The Colorado Springs Gazette

A welcome sign sits at the Colorado, New Mexico border north of Taos. Michael Ciaglo/The Gazette

Your Colorado Fun Guide

Life: Travel Updated: Wed, May 22, 2013

Summer is here! And Colorado is a summer playground for natives, residents and visitors from around the world. This section is dedicated to many of the fun things this state has to offer. While by no means a comprehensive list that touches on every park, trail, fair, festival or museum,...

Patches of green and brown, with Pikes Peak rising above, ring Rampart Reservoir, which opened to the public Friday after nearly a year.

Fish are biting at Rampart Reservoir, despite devastation nearby

News: Local News Published: Fri, May 24, 2013

PIKE NATIONAL FOREST- Tom Tassia remembers what it was like to revisit his favorite fishing spots after the largest wildfire in Colorado history. "With the (2002) Hayman fire, basically all of the black washed into the streams. The area was virtually unfishable for close to five years," said...

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Territory Days draws crowds to Old Colorado City
Colorado Springs tourism officials say this weekend jumpstarts turnaround

Acacia Park was alive with music Saturday afternoon. Parks employees opened the Acacia Park Convention and Visitors Bureau Hub and handed out brochures touting area attractions, events and restaurants. And children splashed around in Uncle Wilbur's Fountain for the first time this year. Each year, Memorial Day weekend brings the hope of a...
Dandelion roots and more: finding food at our feet

Ellen Zachos is a modern-day forager, gathering wild foods to enrich her cuisine. New York's Central Park provides the fixings for much of her larder, which includes wines, pickles, jams and jellies made from flavorful weeds. "Many of the most delicious wild edibles are invasive weeds," said Zachos, an ethnobotanist, instructor at the New...
Ice cream can be an easy way to get kids cooking

Sometimes it takes the mind of an 8-year-old boy to come up with a brilliant idea. At least when it comes to ice cream. My son and I had just left a Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop where I'd snarfed down a double-scoop cup of Americone Dream (vanilla with fudge-covered waffle cone pieces and caramel) and Phish Food (chocolate with...
Foreign preacher takes rare turn on Vietnam stage

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - The 25,000 people at the soccer stadium and the millions more watching at home waited 90 minutes before the Australian evangelical preacher got to the message he had come to Communist-ruled Vietnam to deliver. "Do you know why I love God?" Nick Vujicic asked a young girl on stage who, like him, was born without arms and...
Brewers team up on beer to help military families

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Craft breweries from around the country are toasting the troops with a beer aged with a unique ingredient that symbolizes America's pastime - baseball bats. Nine different brewers collaborated to create Homefront IPA, all using the same recipe, complete with orange peel and unfinished maple Louisville Sluggers. Toward the...
Long-standing Territory Days festival on tap for weekend

Territory Days, one of Colorado Springs' largest and longest-standing street festivals is on tap this weekend, running 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday, on Colorado Avenue between 23rd and 27th streets. This time-honored celebration commemorating the founding of Old Colorado City, the first territorial capitol of...
Campground hosts: Hard work, but still a dream job for many

PIKE NATIONAL FOREST - There are times, usually when it's been awhile since she had clean laundry or a proper shower, that Ruth Williams misses home. Then, she said, "When I get into the traffic, I think, 'Now I know why I live in the mountains.'" When the 73-year-old says "in the mountains," she means it; four to five months a year in a...
Colorado Fishing Atlas can help you find perfect spot for trip

One of the problems with fishing in Colorado is there are so many options. How do you decide where to go? You can ask family or friends, but it's hard to know for sure about a spot unless you've been there. The Colorado Fishing Atlas helps eliminate the guesswork. The online site is offered by Colorado Parks and Wildlife and covers all of the...
Free fishing poles, clinics in El Paso County

Colorado Parks and Wildlife will offer free fishing poles to children attending fishing clinics at parks in El Paso County in the coming weeks. The first 500 adult-chaperoned children at Quail Lake Park will receive a free rod and reel at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 1. The park is at 915 Cheyenne Mountain Blvd. Call 719-227-5200 for more...
Fishing report for May 23, 2013

Southeast Colorado Adobe Creek Reservoir/Blue Lake (Kiowa and Bent counties) - Fishing for crappies is fair to good. Crappies are being caught on live minnows and a variety of jigs. Fishing for catfish has started to improve. There are several nice channel catfish that have been caught from the shore, using a variety of baits. Arkansas...