Posted by Jason Hussong on Wednesday, May 26, 2010,
 In the nearly ten years I've lived in Colorado I've tried to make it to the southwest portion of the state. But, that distance is actually quite a long trip. For people who live in smaller states ou  t east who possibly don't understand how long the drive is, it takes nearly seven hours to get down there from Denver - that's about the same as if you drove from Boston to Baltimore. Thankfully I was coming from the west on my road trip back to Denver.
Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Friday, January 15, 2010,
For years I drove by the signs pointing to the park. I had every intention of visiting it at some point as I lived so close, but never really made it there as something else always seemed to attract my attention. But, over five years after moving from my old apartment, I decided to make my way back to the area and check out the Four Mile Historic Park. I've read a lot of Colorado history books lately and was interested to see how this place fit into the grand scheme. I had some time to ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, January 5, 2010,
This new year has marked my tenth year of living in Colorado. Sometimes it just feels like forever, as though I grew up here and know the place like the back of my hand. Other times, when I look around, I feel like I barely know the place and have only lived here a short while. It's an interesting disparity and one that I've set out recently to try to even out.
A few months ago I picked up my first Colorado history book, an ancient edition that someone through out on the free table at wor...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Friday, October 16, 2009,
When I finished talking on the travel panel in downtown Denver with the Public Relations Society of America I felt motivated to go out and do something. Here I had just exchanged a lot of good travel ideas with some top notch people and I wanted to get out and do and see something. I left Maggiano's on the 16th Street Mall though with every intention of just heading back to my car though, until I remembered the Byers-Evans House that is. 
I've been wanting to get a tour of the house wher...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Sometimes there are things listed on maps that sound interesting, but when you try to go there's not a single sign for it until you're already at the spot; such was the case with the Beecher Island Battlefield.  The name on the map sounded interesting enough to my friend and I, so we decided to head that way. After some good navigation on his part we arrived at the small site near the nice town of Wray, Colorado. An obelisk marks the spot where for nine days in 1868 50 U.S. Scouts held their gro... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Even if for just five minutes, isn't it great to feel like a kid again? I mean, really feel like a kid again? And what about if, in those five minutes, it  would only take a quarter? Would it be worth it to have all kinds of great childhood memories rush back on you for only two bits? It certainly was for me when I visited the Kit Carson County Carousel in Burlington, Colorado. I was never much for rollercoasters or the other wild rides at amusement parks as a child, just ask my brother if you d... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Area is a refuge in the middle of Denver that offers opportunities for hiking, wildlife viewing and catch-and-release fishing. But, only a small part of it is available for exploring at the present time; most of the site is still being restored to  how it looked before the middle of the 20th century when the Plains Indians inhabited the land or it was used for pioneer farming.
In 1942 the U.S. Army started producing mustard gas, and later ner...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Educate. Empower. Engage.
It is an ongoing exhibit drawing attention to the destructive forces of terrorism and how it can happen to "Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere," a theme that hangs like a dark cloud throughout the visit. I didn't leave feeling empowered and knowing that there are peop...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Most know her as "The Unsinkable"  Molly Brown from the Titanic voyage, but she actually preferred to go by Maggie or Margaret, at least according to my tour guide at the Molly Brown House in Denver. Just a few short blocks from the Colorado State Capitol, along tree lined Pennsylvania Street, sits the Brown home. Margaret and her husband, James Joseph Brown, purchased the residence shortly after they struck it rich with a silver mine investment in Leadville, Colorado.Due to some squa...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
The free guided tour of the Colorado State Capitol Building is free for a reason. Yet I, unlike many of the other people in my group, stayed on until the end. I just waited and hoped that there would be some interesting historical nugget the tour guide would throw us that I knew I  wouldn't find in the pamphlet in my pocket. Sadly no interesting piece of information was forthcoming. Nor was the tour interesting. In such places kids usually get restless and garner severe looks from adults...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
"At a distance it presents a handsome
appearance, being castle-like with towers
at its angles...the design...answering all purposes
of protection, defense, and as a residence."
~ George R. Gibson, 1846, soldier
The last stop on our southeastern Colorado daytrip was the National Historic Site of Bent's Old Fort. Sitting on the north side of the Arkansas River, it is just a short drive east from La Junta, Colorado on Hwy 194.
Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
"Now the Santa Fe Trail belongs to the keening wind. It belongs
to summer rains and to the fearful snows of winter. It is owned
by the prairie dog, the jackrabbit, the rattlesnake... And for a
brief interval it is mine, by adoption, since I choose to stake my
claim on a tiny fragment of its shining history."
When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821 the  Santa Fe Trail began to boom. Used, in parts, for many years previous by...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
The Kit Carson Museum, in Kit Carson, Colorado, is one of those museums that you've blown by so many times before in the car, but always thought it'd be nice to stop just to see s  omething most people don't.
Well, on my way to the Sand Creek Massacre site yesterday, I stopped with Bob Pearce to check it out, and I'm glad we did. It was a worthwhile little stop that was quite interesting and well worth the price of admission...which was by donation only. It may initially be assumed t...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
"Treat the Earth well: it was not given to you
by your parents, it was loaned to you by your
children. We do not inherit the Earth from
our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."
- Indian Proverb, posted at Sand Creek 
The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site is about a three hours drive southeast from Denver, near the Kansas border, in Kiowa County.
Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
I've lived in Colorado for nine years and just today finally went to see the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. I've been wanting to go for so long, but just never really took the time to do so until now. I picked up a friend early this morning and we made the two hour drive, which was only due to  the morning rush hour traffic, to the park, which sits just a few minutes drive south of the small town of Florissant, Colorado. Besides a handful of petrified tree stumps, there's n...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
This summer I've tried to make a better effort to
visit some of the local museums and sites and try to further my knowledge of Denver and Colorado. I figure I have no excuse not to with three day weekends. This past Thursday I made my second trip to the Colorado History Museum. A few years back I was playing host to a visiting journalist on a fellowship from Romania and took him the museum so he could learn a bit more about the state. After all, it's not as though most people from outside the...
| |
