04_2010 Sand Dunes and Wildlife near Alamosa, Co

We are fortunate to live in such a pretty part of the country. We have a variety of landscapes and terrain within short drives. Dave has been busy trying to capture many of these beautiful scenes.

This past weekend, we drove a few hours southwest to the area around Alamosa. I needed desperately to get out of the house. Did I mention it was desperate? Hideous cabin fever is taking place.

I'm not sure of Alamosa's great claim to fame, but for us, it is that this cool little town has KILLER Mexican food! :)

Just outside of Alamosa are two excellent locales: The Great Sand Dunes National Park and a Wildlife refuge where Sandhill Cranes regularly stop over on their southern migration.

The sand dunes are crazy. They are 750 feet tall! They were created over time as the winds blew through the San Luis Valley eastward. Because of the mountains, the sand could go no further and instead collected at the base of the mountain range.

While Dave was able to hike to the top and leap off into the safety of the soft sand, I piddled at the edge. You may not know this, but walking on sand is advanced walking. It's hard on the feet. My recovering feet couldn't do it. Next time...

We also spent a day at the wildlife refuge. I was able to hike about two miles on flat terrain (and paid for that the next day!). We saw many birds and beautiful views. The San Luis Valley is quite spectacular as these landscape photos demonstrate!

We plan on making more trips back. Hopefully we can do that soon!

Edit: Thought I would add the list of all the birds we saw on this trip. They are offered in the order we saw them in. A few were new!

Red-Tailed Hawk
Black-Billed Magpie
Horned Lark (new)
European Starling
American Crow
Raven
American Kestral
Rock Dove (aka Pigeon)
Northern Harrier (f)
Killdeer
Western Meadowlark
Wilson's Snipe (new!)
Red-Winged Blackbird
Yellow-Headed Blackbird
Song Sparrow
Tree Swallow
Mallard
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Hairy Woodpecker
Red Shafted Northern Flicker
Great Horned Owl (saw this in broad daylight sitting in a tree! New bird)
American Robin
Brewer's Blackbird
Mountain Bluebird (tons!)
White-Breasted Nuthatch
Dark-Eyed Junco
Mountain Chickadee
Say's Phoebe (new)
American Coot
Ruddy Duck (Ha ha - funniest ducks ever!)
Sage Thrasher (new)
Red-Head Duck
House Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Stellar's Jay

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