Cirrus in the West Series!
See them all: Denver, Boulder, Santa Fe, Taos, Southern Colorado, Kansas City, Saint Louis.
Most of my summer trip west was spent in the small towns of southern Colorado. This thread will take you to places never before seen on SkyscraperPage, and yes, there will be the breasts of the world. Read on.
But first, since this is My City Photos on SkyscraperPage, here's one photo of
Colorado Springs. Metro area population about 3/4 of a million, roughly comparable to Boise, Des Moines, Greensboro, and Madison. Sadly it's mostly sprawl, and on this particular trip I drove through without stopping. So here you are, downtown Colorado Springs, looking tiny against the hills behind.
The second city of southern Colorado is Pueblo, but I buzzed through that without stopping too. Apologies.
But the third city of southern Colorado is Trinidad, and I did spend good time there. Nestled right near the New Mexico border, Trinidad spent most of the 20th Century on a slow decline. Last time I was there, circa 2001, it looked like every other barely-hanging-on, Wal-Mart-is-the-whole-economy, depressed county seat in the rural midwest.
Boy howdy have things changed. It's colorful and thriving now, with full storefronts and the kind of nice decorative florishes that mark wealth. I'm told it's all cannabis money. Turns out there are economic benefits to being a free-wheeling border town.
This was
definitely not here on my previous trip.
It's a genuine old PCC streetcar, but it doesn't run. It's basically a statue.
La Junta is about the same size as Trinidad, but doesn't have that weed money. It's arguably a more important town though, being the pretty undisputed economic capital of... the entire southeast quadrant of Colorado. If you're east of I-25 and need to buy a sweater in person, that La Junta Wal-Mart is probably where you're going.
The town is there because 19th Century railroads needed a railyard near where the flat lands of the Great Plains hit the mountains, so they could add locomotives for trains heading west to climb over mountains. La Junta--"The Junction"--is where several rail lines come together, with a railyard for that purpose.
If you look closely on this map, you'll find a subdivision and a street named for my family.
Here's the street. More than a century after the map, there's still nothing much on it.
The Kiva museum is a Native American museum and dance performance venue. It's controversial because it's owned and operated by mostly non-natives, but it's undeniably interesting.
Its main performance room is purportedly the largest self-supporting log roof in the world.
Besides the railroad, La Junta is most famous for its native tarantulas. Yes, you heard me. In the low desert south of town, there are tons and tons of them.
You do usually have to leave town to see them. The town itself is built along the Arkansas River so there's some water and greenery, but as soon as you leave town to the south it's like this:
They're very docile. You can just pick them up and say hello.
When you're not playing with terrifying arachnids, there are plenty of rodeos to keep you busy.
A+ braids.
This is technically a nearby town named Rocky Ford.
In the river valley it's more green & farmish.
I promised you breasts of the world. Do you see them on the left here?
Those twin mountains are the Wahatoya. Sometimes they're called the Spanish Peaks, but c'mon, the Comanche name for them is way better. "Breasts of the world." A+ no notes.
They're geologically fascinating. They're old volcanos, and there are places where rivers of hardened lava remain standing where the surrounding mountain has eroded away, leaving dramatic lava cliffs rising from the slope.
Photo by Wayne Baisley via Flickr. All other photos in this thread are mine.
This is Goemmer Butte, an even more ancient volcano. After eons of erosion all that's left of a once-giant mountain is the hardened lava core.
In the rocky valley between the peaks (er, the cleavage?), there are a bunch of picturesque cabins.
Plenty of impressive vistas.
Adorable wildlife.
Alpine meadows.
It's not at all flat.
But it's a good place to relax.
And make friends!
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