Located in southern Colorado, Pueblo is home to approximately one hundred and two thousand people. Lying in a semi-arid portion of Colorado, Pueblo and the surrounding region receive fourteen inches of rainfall per year or less. Formerly a steel producing center and once known as the saddle-making capitol of the world, the economy in Pueblo is now anchored by companies dealing in aviation and electronics.
Due to economic setbacks in the past, notably a catastrophic flood in 1921 that wiped out a third of the downtown business district and the marked decline of the steel industry in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, the average annual income in Pueblo is low, hovering around thirty thousand dollars per year.
For visitors to Pueblo, Colorado, hotels include the Best Western, Comfort Inn, Days Inn, Econo Lodge, Gold King Mountain Inn, Hampton Inn, La Quinta, Microtel Inn & Suites, Midnight Rose Hotel and Casino, Motel 6, Marriott, Quality Inn, Ramada Inn, Super 8, the Broadmoor Hotel, the Inn at Pueblo West, ValUStay Inn, and the Wingate.
These Pueblo, Colorado hotels offer a variety of amenities in a broad range of price points. Visitors on a budget can easily find rooms at low rates while those desiring more luxurious accommodations will have no trouble in finding lodgings to meet their expectations. (A number of bed and breakfast facilities are also available in the community for those who find hotel stays somewhat impersonal.)
A love of the outdoors draws many people to Colorado. Pueblo has a number of local campgrounds including Fort's RV Park, the Pueblo KOA Campground, the Pueblo West Campground Area, and Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp Resorts. Camp sites range from the basic to those with running water and electrical hook-ups.
Early in the history of the state explorers, trappers, and traders were drawn to Colorado. Pueblo commemorates this heritage in the El Pueblo Museum, which sits on the spot of the first trading post in the community. Exhibits chronicle various events in the history and development of Pueblo.
Due to the presence of gold discoveries in the state a number of wealthy families contributed to the history of Colorado. Pueblo recognizes this wealthy past in the Rosemont Museum, a thirty-seven room mansion (sometimes called a castle), built in 1893 by the Thatcher family. Remarkably the home sits almost completely unchanged with its original furnishings intact. (The uniqueness of this home has led it to be featured on various television programs through the years and it is considered to be one of the finest historical homes in Colorado.)
The Pueblo Zoo is a thirty-acre facility that houses more than three thousand animals. In the same vein, the Raptor Center at the Pueblo Greenway and Nature Center, rescues and rehabilitates birds of prey so that they may be returned to the wild. While housed at the Center the birds are used in outreach programs to the public to educate humans on the role these magnificent creatures play in the food chain of the region surrounding Pueblo.