When we travel, we often see things that look intriguing but that aren’t accessible to us at that time. There’s simply never enough time. When I was in Colorado Springs for a conference last year, we got to venture out for a couple of side trips including a ride on the Pike’s Peak Cog Railway. We also were supposed to take a Jeep tour of Garden of the Gods.

Neither of these things went as planned thanks to an absolutely wonderful snow we received the night we arrived. I found the snow magical in this already beautiful place but there were consequences. The top of Pike’s Peak was closed so the train didn’t make it to the top. Plus, Garden of the Gods was closed as well.

Our Jeep tour guide handled it like a champ, taking us to places that were accessible including around Manitou Springs and telling us stories about the area.

The original plan was better but this was a great plan b.

One of the places we went was to Glen Eyrie, an English tudor style castle. This historic castle was built in 1871 by General William Jackson Palmer. General Palmer was a Union General during the Civil War and was the founder of Colorado Springs.

It’s open for tours and has a nice little cafe and gift shop with clean restrooms and a delightful view – at least when blanketed by snow!

We weren’t able to take a tour because the timing simply didn’t work. We had to get back for the conference and flew out early the next morning.

We did, however, get to look around the grounds some and learn interesting things about the place. Our guide talked about how it was quite advanced for its time. Some features include fire hoses stationed around the castle in case of fire and a primitive intercom system. I thought it was fascinating that there’s a system that uses a lever to direct smoke, depending on the direction the wind was blowing, to send the smoke out of the valley.

With hundreds of acres, the property is home to much wildlife including a large herd of bighorn sheep, birds of prey, wild turkey and deer. There are also places to stay around the property including in the castle.

It is owned and operated by a worldwide Christian organization called The Navigators.

Incidentally, Eyrie means Eagles nest and the property is still know to be home to Eagles.

Maybe I’ll get to see inside someday. Meanwhile I’ll continue thinking of it as the one that got away!