rose_griffes (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rose_griffes) wrote2007-10-08 08:57 pm
rose_griffes) wrote2007-10-08 08:57 pm
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The ursine post
I said I would do a picspam with bears. It's finally done.
On our last full day in Colorado we went to the booming metropolis of Alamosa. It's in south-central Colorado, in the San Luis valley. Lots of agriculture in the valley, a small state college in town, and a Wal-Mart. Oh, and a JC Penney's, too. Our purpose in going to Alamosa--we were going to take a train ride. One of the old lines that has been abandoned for years was opened up again last summer as a tourist trip--from Alamosa up to La Veta, a break for lunch, then back again. It's an all-day trip, even though La Veta is only sixty miles from Alamosa. The train moves very slowly in the mountains, and the stop for lunch is 2.5 hours.
Alamosa is on the very flat plains of the San Luis valley.
Lots of sagebrush in the area... good for grazing in the winter, so the valley has lots of cattle in addition to visiting deer, elk and moose.
These beautiful tall yellow flowers were in bloom everywhere, but I could never get a good shot of them. This pic is as good as it gets (lower left).
Even in the middle of the valley you can see the mountains to the east and west. We were heading east, so these would be the Sangre de Cristo mountains.
Another pic of the mountains, because they're gorgeous.
Eventually we were in the mountains... Oh, the train was only a few cars long. A dining car (snacks sold there, some seats up front), two passenger cars--one with long wooden benches and windows that opened, the other with cushy seats and windows that stayed closed. In between the two passenger cars you could lean out the half-door.
I grew up on the Great Plains. I still love seeing grasslands, with or without mountains behind them.
We're getting closer to some of the peaks.
Look! Aspens!
If you look closely in these aspens, you should see a (fuzzy) elk.
More elk.
And still more elk... I have even more pictures, but I'll spare you.
I like this picture with the train tracks.
We went through one tunnel and shortly after that we saw this bear!
Here's a closer view of it.
As we got closer to La Veta this deer came bounding toward the train... it was almost like he had an appointment to pose beside the tracks, but was running late. This is the clearest picture I have of him.
We arrived in La Veta around noon and had a lovely lunch at a small restaurant. (La Veta doesn't have any big restaurants, so...) Walked around downtown--twice. Then it was time to leave. On the way back it rained and we sat in the car with the cushy seats part of the time. We did see one more bear, but he was very far away. No pics of him. And that's it! I do have another set of pictures from Colorado that I'll eventually post. No more bears.
On our last full day in Colorado we went to the booming metropolis of Alamosa. It's in south-central Colorado, in the San Luis valley. Lots of agriculture in the valley, a small state college in town, and a Wal-Mart. Oh, and a JC Penney's, too. Our purpose in going to Alamosa--we were going to take a train ride. One of the old lines that has been abandoned for years was opened up again last summer as a tourist trip--from Alamosa up to La Veta, a break for lunch, then back again. It's an all-day trip, even though La Veta is only sixty miles from Alamosa. The train moves very slowly in the mountains, and the stop for lunch is 2.5 hours.
Alamosa is on the very flat plains of the San Luis valley.
Lots of sagebrush in the area... good for grazing in the winter, so the valley has lots of cattle in addition to visiting deer, elk and moose.
These beautiful tall yellow flowers were in bloom everywhere, but I could never get a good shot of them. This pic is as good as it gets (lower left).
Even in the middle of the valley you can see the mountains to the east and west. We were heading east, so these would be the Sangre de Cristo mountains.
Another pic of the mountains, because they're gorgeous.
Eventually we were in the mountains... Oh, the train was only a few cars long. A dining car (snacks sold there, some seats up front), two passenger cars--one with long wooden benches and windows that opened, the other with cushy seats and windows that stayed closed. In between the two passenger cars you could lean out the half-door.
I grew up on the Great Plains. I still love seeing grasslands, with or without mountains behind them.
We're getting closer to some of the peaks.
Look! Aspens!
If you look closely in these aspens, you should see a (fuzzy) elk.
More elk.
And still more elk... I have even more pictures, but I'll spare you.
I like this picture with the train tracks.
We went through one tunnel and shortly after that we saw this bear!
Here's a closer view of it.
As we got closer to La Veta this deer came bounding toward the train... it was almost like he had an appointment to pose beside the tracks, but was running late. This is the clearest picture I have of him.
We arrived in La Veta around noon and had a lovely lunch at a small restaurant. (La Veta doesn't have any big restaurants, so...) Walked around downtown--twice. Then it was time to leave. On the way back it rained and we sat in the car with the cushy seats part of the time. We did see one more bear, but he was very far away. No pics of him. And that's it! I do have another set of pictures from Colorado that I'll eventually post. No more bears.