PRCA hall of fame
Depending on your timing: Pikes Peak or Bust, territory days

chick79 said:

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Pikes Peak Cog Rail to the top of the mountain is pretty neat. Your kids will like it. This could take up all afternoon or morning . You can bum around Manitou Springs before or after. The Broadmoor is great but you kind of need to be a guest there to enjoy the amenities. It's worth just walking around the grounds though.

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strong recommendation to be on the LEFT side of the cog. It faces the same way up and down the mountain. The left side, with 3 seats, is the better side for views.

If you go to Canon City, of course there is the famous Royal Gorge Bridge.

As mentioned above, you can raft down it, but there is also a train that goes through the bottom from Canon City, then reverses. We paid for the dome car, then realized that we'd rather ride in the open gondola car. So buy cheap tickets, then go stand in the gondola.

We saw helicopter tours going through the Gorge, so do that if you have the $$$

Not to be missed in Canon City is Skyline Drive. Amazing views, terrifying road, and dinosaur tracks visible at one point.

I'd have to look it up on another thread, but there is an old wagon road that goes from the vicinity of the COS Zoo over to Cripple Creek. It's dirt, so good weather only.

The Chapel is closed until 2027.

https://www.usafa.edu/facilities/cadet-chapel/

Too bad it's closed, but I recall hearing that the thing was full of leaks and other problems.

The Colo Springs zoo is awesome. We used to have a season pass when we lived up there.

The Pilot said:

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The Chapel is closed until 2027.

https://www.usafa.edu/facilities/cadet-chapel/

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User name checks out

If your kids are younger than 10, they'd probably really like The North Pole. Fun kiddie rides at the base of Pike's Peak.

I prefer driving up Pike's over the Cog. The experience of a train is fun for a bit, but I think the views from driving are better, plus you can do it all on your own time.

I also really liked the Olympic Museum. That was really cool.

I've lived in Colorado Springs for over a decade. Concur with a lot of these posts so far. I see the Manitou Springs Incline was mentioned. I would only recommend that if you and your family are in decent shape. It's ~2700 steps and ~2000ft of elevation gain in less than a mile. It's quite a challenge! Heading back down isn't exactly easy either. You can take the steps back down but I would recommend taking Barr Trail back down (follow the signs at the top). I've done it several times myself and that's how I get back down. Also in the past few years they've added bail out points where you can get on Barr Trail and head back down. You also have to reserve a time slot now as well because it's so popular.

In addition to Garden of the Gods, I would also recommend Red Rock Canyon Open Space. GOTG gets all the attention (deservedly so) but I think RRCOS is better because it has many more trails and gets much less traffic and has just as many spectacular rock formations.

That's my two cents! Also keep an eye on the weather because afternoon thunderstorms are pretty likely in the summer months, even when they're not in the forecast!

TTT

Staying in Old Colorado City in Colorado Springs. Any restaurant recs there?

Not sure if you've made your trip yet. There are plenty of great restaurants in the area. These three places come to mind: Front Range BBQ, Pizzeria Rustica, Paravicini's. Enjoy!

Garden of the Gods

Cerberus brisket grilled cheese sandwich

I live in Springs and here are the things I like. Obviously not as touristy as a lot of other recommendations.

1. Springs might be the best hiking City in America. For families I recommend Cheyenne Canyon and the best bang for the buck is Muscoco trail. Just look it up. Cool thing about it is you are over 7 falls so you can see the zipline course and the falls area from above. Plus it is only a mile and a half each way. It does have some exposure so probably not for real young kids. I also recommend red rocks open space more than garden of the gods. It is an area with old granite mines you can crawl around. Most of GOTG is just flat walking and looking at rocks. It is cool but just not as fun as RROS.

2. I think the AF academy is boring. Prettiest military base in America probably but what are you there to see? Couple buildings and a bomber? I wouldn't personally drive or fly across the country to see some buildings and a plane.

