Skywatch Friday: A Night at the Castle

Many people like to celebrate on New Year's Eve by going to a party with dancing and lots of drinking.  We like to celebrate with a hike followed by a magnificent dinner.

This year we booked a room at the Glen Eyrie castle for the night because it's located adjacent to the Garden of the Gods and it has tons of trails that are only open to it's guests, not the public.

We had big plans for arriving early to explore as many of the trails as possible.  Little did we know that Colorado Springs would be in the midst of a cold spell when we made the reservation.

When we arrived it was a balmy 11 degrees with light snow.  We checked into our room then bundled up for the first trail to an overlook.

Now, I'm a pretty tough cookie and can handle the cold temps.  The problem was the steady wind from the north.  After a ways it became clear the conditions were just too cold and we weren't quite prepared.  Although the majority of me was warm enough my hands got painfully cold so we decided to head back to the Castle for a hot chocolate and to warm up by the fire.

It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful and as you might expect, we had the whole place to ourselves.  Everyone else was too chicken to brave the elements.  I love that lone tree growing on top of the rocks.

The grounds of the Castle are especially beautiful.  It is owned by the Navigators and is primarily used as a Christian conference and retreat center.  They do rent out rooms to the public when they're available.

There's a coffee shop in the Carriage House with all kinds of yummy drinks--no alcohol though, its not allowed on the property.

After warming up we decided to go visit the Castle.  All the rooms in the castle were full so we ended up with a room in one of the lodges which is also very nice, but not quite castle quality.

There was a New Year's Eve Gala in the grand dining room that night.  We thought about attending, but it was formal and we aren't the dressing up kind of people most of the time.  Give me a pair of hiking boots over a ball gown any day.

The Castle was built by General William Jackson Palmer (Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad and founder of Colorado Springs) in the 1870s with a major expansion done in the early twentieth century.  I can only image how remote it must have been for him, his wife Queen, and their three daughters.  

Queen was not very healthy and after a heart attack at an early age she was advised to move to a lower altitude so she moved out east and then to England and died at age 44.  General Palmer was paralyzed in a horse riding accident in 1906 and died three years later.

The property is especially beautiful with all the Christmas lights.

We had reservations at a nearly French Cafe for dinner.  My hubby had the Elk Chop and..

...I had the Surf and Turf.  It was so delicious and melted in my mouth!

Of course you can't go to a French Cafe without having dessert so we had the brownie cheesecake and German chocolate mousse cake.  All I can say is delicious, delicious, delicious and we probably should have shared just one dessert!

The next morning we made our way over to the Castle to have breakfast and we passed this rafter of wild Turkeys.

Without a doubt these were the largest wild turkeys I have ever seen.  Perhaps they were all puffed up because it was about zero degrees outside at this time.

One last look at the gorgeous rock formations and...

...a daylight look at the castle before we headed home.

It was a fun, but extremely cold, New Years!

Happy New Year and Happy Skywatch Friday to everyone!