creede, colorado

creede, colorado is a small town northwest of alamosa. on saturday a group of us volunteers decided to take a road trip in that direction, stopping in monte vista and driving through del norte and south fork. the weather was beautiful, sunny and cool. we arrived in creede to discover a small festival of sorts complete with an inflatable moonwalk and a classic rock cover band. we ate boca burgers and fries and explored the main street drag which lasted for all of two blocks or so. it was seriously the spittin' image of an old west town.



amy and kate enjoy a greasy summer lunch.
that bare chested man in the background caught us in
conversation and at one point asked if my lip piercings
made sex better. i replied "uh, not so much" and am still
trying to figure out how he imagined so.
people are strange. and i love them for it.



the main drag. see how bumpin it is?



creede is an old mining town where many precious stones
were mined for back in the day. silver being one of the most
common. here is the the end of a small river coming from the old
mining structures.



kate and annie trekking through the hot sun. shortly
thereafter we walked through the ice cold river to climb
up and into a deep, dark cave nestled within the mountain.



some old mining structures in creede. at first we
were wary of venturing up the steep road into the
mountains. but after some assessment we decided we couldn't
pass it up.



a family, also exploring the old mining town, offered
to take a photo of the group. from the left:
charis, katie, kate, me, annie & amy.



on the steep road up we discovered some abandoned
mining structures. dilapidated and ramshackle as they were,
i found them beautiful and haunted with history.



and when i say haunted i really mean haunted. every photo
i tried to take within one of the buildings came out blurry,
no matter how steady i held my camera. coincidence? i think not.



further on up the mountain we came upon a beautiful meadow
overlooking the entirety of creede. an informational plaque
told us we were 10,500 feet in elevation on the site of an old
mining city of 1200 known as bachelor city. bachelor city existed
for a short time between 1882-1893 but bad weather and a poor
economy shut it down. we took a good few minutes to run through
the meadow shouting to hear our own echoes. needless to say,
it was a glorious, beautiful feeling.




on our drive down i had to slam on the brakes to stop
and witness this amazing rainbow curving across the creede sky.
during our stop in the meadow we anticipated some rainy
weather but had no idea what had been brewing east of us.
this rainbow is the brightest and boldest i have ever seen.
and it followed us all the way home to alamosa.



once we were back on flat land we stopped to do a rainbow
dance in excitement and appreciation for the beauty we continued
to see as we drove home. below is another shot of the rainbow
above the colorado mountains.



the whole day was amazing and full of adventure. driving the steep mountains was my favorite part. with the windows down and the jams up it was a picture perfect afternoon. i couldnt have asked for a better day. and what is more exciting is knowing that adventures like that are always right around the corner. the san luis valley itself is full of beauty to be seen. and then there are all the surrounding southwest lands. i am currently planning a day-ish trip to monument valley, utah where john ford filmed many of his westerns. there will, of course be many photos to share then.

keep checking in for alamosa updates. everyday is a new adventure and i am loving my life here.
but i sure do miss YOU. emailz, please: lares.feliciano@gmail.com