Arts Lunch #3: Pioneers Museum

I'm not great at planning events, so today's Arts Lunch was a surprise when I realized I had four guests willing to accompany me on a little foray into arts and culture in 60 minutes or less. For today's outing, we met at COPPeR's office downtown and made introductions. Included among us were an old friend of mine, Dave Olsen, along with Nancy Whitford from the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Dreampower Animal Rescue's Adam Biddle and Matt Fisher from Sportique Scooters. We chatted for a few moments while a couple of us scarfed down our yummy Med. Café gyros, and then we dashed over across the lawn to the venerable Pioneers Museum.

A disclaimer: there's so much cool stuff to see at the museum, that one hour will never cut it. We stayed on the second floor the entire time, and had to peruse the exhibits rather quickly. There's a third floor accessible by a fascinating "bird cage" elevator, but we didn't make it up there today. Another Arts Lunch at the Pioneers Museum is most definitely in store for the future.

Here's some photos from Arts Lunch #3:

High tech for the Gold Rush.

Dave Olsen knows a Charles Rockey original when he sees one. (And he likes it!)

Whiskey bottles from the good ol' days ...


This jawbone is apparently the first piece of dental evidence ever used to solve a crime. It was from a murder here in Colorado Springs in 1904. It's crazy the stuff you can see if you just take a lunch break away from your desk.


Silverware which melted in the 1898 Antler's Hotel fire.


Nancy Whitford admiring a couple pieces in an entire gallery of art
inspired by Pikes Peak, "America's Mountain."


This piece, by Tracy Felix, reminds us of a quilt. It's billowy and stuff. :)


I seriously couldn't come up with a better caption for
this image than "Miner 49er." Pathetic, no?

There's a few more shots I took, but these pics here best illustrate some of the highlights from today's all-too-brief trip to the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum. If you've never been, I'm offering a recommendation to you to find some time to take in this historic cultural institution. Did I mention that the museum is free and open to the public from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday? I didn't? Well, okay. There you go.

Thanks again to Matt, Adam, Nancy and Dave for the company today. Stay tuned for more info on next month's Arts Lunch!