Tefillin at 14,110 feet or Goodybe Rockies, Hello Smog!

NOTE: The newspaper article that reporter Jonathan Schwab wrote about us (Back in Salida) is up - see it here

The final installment, as it were, of my time in Colorado Springs is here . . .

Click on the link to see more!


Sunday, our last full day in Colorado Springs, we went to visit Pike's Peak -the famed mountain that dominates the visage of the city.

We took the hour long cog-train ride, financed by Zalmon Simmons of Simmons Mattress fame (was he Jewish?), from Manitou Springs up to the peak.




A waterfall on the way up.

The withered tree is reported to be around two thousand years old


The Timberline





Note the carriage path made over a hundred years ago weaving through the alpine grass in the mid-ground





The train


While walking around I saw a man with a name tag announcing him to be:

Bernie Rosenkranz

"So Bernie?" I asked him. "When was the last time you had a chance to put on Tefillin?"
"How do you know I'm Jewish?" he asked in surprise.
'With a name like Bernie Rosenkranz, my friend, you must be a brother."

We put on tefillin -14,110 feet up!




Unfortunately it was very cloudy, and very cold . . .


Notice the cog track in the middle.



Asaf being . . . Asaf






The Whistle blew, and we returned to the train for the return trip.





Davinin on the way down.


Notice the yellow Aspens mingled amongst the evergreens.



With conductor Paul

Manitou springs is named, and known for, its drinking water.
We stopped by one of the springs for a sip . . .
The taste bubbling out of the Indian (see picture) reminded me of the mineral water in Simferopol, Ukraine (Krimskaya)





A view from the hills on the return









A Full Throttle experience (Yes, the green has an OU)

Before taking Asaf to the airport, we stopped by the Air Force Academy . . . the visitor center was closed -but the trip proved interesting none the less.


Dan and Mottel (Don't ask)


Asaf and Dan (really don't ask)


The view


A Shotgun Pic v'chulu V'da"l


The Academy




Sunset on the road back

The next morning I caught an early flight from Denver (located an hour away from Colorado Springs).
Upon landing, who should I encounter, other then my blogging buddies (or should that be e-colleagues) Tamara Eden (whom I have previously met online and then later in Chabad of Los Feliz) and her fiancé, TikkunGer . . .
I was rather out of it from the trip so the conversation was almost anticlimactic -but the open hashgacha protis, divine providence, was trippy (no pun intended).
I'm still waiting to have coffee with them . . .


Tamara Eden, TikkunGer and Letters of Thought really are real people -I have the pictures to prove it!

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