{"podcast":{"title":"Springs and Things: Your Insider's Guide to Colorado Springs Culture & Community","slug":"springs-and-things-7088548","podcast_index_feed_id":7088548,"rss_url":"https://feeds.transistor.fm/springs-and-things","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/zy_pWZInQ-ysPPjw7H_DLAwYDfUJJb7SGygHCmjNwVg/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS81YTM4/MjRmYjM5NGEyMjI5/OWQ5YzI5NWUxN2Zm/ZDBjZS5wbmc.jpg","author":"Lauren Ferrara and Carly Ries","episode_count":92,"summary":"Welcome to Springs and Things, the podcast where two close friends spill the tea on all things Colorado Springs! From culture and community to hidden gems and neighborhood lore, we’ve got it covered. Join us as we sip our coffee (or maybe something stronger) and dive into the stories and secrets that make this city so unique. Whether you're a local or just passing through, our fun, light-hearted, and always entertaining take on the quirks, hot topics, and insider tips will keep you coming back for more. Discover what’s really happening in the Springs—beyond the mountains and parks!","last_synced_at":"2026-07-28T22:21:20.784137+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/springs-and-things-7088548"},"episode":{"title":"Unpacking the Colorado Springs Lore of Spencer and Julie Penrose","slug":"unpacking-the-colorado-springs-lore-of-spencer-and-julie-penrose","published_at":"2026-05-26T10:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/springs-and-things-7088548/unpacking-the-colorado-springs-lore-of-spencer-and-julie-penrose","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/springs-and-things-7088548","url":"https://share.transistor.fm/s/bae4a0ef","audio_url":"https://media.transistor.fm/bae4a0ef/4fa59f19.mp3","summary":"Did a monkey bite really launch the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo? Did Spencer Penrose actually ride his horse into the Antlers Hotel lobby? And why is the Shrine of the Sun named after Will Rogers instead of the man who built it? In this episode of Springs and Things, host Carly Ries sits down with Sarah Woods, Vice President of Collections for El Pomar Foundation, to dig into the archives and separate Colorado Springs legend from fact. As the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo celebrates its 100th anniversary, Sarah pulls back the curtain on some of the wildest, most fascinating stories in our city's history and reveals what the primary source records actually say. This is one of our most information-packed episodes to date, covering everything from a mysterious box of 1940s newspaper-wrapped clothing to a crash car sitting in a museum exactly how it landed on Pikes Peak. In this episode, you'll learn: → The real reason Spencer Penrose's exotic animals were moved off the Broadmoor Golf Course, and yes, the monkey bite was real → How a 21-year-old Spencer Penrose wrote a Harvard thesis that still guides El Pomar Foundation's mission today → The story behind the Heritage Gallery's never-before-seen photographs, hats, and personal artifacts of Spencer and Julie Penrose → How Michèle Mouton became the only woman to earn the title King of the Mountain, and why she insists on keeping that title → The harrowing 2012 crash on Pikes Peak and what the wreckage reveals about safety, thin air, and the psychological demands of the race → Why Julie Penrose created the original El Pomar Carriage Museum in 1941, and how a newspaper clipping from the 1920s changed everything we thought we knew about its origins → The connection between Spencer Penrose's cancer diagnosis and the founding of the Penrose Ca…","meta_description":"Did a monkey bite really launch the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo? Did Spencer Penrose actually ride his horse into the Antlers Hotel lobby? And why is the Shrine…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2528,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/springs-and-things-7088548/episodes/unpacking-the-colorado-springs-lore-of-spencer-and-julie-penrose/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/springs-and-things-7088548/unpacking-the-colorado-springs-lore-of-spencer-and-julie-penrose.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}