Manitou Springs Spa District & Old Colorado City

Manitou Springs, 5 miles west of Colorado Springs at the foot of Pikes Peak, was one of the most fashionable health resorts in the American West from the 1870s through the 1920s — visited by Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Walt Whitman, and the Queen of England's physician for its eight naturally carbonated mineral springs, each with different iron, calcium, and sulfur mineral compositions. The springs are still publicly accessible from ornate Victorian drinking fountain structures throughout the historic spa district; drinking from each spring (all free) is a tradition that has continued since the resort era. The adjacent historic Old Colorado City was the original settlement of Colorado Springs (established 1859 as a mining supply camp, predating the planned Colorado Springs resort city by 12 years) and retains its Victorian commercial strip. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center and the Pikes Peak region's natural history fill the morning.