3. Manitou springs and the arcade. Walking around Manitou is pretty cool and they have a massive arcade with really old games in a bunch of old buildings. We go a few times a year and it is really cool to see and play the games. Some are literally 100 years old and still work.

4. Food here is very average but the burger scene is good to excellent. The skirted Heifer gets all the publicity and it is a pretty solid burger. It is across the street from the downtown park and square so there is a lot of foot traffic and things to see there. Bingo burger is a couple doors down. Wife loves it, I think it is average at best.

5. A fried chicken night at Juniper Valley Ranch is great. It isn't cheap. They have been there 72 years and all they serve is skillet fried chicken. Flying W ranch is also great. They serve a chuckwagon dinner with live cheesy music. But for some reason you end up really enjoying it. We go for the Christmas show every year.

6. Cave of the winds is pretty cool, I like it better than the royal gorge. It is obviously very touristy and is designed to transfer money from your wallet to theirs.

7. If your kids are real little then Santa's workshop is great. It is owned by some of our friends. Really doesn't work for kids over about 10.

8. The zoo is great. We are members/patrons so we go a lot. My wife and I go there just to walk and get exercise as it is all up and all down. But everything there is quality. The food is good, they serve drinks and beers all over, the exhibits are mostly good, and it is very clean. Just a good experience. Is is another thing that is best at Christmas time as they light the whole place up.

9. Broadmoor. Like everyone else, we have a love/hate relationship with our local bullies, the Broadmoor. They are amazing, they own everything around here, and they take what they want. But they are also really nice and they do a ton for the City. We eat there once or twice a year, go for the deserts every now and then, and walk around at Christmas. The course is real nice, the spa is real nice... everything is real nice



Enjoy your visit.

Just discovered another solid burger place today. Green line grill

Green Line is a really good burger

Shared on the BBQ thread earlier but highly recommended chuckwagon 719 for BBQ. Stopped by today and it was excellent. Best BBQ I've had in CO.

best way to experience the broadmoor if you aren't staying there?

Do we eat lunch or is dinner worth it? What restaurants? Just me and my wife

Jock 07 said:

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Ahh, delicious. I'm already hungry...

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For you Texans longing for home they opened a new Whataburger and Torchys off 25 up by the Air Force North entrance exit.

Bookmarking this thread as I'm currently getting my house ready to go on the market for a move to Colorado Springs.

What part of town are you moving to?

What's a good part of town to move to or find an apartment?

When I moved back in Jun after being gone for 7 years I was shocked at the number of apartments that had been built and the number under construction right now. Most of the growth is out east along powers and marksheffel and up north in the interquest area. Still a lot of home building going on. With the recent announcement that USSPACECOM is staying now I wouldn't be surprised to continue to see the area grow.

Really depends on how much you're looking to spend. There's a lot of nice areas on the west side but you get more bang for your buck out east.

Cave of the Winds was the best thing we did on our visit there. My kids still talk about it. Zoo is great. We walked straight to the top then worked our way down. The food there was delicious.

The brewery at the old school, can't think of the name, was fun.

Manitou was great. The arcade was great & we are at great little place on the river which was good.

Aries said:

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The brewery at the old school, can't think of the name, was fun.

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Bristol at Ivywild. Cool place not a huge fan of the beer, but haven't been since I moved back. Maybe it's gotten better.

Based on recommendations here, eating at the Green Line grill right now. The chicken bacon ranch sandwich is incredible

Jock 07 said:

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Aries said:

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The brewery at the old school, can't think of the name, was fun.

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Bristol at Ivywild. Cool place not a huge fan of the beer, but haven't been since I moved back. Maybe it's gotten better.

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This and if you're looking for great drinks, you can go downstairs to Axe and the Oak Distillery

Hit the Incline at Manitou Springs one of the mornings. Grab a beer at Manitou Brewing Co after

Downtown Restaurants:

Rabbit Hole
Famous Steakhouse
Odyssey Gastropub