The Spanish founded the city of Santa Fe in 1610 on top of a native Pueblo, as La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís–the capital of Nuevo Mexico. The province became part of the nation of Mexico after independence from Spain in 1821. Spain wanted trade to go through Mexico, […]
Raton, New Mexico
Willow Springs stage station once provided respite at the southern base of Raton Pass for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail’s mountain cutoff. In 1879, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway set rails over the pass from Colorado and their division point became the City of Raton, New Mexico. Later, Interstate 25 connected Denver […]
Colorado is Growing
PAGOSA SPRINGS—More people moved into Colorado last year than moved out, continuing the State’s trend of population growth. In 2018, approximately 239,000 people were attracted to Colorado and just over 203,000 people left, for a net gain of about 36,000, according to the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) estimates released October 31st. In […]
Extremely Big Waves and Holes
Colorado seems to have emerged from several years of drought. As of June 11th, the US Drought Monitor monitored no areas of the state in even an Abnormally Dry state. A good winter has left great snowpack in the San Juan Mountains. A good spring has filled the San Juan, Animas and other Four Corners […]
Russell Lakes National Landmark
US Hwy 285 in the San Luis Valley crosses the Russell Lakes National Natural Landmark. Established in 1975 in Saguache County, the site protects Colorado’s largest remaining bulrush marsh and provides plant and animal habitat in the increasing developed mountain park. Looking east from the “visitor’s center”, you might be able to pick out Great […]
A Love Story for the Animas River
I remember the Orange Tang of the Animas River running through Durango, Colorado, and on down to Farmington, New Mexico, in August 2015. Where normally kayakers and fly fishermen joust with tubers, the river coursed with the mineral runoff of Silverton’s shuttered Gold King Mine, zinc, cadmium, aluminum arsenic, and iron hydroxides let loose by […]
Pagosa Rotary Independence Day Parade
I love a parade. I helped organize the Pagosa Rotary Club‘s Independence Day Parade this year. We put on a bit of a show for the tourists and locals alike. Like the Librarians and their carts, my personal favorite this year (and we kept them in front of the horses, too). .
Cloman Park
Archuleta County’s Cloman Park features 120-acres of passive recreation (plus a disc-golf course, but how active is that?) north of Cloman Industrial Park, tucked in behind Stevens Field airport. Take Piedra Road (County Rd 600) to Cloman Blvd and drive until you can’t drive no more. Bring your own water, sunscreen and good hiking boots. […]
Denver’s Civic Center Park
The Civic Center in Denver, at the intersection of Colfax and Broadway, is the beating heart of Colorado, stretching from the Colorado Capitol to Denver City Hall. The statue on the west steps of the Capitol Building is a Civil War cavalryman, dismounted with rifle in hand, in Memorial of the Colorado soldiers who fought […]
Modernism Overlooking Tradition
Pagosa Springs, Colorado, is a tourist town, and we want to encourage our visitors to stop downtown and admire the scenery…and our shops. Pagosa Springs also has a rich heritage and tradition as a Western, Mountain town, far from fancy modern steel and glass stylish architecture. The Town this last year dropped a pretty penny […]