Sangre de Cristo

The usual late afternoon storm coming over the mountain.

Later in the evening I went outside to take a photo of the sunset.

On the way out the door, I noticed the rainbow and walked around the end of our RV to see if I could see the other end of it.

I didn't see any more of the rainbow but I did see this and hollered for Galen to get outside right now!  Sangre de Cristo means blood of Christ and scenes like this is where this mountain range got its name.  Mt. Blanca is over 14,000' high so a teeny photo can only give you a little taste of what a WOW experience it was to see this in our back yard!

Alamosa to La Veta Pass by Train

We took a steam engine train ride from Alamosa to La Veta Pass mainly to see Kathy Barton and Dave Parra perform and were not disappointed.

Our good friends, Larry and Lu, also like Barton and Parra so we had to get this photo just to torment them.  :-)

This photo was taken toward the end of the concert when Michael Martin Murphy and Kathy and Dave played together.

Michael Martin Murphy was a really good sport when the power went out.  He got off the stage and played a few bars of mariachi music - all he knew.  Power was soon restored by a generator and the show went on.

This photo was taken from the window of the train.

The concert was held outdoors in the middle of gorgeous nowhere.  The place is totally off the grid because it is so remote.

I took this shot up the hill from the stage.

I love this shot Galen took from the train window as we pulled into the station at La Veta Pass.

Here is the train coming back from the town of La Veta to pick us up after the concert.

All aboard for Alamosa.

Another shot from the window of the train.

Hi Horsies!

We spotted this flower along the road while out for a walk one morning and Galen got a lovely shot of it.

These are the two horses Jen and Ken take care of.  They normally spend most of the day a little further down the mountain and away from the house but come back once or twice a day for water, hay, and sometimes an apple treat.  When they arrive we always say, "Hi, horsies!" and they always neigh back.

Weather

We were driving in sunshine on Urraca Road on our way to Alamosa early one evening but there was quite a different view in the rearview mirror!

This photo was shot on Rt 160 closer to Alamosa.  It is such fun to shoot weather shots around here.

The clouds leftover from afternoon storms make for pretty sunsets.  The sunset photos were shot from our front yard.

Mt Blanca

I walked out the door, turned around and saw this so quick grabbed the camera.  Mount Blanca is part of the Sangre de Cristo mountains but we haven't seen the mountain turn red yet.  Maybe I need to turn around more often!

Amelia

We had quite an adventure when Amelia got out of her pen a couple days ago.  The four of us and two trucks got her corralled and back where she belongs.  While out and about, Amelia rubbed her big head on our truck and our RV but no damage done.

Zapata Falls

Roger and Marie, our Wisconsin/Mountain View friends came to visit for a couple of days and we hiked up to Zapata Falls.  The Crestone Needles and the Great Sand Dunes are in the background.

Karen and Galen on the trail

This little fledgling was being tended to amidst the swirls of water and people by its mother.

We made it!

You don't just mosey up a trail and see these falls.

You do some rock hopping or get in the stream like I did and find out your old Gortex hiking boots are no longer waterproof.

A better photo of the narrows.

A photo of the 1/2 mile path to the water.

See what I mean?  We've already walked through part of the stream at this point.  The narrows are in the background and there is more stream to walk through after that before getting to the falls.  It was an adventure!  Driving up the mountain to the trail on bumpy, switchback road seemed to take forever, but we are glad we made the trip.  We hear these falls are even more impressive in winter when they freeze - something this southern belle will probably never see.  :-)