Mexican food and Royal Gorge

Datta had to press hard on the brakes while driving down from Pikes Peak and he did so with confidence as he had got the brakes serviced the previous night. Half way down there is a check post where one of the traffic wardens checks the brakes placing a thermometer over the wheels to see if the brake drums/discs are heated. He placed the thermometer and said “well, the temperature is Ok, but I can smell something. Stop for fifteen minutes and allow the brakes to cool”. We got an unscheduled halt and I got some time to move around the enchanting place.

By the time we reached the out skirts of Colorado Springs it was half past two and we were near a Mexican restaurant where we decided to halt for lunch. It was the first time I was trying ‘authentic’ Mexican food.

We went in, were shown a table, and menu cards, rather books were supplied. I looked at the menu and found words like Tacos, Burittos, Enchiladas, Chalupa, Bocados etc etc. I had no idea what they were and the explanations against the names showed that all of them contained tortillos with some kind of beef or chicken. After searching for fifteen minutes I found one which said “chicken, steak OR vegetables stuffed in Tortillos and served with rice and baked beans.” We asked the waitress if that can be prepared only with vegetables and she went in to enquire with the kitchen. She came back after five minutes and said “yes” but added that the rice is cooked in chicken broth. So, we ordered the dish minus chicken, beef and rice. There wasn’t much left other than the tortilla. It took some time for the dishes to arrive and since I was hungry, I started eating tortilla chips with ‘salsa sauce’ which tasted quite good, and had half filled my stomach.

The dish did look attractive but the tortillo was somewhat tough and the vegetables had been cut in large size and the whole thing was covered with sour cream or some such thing which made it very slippery. I had to maintain etiquette and so, could not hold the thing in both the hands and bite into it. It was customary to use forks and it required considerable effort to tear the tortillas and cut the half cooked vegetables to proper size without spreading them all over the table. I fought with the stuff and consumed most of it.

We left the restaurant around four in the evening and drove to Royal Gorge, a deep gorge about thousand feet deep and ten miles long, created by the Arkansas river. Located near the Canon City, Colorado, its main attractions are the cable car ride one thousand feet above the river, and the walk/ drive over the cable supported bridge made of wooden planks. We rode across the gorge in the cable car, walked over the bridge, enjoyed the view from the bridge and returned home after a dinner of Pizza at the California Pizza kitchen.

looking at the river from the bridge



Rama, Latha, Datta, Madhur on the bridge.

Common Wealth Games

The mismanagement and corruption, for which the common wealth games has become famous for, evoked as sickening a feeling as did the IPL. Mr Chetan Bhagat’s well written article in the TOI dt 29th Aug, ‘Please don’t cheer the 2010 loot fest’ reflects my own feelings. I hope we can do that.

Pikes Peak

Pikes peak, at 14,115 feet is one of the 54 such ‘fourteeners’ present in the state of Colorado. It is about thirty seven miles from the Colorado Springs city, half of which is the climb on to the peak, quite steep. The trip should take about an hour by car but invariably it takes longer as the nature forces you to get down every now and then, look around and wish that you could remain there. The combination of blue sky and clear blue water, the green lower ranges and the snow capped higher ranges is irresistible.



I believe that the temperature at the top hovers around four degrees Celsius even during summer and the snow continues to cap the top of the range. White streaks of snow amongst the green algae covered ‘pink’ granite, called ‘pikes peak granite’ is another wonderful sight.



Melted snow flows down as streams and forms pleasant lakes in the depressions. A breath taking sight from the heights. The winding and climbing road provides different views as you climb, each one better than the other.





We reached the peak, got out of the van and moved around for a while, shivering in the cold.



once the mandatory round of the gift shop was done with, it was time to leave.

Manitou Springs, Village

On the way back from ‘Garden of Gods’ we stopped for a while at the Manitou springs village which happens to be a small, neat, city of about five thousand population located on the out skirts of Colorado Springs at the foot of the mountain range.





Picturesque surroundings, one main road minus much traffic, small shops, cosy restaurants and small houses with the hills looming behind them make the city inviting and force you to stay for a while.



