Coalition Fundraiser

The fundraiser took place in the courtyard of the historic and haunted Windsor Hotel in Del Norte, CO.  The hotel is said to be haunted by a woman whose man got in a carriage with another woman and left her there alone.  She walked across the street, bought a gun, shot herself in the chest and didn't die so shot herself in the head.  Galen thinks maybe she shot the wrong person.

These two are part of Sweet Radish, a well known and talented group from Alamosa.

Me, Ken, Jen and Jen's friend.  I don't look at my hair outside very often.  It sure did get grey!  LOL!

The Coalition is trying to buy land for community gardens and greenhouses to help feed the Alamosa community and also provide some jobs.

Treasure Falls

We stopped at Treasure Falls in time to get a photo of a young man feeding chipmonks.

This one hoped I had some sunflower seeds to share, too, but we didn't.

This is a photo of Treasure Falls taken from the parking lot.  The only sign we saw said the trail was closed.

Another parking lot photo.

We stopped at Treasure Falls on the way back from Pagosa Springs and found the trail.  It was hiding at the far end of the park.  This photo was taken from part way up the trail.

A photo of the falls taken from the bridge.

The falls emptying into a small pool.  We didn't get many photos because a family was in and out of the pool and in the way too much and too long.

Me safely behind the barrier.  The family, including small children, outside the safety of the barrier.  I wonder if the parents didn't like their kids any more.  I could feel the mist from the falls.

The bridge is part way up the trail.

There were a lot of these pretty little flowers on the trail.

The 1/4 mile trail looked like it was pretty steep before switchbacks replaced stairs.

Wolf Creek Pass and Continental Divide

We took Rt. 160 from Alamosa over Wolf Creek Pass and the Continental Divide to Pagosa.  This is an overlook we stopped at along the way.

Galen found and took this very cool shot at the overlook.

This is a pretty scary looking runaway truck ramp but I expect it would be lot scarier to be going down the mountain without brakes!

Our grandnephew likes tunnels so we took this photo for him.

Old Spanish Trail

Not your average roadside historical marker.

From Wikipedia:  The Old Spanish Trail is a historical trade route which connected the northern New Mexico settlements near or in Santa Fe, New Mexico with that of Los Angeles, California and southern California. Approximately 1,200 mi (1,900 km) long, it ran through areas of high mountains, arid deserts, and deep canyons. It is considered one of the most arduous of all trade routes ever established in the United States. Explored, in part, by Spanish explorers as early as the late 1500s, the Trail saw extensive use by pack trains from about 1830 until the mid-1850s.

Galen giving the marker some scale.

Geocaches

We did a little bit of geocaching on the way to and from Pagosa Springs.  Cooper is hiding a cache in Monte Vista, CO.

Full sized photo of Cooper.

There is a cache near this sculpture in Del Norte but the sculpture is at the top of a high cliff and we've not gone up there yet.

We found a cache at Hilltop Cemetery in Pagosa Springs.

Magpie alarm clock

These magpies wake us up about 6:00 in the morning and then fly away.  They are very handsome birds but are so skittish and hard to photograph but I'm still hoping to get at least one good shot.

The chickens, no roosters, are nice and quiet.  We let them in and out of their pen for a few days while their owner was out of town.  They are anxious for me to hurry up and get a photo so they can get up and go.

As soon as they get out of their pen in the morning they head for the pond for a nice cool drink.  They put themselves to bed at night and then we closed the gate to keep the coyotes out.

Habitat and Cattle Drive

Galen and Jen worked at the Habitat Restore today.  They put this bunk bed together.

There is a great price on this daybed but we have no place to put one.

Today's workers and volunteers.

The cattle drive went right by the Restore in downtown Alamosa.  This year there were as many cowboys as cattle because one year there were only two cowboys and the cattle got out of hand and went inside some businesses.

Great Sand Dunes

Galen and I went out to the dunes hoping to get there before the seasonal Medano Creek had dried up.  We missed it last year.

A closeup of the dunes.

As you can see, we got there it time to see the creek.

The black areas in the photo are actually areas of black sand.  Some Native Americans are allowed to collect the black sand for ceremonies.

The clouds were apparently sleeping in this morning.  They hung out on the mountains for a long time.

The dunes are situated between flat desert land and mountains, including several mountains over 14,000 feet and are a product of both wind and water.  The highest dunes get up to 750' high and seem even higher when you try to climb them.  :-)  Climbing them on a windy afternoon is not advised unless you enjoy being painfully sandblasted.

They are very photogenic.

Medano Creek leaves artistic designs in the sand.

This is the road we take to get to the dunes.  Mountains lay straight ahead of us.  Mt. Blanca, a 14,300' mountain, is part of this range.  The Crestones range is behind the dunes.

Those little specks in this photo are people.  It is a tradition to climb the dunes to watch the sunset on nights when the moon is full and then walk back by moonlight.

Same people but I have zoomed in on them with my new camera.