We've spent a lot of time in Colorado these past few years, and we've visited lots of the popular destinations there. Last year, while we were in Breckenridge, we'd heard about an area of Southern Colorado that we weren't really very familiar with. Mary Ann had learned that a tiny town down there was an apple center. She knows what an apple nut I am. So we decided to head down to Penrose to check it out. We drove southeast, down from the high elevation of Breckenridge, all the way down to the five thousand foot level, and on the way to Penrose we entered the outskirts of Canon City. As we approached the center of town there was a full blown farmers market going on at the beautiful Veterans Park. We stopped and spent an hour or so, and then headed on to Penrose. After buying a small barn's worth of tiny, bittersweet Jonathans, we headed back uphill to Breck (as the locals call it)...but something interesting happened. Maybe it was the town's mayor, who walked up and introduced himself, explaining the much milder weather in the "banana belt" of Colorado, or maybe it was the other friendly folks at that farmers market, or the look of the tall, surrounding mountains, but we both felt we needed to come back and take a closer look at Canon City.
We drove up to Canon (as the locals call it) from Santa Fe, and came in from the west. Straight up US 285 to Alamosa, then starting to go northeast towards US Highway 50 and through the pretty town of Salida. From there we followed the Arkansas River for miles as it winds through beautiful canyons, then drops down and spills into Canyon City. As you approach this town of around 16,000 population, there is an almost European feel. Drive off of the US highway, and make a left one block, and suddenly you're on Main Street, right in the heart of the downtown area. Drive down Main, and there are bars and restaurants on both sides, a pharmacy, little shops of all kinds, galleries, the Skyline theater, with it's wonderful marquee that dates back to the early part of the last century, benches about every hundred feet or so, and a very warm small town America feeling. It really is like going into a time machine....back about fifty years (although most of the buildings in downtown go back to the 1800's!). We ended up spending ten days in Canon (the only American town spelled with a Spanish Ene, only I can't use one here because it's not on our keyboards). We covered just about every nook and cranny, ate at a bunch of the local eateries, and even made a few side trips to Cripple Creek, Pueblo ( a 25 minute drive), and Colorado Springs (or The Springs, as the locals call it), a 40 minute drive. Here is the summary of our time in Canon City.
We drove up to Canon (as the locals call it) from Santa Fe, and came in from the west. Straight up US 285 to Alamosa, then starting to go northeast towards US Highway 50 and through the pretty town of Salida. From there we followed the Arkansas River for miles as it winds through beautiful canyons, then drops down and spills into Canyon City. As you approach this town of around 16,000 population, there is an almost European feel. Drive off of the US highway, and make a left one block, and suddenly you're on Main Street, right in the heart of the downtown area. Drive down Main, and there are bars and restaurants on both sides, a pharmacy, little shops of all kinds, galleries, the Skyline theater, with it's wonderful marquee that dates back to the early part of the last century, benches about every hundred feet or so, and a very warm small town America feeling. It really is like going into a time machine....back about fifty years (although most of the buildings in downtown go back to the 1800's!). We ended up spending ten days in Canon (the only American town spelled with a Spanish Ene, only I can't use one here because it's not on our keyboards). We covered just about every nook and cranny, ate at a bunch of the local eateries, and even made a few side trips to Cripple Creek, Pueblo ( a 25 minute drive), and Colorado Springs (or The Springs, as the locals call it), a 40 minute drive. Here is the summary of our time in Canon City.
We figure that the main reason this area has not become more popular with the tourist crowd is the proliferation of..........the jails!!! Yes, the region is home to six or seven penetentiaries! The coolest one is Old Max, the Colorado territorial prison that sits just on the west side of town, right on US 50. It was built back in the 1800's and has quite a storied past! In fact, you can tour the prison museum to peek at the entire history of the place. There are other jails scattered around the county near Canon and Florence, Colorado, another very picturesque village about 10 minutes down the road. The place is crawling with law enforcement types. You can look at it two ways. One, who wants to be near all these prisons??! The other is, it's a real safe place and it keeps out the riff raff and the Aspen-Vail-Breck crowd away. We're guessing from our time there that the locals like it... just the way it is. In fact, we met one fellow who had just moved to Canon from Santa Fe. He was a retired professor from The University of California, and summed it up for us. "This is a real nice, quiet town, that has everything you need."
So what's so cool about Canon? Here is the short list: Natural beauty. It's almost surrounded by the Wet and Sangre DeCristo Mountain ranges. They help protect the area from the typical Colorado winter weather. They get far less snow than the large towns to the east and north, and it's also warmer. So a milder climate, somewhat similar to Albuquerque. Next, for a small town, there is everything you could think of. Good shopping, terrific restaurants, great places to walk or do outdoor sports of all kinds, and very friendly folks! Most of the homes in town are between sixty and a hundred years old...and in good condition. Lots of Victorian architecture. The downtown is a living museum of fabulous Old West buildings. In the Part 2, we'll go into more detail of some great places we found and the attraction that does bring zillions of tourists to town yearly. Stay tuned.....
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