out of state

My mom’s azaleas are in full bloom.

In San Luis, Colorado, the town with the state’s oldest continually used ditch, we found a sign that pointed toward “Stations of the Cross.” Well, the sign didn’t seem to indicate anything dramatic, so I thought it was just a little roadside park or something. From the “ditch,” I saw a chapel on a hill, …

…is built upon irrigation.” And that, my friends, is why we have no water in the Kansas end of the Arkansas River. We want water in the river so that we can suck it dry. San Luis claims to be the oldest (white-settled) town in Colorado. And they have the oldest continually used ditch. That’s …

In Colorado, we wandered through a very small town called Manassa. Boxing champ Jack Dempsey was born there in a log cabin – which still stands.

On the Colorado trip in May, we visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was chilly. It was windy. It was like getting sand-blasted. But I’ll have to tell you more about it later. Gotta go judge some kiddie watermelon contests (rolling, seed-spitting, eating) at the Farmers Market this morning.

With the Spanish Peaks in the background. Southern Colorado.

Nothing says Colorado like a wooden fence. Oh, maybe the mountains say Colorado, too. This photo was taken from the Cordova Pass road in Southern Colorado in late May.

The Spanish Peaks in Southern Colorado. That little knob to the right is a volcano plug according to Susie Aber, a geologist we were traveling with.