We Chose La Choza

This is our last day in the City Different. We will be leaving tomorrow for Colorful Colorado and friends who live in Dallas as well as Crested Butte. We had a place there for nearly 30 years but we sold it last year, so we visit with the Cooks from time to time to get our Rocky Mountain High.

Today was my birthday and our niece and nephew came to visit. Tomorrow is Teresa's birthday, so we celebrated together ... an event for the young and the old. They were at my party last year so it seemed appropriate that we celebrate together again. We had lunch at La Choza which is a neat little restuarant that we like to frequent. It's owned by the same people who own The Shed and it's usually much easier to get in since it's not located on the Plaza. We had a good day together. They will go to Taos tomorrow to go white-water rafting to celebrate her birthday. We decided to pass :-)

We will leave here early in the morning and plan to visit the Great Sands National Park just outside of Alamosa, CO. It is located on the eastern side of the remote, high-mountain San Luis Valley, between the Blanca Massif and Crestone Needle. They are the tallest sand dunes in North America. The dunes cover approximately 39 square miles and rise to almost 750' above the valley floor.
The dunes are the product of the wind and rain eroding the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo Mountains that ring the San Luis Valley. They have collected here because the prevailing winds across the valley blow in this direction and meet winds blowing in the opposite direction. The sand drops to the valley floor and is held in place by water flowing from the Sangre de Cristo's. So over the course of millenia, the dunes have built up to where they are today. And tomorrow they will be different because the wind still blows, the sand still moves and the deposits of sand still grow.
The dunes are like continually changing sculptures. Overall, they maintain a remarkably stable form because they are so moist throughout (from the rain and snow). But the surface layers of sand dry and flow with the wind in ever-changing patterns. They should really be an interesting place to visit as neither one of us have been there.

Don't know when I'll be back on line to post to this blog. We have plans to attend an outdoor concert tomorrow night so no time will be avalable tomorrow. Thanks for following our adventures. I'll continue to keep you up to date even though I might miss a day here and there.

Later! Pcasso