Alamosa and Creede

 The past few days we have been enjoying Creede and Alamosa, Colorado.  We used to come to Alamosa to ride and Rio Grande Scenic Railroad trip up to LaVeta Pass.  The train was pulled by an old steam engine and a fun ride through scenic areas.  It has become one of the many casualties of the Corona virus pandemic.  The owners are looking for someone to buy the train cars and start the rides again.

This is pretty country.  

The highway follows the Rio Grande River much of the way.

On our way to Alamosa, we drove through Monte Vista. Sand Hill Cranes migrate through the San Luis Valley, which includes Alamosa.  About 20,000 cranes make a stop in the valley.  Monte Vista pays tribute to the cranes with a number of images of the birds on the main street.

Monday we drove to Creede.  The annual Woodcarvers Rendezvous was in progress.  I didn't take any photos there, but we did see interesting sights in the town of Creede.

We passed on old train station along the way. 

Creede is in a narrow canyon.  Shops line the main street and the carving show is held in the underground community center, located in old mine shafts.

Here is a scene in town showing a old home and yard.

This mural shows images of nearby scenery.

It was a fun excursion.

Today we drove to a trail near the golf course.  Along the way we saw these train cars.

There were several tiny houses in one place.  Don't know if the are individually owned, for rent, or displayed for sale.

I took a picture of this primrose along our trail.

And we enjoyed this peaceful view.

This was the only wildlife we saw.  The sign below warns of other critters but we didn't see any of them. 

 

Walking Through the Bosque

We are spending several days in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on our way to Colorado.  Yesterday, we drove to the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park in town.  The forest along the banks of the river are a bosque.  Wikipedia descibes a bosque: "A bosque is a type of gallery forest habitat found along the riparian flood plains of stream and river banks in the southwestern United States. It derives its name from the Spanish word for woodlands."

This massive cottonwood is an example of the trees growing along the river.

The trail winds through the trees and open areas along the river.

This is the Rio Grande in central Albuquerque.  The river always looks sort of green--even in aerial photos taken of the river as it forms the border between the United States and Mexico in Texas. I believe the color comes from the runoff from agricultural fields in New Mexico and Texas.

These metal structures near the river are called jetty jacks.  They were installed in the 1950s and 60s to prevent erosion from seasonal flooding.  The following link to a National Fish and Wildlife document describing the jetty jacks is informative.  https://www.fws.gov/bhg/Literature/Jetty Jacks pub version.pdf 

I, personally, am just impressed I could remember the term jetty jacks and their general purpose.  I hadn't realized they are somewhat controversial.

If you look closely you might be able to see red ear on this red eared slider turtle.  The are found in the  shallow river water at the Nature Center.

 

Here are humming birds and numerous turtles below.

As we walked along the river we thought we heard a dog barking somewhere.  Come to find out, it was the cormorants, quacking or squawking on the river.

 We enjoyed our walk yesterday but were surprised at how many others also like the bosque.  I wondered if schools were not in session.  A little research showed they are in session for virtual learning only.  The weather here is great so I guess families were out enjoying nature--and maybe completing some school assignments?  We don't know.

Albuquerque Visit

Albuquerque is an interesting and beautiful city, located in the middle of New Mexico.  We are spending a week here.  We have visited the area numerous times over the years we have been RVing but we still found a lot to do, places to revisit.

One day we walked through the bosque (trees) along the Rio Grande River.  We saw a lone cormorant sitting on a branch in the river.

I can't remember what this line of metal beams along the river is called but I think it has something to do with flooding.

There are huge cottonwood trees along the bank.

We saw people riding horses on the path.

Another day we walked out to the Petroglyph National Monument.  

There are something like 23,000 ancient petroglyphs there, as well others added by the Mexican sheep herders who were in the area before New Mexico became part of the U.S.  There are also examples of modern graffiti.  (I didn't take pictures of those 20th century additions.)

One day we drove into Old Town Albuquerque to see the shops in the oldest buildings constructed here.  I love this painting.  So colorful!

Many of the doors in the old buildings are attractive and brightly painted.

This door is a sign of the current economy and virus shutdown.  Even when we found shops open, we were the only customers in the store.  How sad for the owners.

The windows in some of the old adobe walls are interesting.

I will end this blog post with this quiet neighborhood in central Albuquerque.  Unfortunately, our country is not as serene as this scene.

Great Place to Stay

There are two RV campgrounds in Creede. We have stayed twice at Mountain Views RV right in Creede. It is very nice and overlooks the town itself. But it is all gravel and very uninteresting. For this two-week stay, we decided to try Antlers Ranch, a restaurant, resort and RV campground. It is 5 miles out of town.

This is the entrance.

And this is our RV site.

Even the drive through the resort to the campground is interesting.

The Rio Grande River runs right through the resort and has a bridge to reach the other side of the river. You can see the restaurant across the river.

There is a pond that is stocked for fishing.

We are at nearly 9,000 ft elevation here and the wildflowers are beautiful. These are two hillsides we see as we take our daily walks.