We had a very pleasant time enjoying the ‘Voted best’ ice cream sitting on the benches conveniently placed on the side path



and reluctantly got into the van. Datta was a bit uneasy about some noise in the braking system of the van and had decided to get it checked before we left for ‘Pikes Peak’ more than 14000 feet high, next morning.

Manitou dwellings and Garden of Gods

The web site of Manitou cliff dwellings, Colorado, says that you have enough over there to keep yourself busy for a whole day. May be. If you are doing some research on American Indians. They are said to be the authentic dwellings in which the American Indians lived and are supposed to be 700 years old. They are built within a sort of dugout in the sandstone mountain side under an overhang which protects them from extremes of weather. They have been maintained well, there is enough information about them and they are worth a visit if you are anywhere close by.



We walked through them, went around the small museum and after an hour were on our way to ‘garden of gods’.

Garden of gods is a public park maintained by the Colorado springs administration and contains a number of sandstone and lime stone rock formations. Most of the formations are named according to what they can be imagined to look like. For example, the ‘kissing camels’. Look for them at top left.



The park contains plenty of tracks for walking, hiking, cycling and horseback riding. Some of the rock formations are steep and invite rock climbers. Suitable for an evening if you have good company as we did.



After walking for a while and climbing the rocks which were within our reach and posing there,



We turned back.

Large family, happy family. As long as they manage to keep away from the wheels of our scooters and car.

Datta and Colorado

“Good morning ladies and gentleman. On behalf of the captain and crew of the Frontier flight to Denver, I welcome you on board. We are now ready to take off and if Denver was NOT on your travel plans, it IS now!” the announcement from the jovial flight purser brought a wave of laughter inside the plane and set the mood for our trip to Colorado.

He continued with announcements like “just in case your flight turns out to be a cruise, the life jackets are under your seat” and “Our crew will be coming with the garbage bags one last time. In case you need to discard anything please do. I express our inability to accept ex spouses.”

There is a time difference of two hours between Detroit - Michigan and Denver - Colorado and so, having left Detroit at 6.30 AM and flying three hours, we landed at Denver at half past seven local time on the morning of 17th June.

About to land at Denver


My friend Dattatreya and his son Madhur were at the airport and Datta took charge of us. The trip to Colorado was one I was very much looking forward to, not so much because of the well known natural beauty of the state, but because of the presence of Datta. I have nothing against Colorado’s natural beauty. I only want to convey that had Datta not been there, we would not have visited Colorado even if it was twice as beautiful.

When I first met Datta, I was in second standard and he was in fifth. Both of us were residing in Shantinagar, Bangalore and attended the same school in Wilson Gardens, about four kilometers away. We walked to school together everyday. If I remember right, from the day we first met, there is not a single day that we have not seen each other till the time Datta joined DRDO in New Delhi after his Phd, and I left Bangalore to join the health services in Goa. Excepting of course the time he was in the IIT and IISc hostels. He was equally friendly with my brother and we spent hours and hours cycling, walking and chatting. I cherish every moment of his company. After a year with the DRDO, he went to the US on a research fellowship and subsequently settled in the University of Texas as a faculty member and recently he had shifted to Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was the first of my acquaintances to have settled in the US and I was looking forward to meeting him there all these years.

We had our breakfast in Datta’s van and went around the city of Denver. We visited the Capitol building



and after driving around the city for a while, Datta headed towards the mountains. He wanted us to have a glimpse of the beautiful slopes of the Rocky mountain range



and was also eager to show us some wild buffalos which inhabit the mountains. He is a meticulous planner, but this time he had forgotten to convey his eagerness to the buffalos and they did not show up. Datta was disappointed but the mountain ranges minus buffalos were still very beautiful and after driving along the slopes for about an hour we headed home.



Colorado springs is about seventy miles from Denver. Datta’s wife Rama was awaiting us with the lunch ready and we were ready for lunch. A visit to the nearby Manitou cliff dwellings, and Garden of gods had been planned for the evening but we had time for a small nap (for which I have got addicted after getting the ‘retired’ tag) before we started on our sight seeing.