America The Beautiful

This is what happens when one has been sequestered for three days in a Rocky Mountain cabin:


Kidding. Well, not completely. My mom and I did spend the past couple of days sequestered in the Rocky Mountain cabin known as Chateau Tostanoski. I'm not complaining though. The past few days in that house have been invaluable. I do have to say, though, that it was awfully nice to get out and about and catch a breath of fresh air.

Ba Ski took my mom and I for a ride out to the Garden Of The Gods, a public park where "outstanding geologic features are the ancient sedimentary beds of red and white sandstones, conglomerates and limestone that were deposited horizontally, but have now been tilted vertically and faulted by the immense mountain building forces caused by the uplift of the Pikes Peak massif." (Wikipedia). This amazing site reminded me of my trip to Australia in 1997. The Garden Of The Gods is like the American version of Kata Tjuta, the group of rock formations in the Australian Outback that I climbed. Good times. We also got to catch of glimpse of Pikes Peak

Ba Ski, my mom, and I took a little bus tour of the park and learned of its history. I did not know that "America The Beautiful," was conceived on top of Pike's Peak. In 1893, Wellesley College English Professor Katherine Lee Bates, took a wagon ride up Pikes Peak and was so inspired by the view at the top that she wrote the poem that ultimately became our country's national hymn. I have to admit, I can be a crudmugeon when it comes to nature, but I do have to say that the landscape impressed me. I wished that I could have gone up to Pikes Peak to really appreciate the spacious skies, amber waves of grain, and purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain. I had already adjusted to the altitude, so what's another couple thousand feet? I did get a chance to snap some cool shots from below though.



After the bus tour, we returned to the visitor center to watch the movie on the history of the Garden Of The Gods and Pikes Peak. This film explained how the rocks were formed and it addressed Katherine Lee Bates' historic poem. After the movie ended, Ba Ski got up in front of the crowd and announced that for the centennial anniversary of "America The Beautiful," her choir traveled to the top of Pikes Peak and proudly sang our nation's hymn. Everyone in the theater applauded. Ba Ski then turned to my mother and said, "Here we are. This is where you started your life in America." I had to think about that statement for a second, but she was absolutely right. Here we were, on Memorial Day weekend, in Colorado Springs with the person who sponsored us when we first immigrated to this country. I couldn't really help it, but I found myself humming "America The Beautiful" in my head all the way home.