Alamosa Colorado

Clicking the pics may give you a thrill...... side effects include, headaches, nausea, and reoccurring nightmares.

Downtown Alamosa Colorado. Notice the lack of cars parked along Main Street? That's why I like to take pictures on a Sunday. Parked cars don't mess up the picture, and I can park anyplace I want

I got up reasonably early this morning and went to Alamosa to take some pictures of the town. It's less than 20 miles from where I'm camped. And only a few miles from Alamosa is the Alamosa wildlife refuge, which is supposed to be a prime area to see the Sandhill Cranes.

I took a few pictures of downtown Main Street Alamosa, and I didn't find it to be all that interesting. There are a few old buildings, but most of it looks like it's from the 40s and 50s, which aren't that picturesque to me. I tend to like towns that, when they outgrow the old Main Street they build a new Main Street nearby, so the buildings on the old Main Street look like they did in the 1800s or early 1900s. But Alamosa didn't do that.

After taking a few snapshots of Alamosa, I drove over to the wildlife refuge with high hopes of spotting some Sandhill Cranes. There was a very nice government building and visitor center at the entrance to the wildlife refuge where I could've got all the information I needed to find a Sandhill Crane in the area... But the Bat flu strikes again, and the office was closed until further notice.That left me with two things that I could do while I was there, three if you count the outdoor restrooms.

One, I could take the mile-long hiking trail where lots of wildlife hangs out, waiting for people like me to walk by so they can have their pictures taken and beg for food.

Or two, I could take the 3-mile drive that winds around through the area where you might run over some wildlife, making them easier to take pictures of since they're not moving anymore. That was too many decisions to make this early in the morning, so I decided to do both.

I took the hiking trail first, but after walking for a mile or so down the trail where you're supposed to see some wildlife, I hadn't spotted anything except a couple of ducks, and I could see more ducks and that if I stayed at the lake where I'm camped. Needless to say, there were no Cranes in sight.

The 3-mile road trip was even less eventful than my walk except that I did see a white-tailed buck poking his head out of the brush. After that, I went back to Alamosa, filled up my fuel tank, and drove back to San Luis Lake where I was camped. I picked a different campsite just for a new view.

Hopefully when this weekend is over the duck hunters that are camped here will leave and I will feel more like walking over to the other side of the lake where I think the Sandhill cranes are. At least that's where their sounds are coming from. Without the hunters here there is somewhat less of a chance someone will shoot me. And if they do at least it won't be because I look like a duck, although I have to admit I do kinda walk like a duck.

                        theboondork

An old church in Alamosa. The sign is in Spanish so I'm not sure what kind of a church it is.

The Rialto theater. It started out as a movie theater but has gone through a lot of changes including a fire, the sign on the door said restaurant.

More of downtown Alamosa.

The Alamosa town water tower.

Alamosa Colorado Main Street. Tomorrow I'll have some pictures of the wildlife refuge where I went after leaving Alamosa.