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#1 - The natural stone stairway up to the entrance of the Earthship house shows the artistic touch of Diana with a handrail fashioned from copper pipe.
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#2 - Diana greets us at the entrance to her Earthship home.
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#3 - Cathy admiring the entrance door.
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#4 - Cathy talking with Diana in front of the Earthship home.
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#5 - A view of the entrance foyer of the Earthship.
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#6 - Looking down the length of the Earthship. The large windows face South and allow the sunlight to heat the entire space and the tile floor which retains the heat for night time.
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#7 - The first room space (on the far left of the Earthship) is the general purpose room.
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#8 - The second room space over is the kitchen. The wood ceiling and all the wood trim is Aspen which retains its beautiful white color.
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#9 - The kitchen contains a standard electric refrigerator, a gas stove powered by propane, and a standard microwave oven.
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#10 - In the space behind the kitchen, they have a laundry room and art gallery with paintings done by various members of Diana's family from her grandmother down to her grand children.
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#11 - The view of the Crystal Park Hills as seen from the kitchen area.
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#12 - The third room space over is the living room.
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#13 - A wooden Indian stands guard in front of the storage space behind the living room.
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#14 - The view through the windows in the living room.
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#15 - The fourth room space is the combined bedroom and sitting room.
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#16 - The combined bedroom and sitting room.
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#17 - The combined bedroom and sitting room.
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#18 - The storage area behind the bedroom contains their wardrobe and dressers
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#19 - Joe takes a look at the loft area in a space adjacent to the bedroom.
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#20 - The bed in the loft area.
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#21 - Jerry standing in the small room under the loft area. Jerry is a retired chemical engineer, and displayed on the wall are his numerous patents.
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#22 - Jerry shows us the "secret" compartment that displays the back wall construction of the Earthship which is composed of rammed-earth tires.
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#23 - Also in this small room is the compartment housing the 12 lead/acid batteries which are the storage component of the solar electric system that completely supplies their electric needs.
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#24 - Looking over the tin roof with skylights that also provide ventilation in the summer.
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#25 - Jerry leads us behind the Earthship to show us the PV solar array.
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#26 - The PV solar array on three polls, which supplies all the electric needs of the Earthship.
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#27 - Jerry and Diana, the proud builders of their own Earthship, bid us a fond farewell as we undertake the arduous journey back down the mountain.
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#28 - A view from the road as we begin our trek down the mountain from about 9,000 ft. altitude. The city of Manitou Springs is behind the trees in the center of the image, and Colorado Springs sprawls along in front of the horizon, with downtown Colorado Springs behind the notch in the mountains to the right.
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#29 - Looking down from the road at about 8,500 ft., we see Manitou Springs in the middle foreground, with Ute Pass and Highway 24 running through the center. In the upper right are the red rocks of Garden of the Gods.
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#30 - Looking down the road as we approach a one-lane section with an ominous boulder hanging over on the left side.
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#31 - We take another look down at Manitou Springs, Rte. 24 and Garden of the Gods.
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#32 - We stop at Observation Point (elev. 7,954 ft.) to admire the view.
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#33 - One of the many, many switchbacks we had to gingerly navigate as we drove down the mountain.
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#34 - We stop at Artist's Point (elev. 7,776 ft.) to read the historical marker which explains that in 1910, the Crystal Park Touring Company built the first scenic motorway in the West. For $2.50 (approximately $50 today) sightseers could experience what was billed as "The Wondertrip of the World" - not to mention one of the scariest rides up and down a mountain road. Robert L. Ripley (of "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" fame") called it the "crookedest road in North America". Just behind the sign, you can see one of two turntables that were used to turn the tour cars because they were too long to negotiate the 180-degree switchbacks.
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#35 - 35_2011-1001-1713-43.jpg
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#36 - The beautiful view from the aptly named Artist's Point.
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