Critter Sitter's Blog: Manitou Springs, Colorado

Manitou Springs, Colorado was established in 1872 as "a scenic health resort." It has 12 natural mineral springs,and one can take a self-guided walking tour and sample the water from all of the springs, free of charge. Manitou Springs now consists of three square miles, and has a beautiful Victorian-era downtown, where no "chain stores" exist. The only two authorized medical marijuana stores in El Paso County are found here. So, too, are the Manitou cliff dwellings, which were built in the early 1900s to look like the Mesa Verde Anasazi housing. And the Incline is also here: it was once a narrow gauge funicular railway bed, but is now a staircase that ascends over 2,000 feet in about a mile, with some grades as steep as 68%...