Impression Evergreen

The Cadet Chapel "We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does. ~ Cadet Honor Code Below a spectacular summit named Eagle, we spent a stormy, summer weekend playing in a soccer tournament at the United States Air Force Academy. The athletic fields were immaculate and the opening day atmosphere was electric. We were focused on our ordinary lives and our children competing at that time. Some may have failed to look across the way where soldiers were practicing sports like soccer, baseball and football. Make no mistake though, it wasn't all fun and games for those young men and women stationed in Colorado Springs studying the art of military warfare. We complained about parking, the heat and losing but did that really matter? The politics associated with youth soccer are just insignificant nonsense compared to the lessons being taught over the wall. Up on The Terrazzo, cadets are struggling to survive one of the most rigorous academic and mil

Garden of the Gods, Colorado "Once upon a time there was a great flood which covered all but the top of Manitou's Mountain. When the water subsided, the Great Spirit turned the floating carcasses of the drowned animals into sandstone, and rolled them down into a garden valley below where they remained as mute evidences of the Great Flood." ~ Indian Legend Down in Colorado Springs, beneath Pikes Peak, the site of that supernatural catastrophe can still be seen. In this special valley you'll discover 300 million-year-old rock formations with names like Balanced Rock, Cathedral Spires and the Kissing Camels. It's known as the Garden of the Gods but to the Southern Ute Indian tribe it's the Garden of Eden. They believe the creation of their people occurred at this sacred place. Great White Mountain (Pikes Peak) was the center of the Ute's world. They believed that on the summit of the thunderous peak stood the Western Gates of Heaven and there dwelt t