Alamosa (Part 5)

Here are the last couple of shots from this short series on our day trip to Alamosa last week. The mountain above was captured from the passenger seat as Pat sped down Highway 160, so I'm surprised it came out as well as it did. As you can see, there's a paucity of snow on the mountains here, either. Sigh. Below is a sign outside of Walsenberg. I actually took it on the way to Alamosa, not on the way home, but forgot to share it first. Walsenberg only has about 3,000 residents and I think it's a very cute little town.

Alamosa (Part 4)

Another couple of snapshots that I grabbed in Blanca, about 20 miles outside of Alamosa. The mountains in this part of Colorado are called the Spanish Peaks (part of the larger Sangre de Cristo mountain range), and as you can see, even the most mundane street view has a breathtaking backdrop.

Alamosa (Part 3)

On our way out of Alamosa, we stopped in tiny Blanca so I could hop out of the car for a couple of photos. I love the symmetry and the simple shape of this old building. Blanca is about 20 miles outside of Alamosa and has fewer than 350 residents, at one time including Pat's brother Matt. This part of Colorado is very much agricultural, mainly ranching, although The Great Sand Dunes National Park is a big part of the local economy, too. If you're ever in this neck of the woods you should definitely visit the park, it's incredibly unique and beautiful. 

Alamosa (Part 2)

More Alamosa stuff. This photo was taken from the same exact spot as the one I shared a few days ago, but ninety degrees to the left, facing east. The photo below was taken another 90 degrees to the north. As you can see, not exactly uplifting.

Alamosa is situated in the San Luis Valley, which is not only a very beautiful place, it's also one of the poorest regions in Colorado. Boasting fewer than 10,000 residents, it's the largest town in the area. Adams State College is located in Alamosa and that gives it a breath of fresh air -- having a college or university in any city inevitably lends a boost of  fun and funkiness. But yeah, it's not exactly the upper east side of Manhattan in terms of median household income. That said, of course not all of Alamosa looks like these grim images! There are some very cute neighborhoods, too.

Alamosa (Part 1)

Pat and I drove to Alamosa yesterday, about 165 miles away, and although it was a beautiful day for a road trip our mission was a little depressing, to be perfectly honest. To briefly explain, for several years one of Pat's three brothers lived in or around Alamosa. (Matt had always been a bit transient by nature, so for a time he lived nearby in tiny Blanca as well.) In February of 2025 he died quite unexpectedly, and ever since then, Pat has been paying rent on the storage unit in Alamosa that Matt rented. The time has come to finally see what was in there and figure out what to do with his things. I won't go into that here, though. Suffice it to say that although it was not exactly a joyful excursion, I decided to make the best of it and document the things that I saw in Alamosa and the surrounding area. I suppose the photos reflect my mood. Here's the building where Matt rented his storage unit.

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We drove all the way across the state on July 4th, to a little hamlet named Creede, and look what we found just outside the town limits. Pretty cool! There are countless similar old mines all over the state, but this one is in really good condition. I took a few nice pictures on this little road trip and will share more over the next couple of days.

Calhan (Part 4)

One last snap from Calhan. I didn't really like this image in color, but I don't know if it's much better in monochrome. I messed around with it quite a bit and couldn't really get a decent black and white conversion of it. Oh well. Anyway, this building clearly has had some love put into it, and I know you can't see the interior but there are some well restored vehicles inside.

Calhan (Part 3)

This deserted grain elevator looks almost heroic against the bright blue sky, don't you think? I don't know anything about the farming or harvesting of grains, but I figure a facility like this must be frantically busy for a short period around the end of summer, but by October or November it's a ghost town. And regardless, impressive up close.

Calhan (Part 2)

Another image from my short visit to Calhan a few days ago. All of these were taken within a half block of each other. Calhan is small. Even so, it's charming and has that certain genuine rusticity that you can only find in little towns like this.

Calhan (Part 1)

I mentioned a few days ago that I had to go to Calhan last Saturday to do some family portraits. Calhan is small, with roughly 762 residents. What it lacks in beauty it makes up for in patina, you might say. I love little towns like this so I spent a few minutes grabbing some pictures after my photo shoot. More tomorrow.

East of Eden

I was in Calhan on Saturday to do some family portraits. This tiny burg is located about 35 or 40 miles east of my front door. After my photo shoot I took a few minutes to drive around and snap some photos. More later.

