Juhani's bloggyblog: Air Force Academy, Bishop Castle and Garden of the Gods redux

During the week, I heard from a colleague about a strange castle high up in the mountains that some eccentric bloke has been building for decades. After some brief research in Google, I headed off towards southern Colorado. On the way I stopped at the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs which I had looked at ever since I came to Colorado but wasn't sure if it was open only for US citizens or not. At the gate there was a brief id (and car) check but that's it. Visitors are naturally only allowed in certain parts of the academy.

There were a lot of old and current planes on display like this F-15A Eagle

F-105D Thunderchief

The chapel can be seen from I-25

B-52 with the rainy Rockies in the background

On the way to Bishop Castle, I passed by the United States Penitentiary in Florence. Its supermax high security wing is called the Alcatraz of the Rockies and houses the most dangerous prisoners in the US. Some of the current and past inmates include names like Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, and Timothy McVeigh who carried out the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

I reached Bishop Castle around noon. It is by far the biggest wtf place I've ever been to. The guy who has been building it since 1969 is indeed quite out there as can be seen from several of his hand written notes in and around the castle. You can see the entire thing from every possible angle in about an hour but you'll most likely leave just being puzzled by everything. W-T-F?

One of the towers is about 50 metres tall and you can climb all the way up there

I guess he didn't vote for either Obama or Romney

Umm...

Okay...

Dude.

The second tower. The whole metal cage was shaking quite a bit in the freezing winds

I don't think this would pass all the building codes

Drive carefully

On the way back I decided to stop at Garden of the Gods even though the sun was going down fast and I had already been there back in February. Not many places can boast of having such a gorgeous public park that's free for everyone.