Independence Day, 4th of July, whichever you want to call it, it is a great holiday in Colorado Springs. Some of the surrounding small communities still have little parades with kids on bikes and toddlers in wagons. The "big show" in Colorado Springs proper is the Memorial Park celebration, complete with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestra free concert, and a fireworks display that opens with a battery of howitzers from Fort Carson, as part of the 1812 Overture. Other area fireworks displays are at the Air Force Academy, Fort Carson, Palmer Lake, and Manitou Springs (though I heard they were cutting our fireworks for fire danger reasons this year). We will be spending the 4th with a large group of old friends.
Part of the reason this is such a big holiday here, is the number of active duty and former military personnel. One study puts that number at close to 21% of the adult population. Certainly with 5 military bases (Air Force Academy, Peterson Air Force Base, Shriever Air Force Base, Fort Carson, and NORAD), Colorado Springs has a strong patriotic feel to it.
With the oil crisis, continued problems in Iraq, a housing and automotive recession, rising unemployment, the stock market tanking, fires burning all over the West (especially California), floods in the Midwest, and on and on, it is easy to forget how great life really is, especially for us in the United States, and even more especially for us in Colorado Springs. I'm hoping to make this 4th of July Thanksgiving Day, in addition to Independence Day.
Today's photo is from late last June at Independence Pass, just east of Aspen. I tend to associate it with the 4th of July weekend, because we spent the 4th up in Snowmass with our son a few years ago, and really enjoyed the scenic beauty of this magnificent pass over Highway 82. It is closed for 1/2 the year because of snow, and when it opens, takes an hour off the drive from the Springs to Aspen / Snowmass.