July 4th Day Trip

Pat and I headed for the mountains on Independence Day, just for a change of pace. Our destination was Turquoise Lake, which is just outside Leadville city limits, about 150 miles away. We had gone camping there years ago and wanted to see if it was as beautiful as we remembered. It didn't disappoint!

Did you know that at 10,152 feet above sea level, Leadville is the highest altitude city in the United States? It's gorgeous, ringed all around by mountains. The views are spectacular! As for Turquoise Lake, it's so called not because of the color of the water, but because it was created on or near a turquoise mine during Leadville's early days. Here are a few pictures, plus a short video shot by Pat.

We had an epic amount of snowfall over the winter, which means our streams and rivers are at the highest levels we've seen in years. This waterfall on the road encircling Turquoise Lake was raging with snowmelt. In fact, it was a tiny bit scary! Pat shot the video below. You can see that the volume of water is just bonkers.

A Very Large Rocking Chair

This 21 foot high rocking chair lives in tiny Penrose (about 35 minutes south of us on Highway 115) in front of a now shuttered restaurant called the Apple Shed. Built in 1990 by a man in Security, part of the Colorado Springs metro area, for a time it was the record holder for the world's largest rocking chair. Funny story: when Pat and I first started dating, he was working in the construction business. His company's office was in the Security/Fountain area, and this chair sat in front of their building. I have no idea why the World's Largest Rocking Chair was displayed in front of Jerry's Roofing, but I always thought it was funny. Eventually Jerry retired and the chair ended up in Penrose somehow. Alas, it is no longer the world's largest. That honor was bestowed upon a truly gargantuan rocker in Illinois in 2015.

More of the same

Another view of the old Presbyterian church that I blogged on Monday. It's in beautiful condition. I did a little research and found that it was built in 1889. You can read more about it HERE.

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Pat and I went for a Sunday drive yesterday, and it ended up being almost 200 miles round trip! I guess we really needed to decompress. We usually go west on these occasions, but this time we headed east, all the way to Limon. We stopped in tiny Elbert, where I photographed this beautiful old Presbyterian church. I wonder when it was built. It's definitely still in use.

Road Trip to Durango (Part 7)

I mentioned yesterday that Pat and I made a detour to Farmington, New Mexico to see a Muffler Man. Afterward, we took a quick tour of the town's bustling downtown, where we spotted tons of old Art Déco and mid-century buildings and signs, along with other cool stuff. Here are some pictures of what we saw. Tomorrow I'll post more, and on Friday I'll show you some images from our drive home.

Road Trip to Durango (Part 3)

I love Durango! It's a small city with lots of personality and natural beauty. Durango sits on the Animas River, and there is a particularly beautiful spot a few miles outside of town called Baker's Bridge that gives you a perfect view. If it looks familiar to you, cast back in your memory to the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid": a key scene in the film was shot in this very location. Do you remember when Butch and Sundance are being pursued by a posse, and their only recourse is to jump off a cliff into a river? This is the spot. All the dialog and close up bits were filmed here, and the actors jump, but apparently it's onto a mattress below camera range. Through clever editing, a shot of two stunt men jumping into an entirely different river, in California no less, gives you the impression that Robert Redford and Paul Newman leaped from a great height. You can watch it HERE. When the movie was filmed, there probably wasn't a lot out by Baker's Bridge but prettiness. Now there are some nice homes, including some right here along the edge of the Animas.

The rest of today's pictures were taken downtown, where we found some good shopping and restaurants, including ice cream. (Hooray for ice cream!) Tomorrow I'll show you more.

Road Trip to Durango (Part 2)

I wish I could post more than three photos today, but I'm swamped! Here are some cool things Pat and I saw in Durango earlier this month. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to work on more than three so I can make a better blog post for you. See you then!

I wonder if this is related to Wall Drug in South Dakota.

Nice looking classic T-Bird!

Another road trip

Pat and I drove to Durango about three weeks ago to visit a friend. Here's a teaser image. I'll share more pictures of our road trip over the next few posts.

Victor (Part 3)

The last of my photos from our little tour of historic gold mining town Victor. Make sure to scroll through the last couple of posts to see more.

I concur. 😉

Gold mining still reigns in Victor.