Step up in Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs is no second city. It has one of the state's premier resorts, the opulent Broadmoor, home not only to world-class golf and sinfully comfy beds but to Colorado's only AAA Five-Diamond restaurant (make it a romantic adult dinner). City sights include year-round Pikes Peak Cog Railway, the highest rail line in the United States, which carries passengers to the famous 14,110-foot peak where Katharine Lee Bates was inspired to write America the Beautiful. This is also site of the second oldest car race in the nation, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. But for my money, Garden of the Gods is the city's single most inspiring attraction; no urban park I know comes close for dramatic topography and geologic splendor.