A collection of photos taken with a variety of cameras from an iPhone to a drone-mounted Sony, to a mirrorless Canon. There is also a special photo essay of my visit to the Shrine of the Stations of the Cross in San Luis, Colorado.
We visited San Luis, Colorado just before the autumn equinox of 2023. The idea was to hike up to the shrine, have a look around and move on with our day. After a bad battery landed my drone in a copse of sage brush on top of the mesa near the shrine, and my wife began feeling poorly, I began a grumpy hike, alone, with only retrieval in mind. The result of my longer than anticipated stay on the holy mesa of San Luis is this photo essay and a mind open to difficult possibilities.
A glass of water and part of a cinnamon muffin enjoyed on the patio of The Sanctuary in Alamosa, Colorado on a pleasant afternoon in early September.
I've heard of garden gnomes, but this is the first garden friar I have had the pleasure to meet. Alamosa, Colorado - The Friars Fork.
From the deck of our AirBnB the sunsets were amazing as we looked west across the San Luis Valley towards the San Juan mountains.
Hummingbirds graced the feeders on the back deck of our AirBnB.
A hidden gem of history in a town named for a fort. These are windows in the original adobe officer's quarters at Ft. Garland, a U.S. military outpost built in the 1850s.
This was a slow moment at the feeder. Many times that evening, a dozen or more gathered to feed at the same time.
Another shot of one of the colorful little birds of the San Luis Valley.
The southern end of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range of Colorado with 14ers Blanca Peak to the left and Mount Lindsey to the right.
Blanca Peak and Mount Lindsey silhouetted by glowing clouds lit by a high mountain sunset.
North Lake in Colorado's Spanish Peaks region. (~400' AGL)
A wonderful old sign in the center Alamosa, Colorado.
Another shot of North Lake from lower altitude. (~75' AGL)
The hogs-back in the town of Stonewall, Colorado.
An old Pratt truss bridge near Valdez, Colorado. In its day it would have run trains (carrying coal and processed coke) back and forth across the Purgatoire River.
The Purgatoire River and the Valdez bridge.
North side of the Valdez/Puratoire River bridge.
The Valdez Pratt truss bridge shot with an Autel EVO II Pro.
More pictures of the bridge over the Purgatoire River.
The pictures below are all from another outing to the San Luis Valley and Northern New Mexico later in the month.
The door to the San Luis Coffee Company
I had the Chick Pea panini and Julie had the Veggie.
An old bike on the patio of the coffee shop in San Luis, Colorado.
Below: Some of the Wet Mountains with Humboldt Peak and Crestone Peak of the Sangre de Cristo Range behind showing snow in late September.
One of the ristras decorating the San Luis Coffee Company's September patio.
A stand of cattails in front of the historic Rito Seco Creek Culvert, an old stone bridge built in 1936. Located in San Luis, Colorado.
What a good girl! Addie chilling in a park in Westcliffe, Colorado on the first day of autumn 2023.
Left: The Palisades Sill in Northern New Mexico, It lies east of Eagle Nest, New Mexico along the Cimarron River.
Below: A bold statement in painted rocks on the side of a sacred mesa in the town of San Luis, Colorado.
Another shot of the Palisades Sill in Cimarron Canyon near Eagle Nest, new Mexico.
A different angle of the sill.
Above: Rabbit Brush lines the tracks to Alamosa.
Left: A railroad crossing on Tranchera Ranch Road east of Ft. Garland, Colorado.