Just about a week after our arrival here in South Fork, we got a nice big snowstorm, which immediately put us in a holiday mood.
Snow did not put the cats (that's Tigger) in a holiday mood. Poor Florida kitties!
Feeling a bit cabin-feverish, we jumped in the car on November 11th, to take a ride up to Creede, a nearby historic silver mining town that recently regained some notoriety as one of the main shooting locations for the (fairly ridiculous) Lone Ranger movie, starring Johnny Depp. The 45-minute drive from South Fork to Creede is pretty gorgeous:
And there is a resident herd of Bighorn Sheep whose territory is about midway along the drive: you don't always see them, but we spotted them on our very first drive up!
Creede is a really cute little mountain town (whose downtown we took no pics of yet, somehow... sheesh), but apparently, all winter, it is pretty much a ghost town. Fortunately, we found one of (maybe?) three open restaurants-- Kip's Grill-- and had some fabulous fish tacos with salsa made in-house. Muy delicioso!
We also got to see the hockey ponds (two!) and the fabulous fire station-- built into an old mine shaft in the mountain:
We even found a house that reminded us of the Keys, right down to the (metal) palm tree!
After our tour of Creede, we found ourselves wanting to do something else… well, more social. Since we'd arrived here just before the first big snow, everyone was already hunkered down for the winter, or they were just plain gone. Most of the people who live in South Fork are only seasonal residents: the population dwindles from ~5000 in summer to ~500 in winter. At first, we were inclined to be bummed out by that news: who were we going to find to hang out with? But then, we learned that most of those 4500 are from Texas. Consider us no longer bummed.
Anyway, back at the ranch (hehe), we found an announcement asking for volunteers to help serve South Fork's (free!) Thanksgiving Dinner. After a little discussion with Nate, we decided it would be a really nice thing to do on Thanksgiving, given that we had nowhere to be this year. :( I called and signed us up.
We arrived to a flurry of activity. And I say flurry because it was, well, disorganized and patchy. There was a veteran crew of volunteers, who'd been doing this dinner for years, who functioned together like a well-oiled machine. Then, there was us, and all the folks like us, who looked slightly disoriented and guiltily hung out in a line around the outside perimeter of the serving and seating areas. We couldn't quite grasp this at first, but the organizers somehow had too many volunteers on hand! When does that ever happen?
Though we only felt minimally useful and ended up leaving after the first "shift," it was a really good thing we went, because when we were instructed to grab our dinners, we sat down directly across the table from a terrific woman named Laurie "2 Dogs," who has lived in South Fork for 16-17 years and knows everyone. Right away, she started introducing us to people, and said we should come to an event called the "Gala" in the next town over (Del Norte, pronounced as if it rhymes with "swell fort") on December 7th, so we could meet that whole crowd. She said the core crowd of Del Norte people were here year-round and they had a lot of social events that she attended, because South Fork had… well, nada.
I thought it was high time I showed y'all a map of (most of) the San Luis Valley, to give you some frame of reference.
If you start at the lower left corner of the map, you'll see Pagosa Springs, which is not in the valley but does have an incredible hot spring (and microbrewery) that we visit on locals days, most Tuesdays. Sort of our weekly date. ;) More on that in the next post.
If you follow 160 through that big green, jagged stuff, congratulations: you just crossed Wolf Creek Pass… the easy way! Right at the spot where 160 turns due east, that little unmarked kink is South Fork (due south of the "Rio Grande National Forest" label). Go figure, we'd find a kinky spot to live. Hehe.
If you continue eastward on 160, the next unmarked kink (where the fork happens) is Del Norte. Then, keep going east and you'll see Monte Vista (actually labeled) and then Alamosa, even farther east. Alamosa is the "big city" (yeah, not really…) where we have to go for any big shopping.
View Larger Map
So, now you know where we are and all the places we drove around in December, seeking holiday cheer (and Christmas lights!).
Anyway, not much happened between Thanksgiving and the first weekend in December, except more snow. Poor kitties.
"I thought there was something I read once about "Puss in Boots": where are my boots?
But Nate was in heaven. Eating literal snowcones-- with maple syrup!
And then, we got two weekends in a row of Christmas parades, tree lighting ceremonies, decoration contests, and even fireworks! The first weekend, we went to Del Norte's Christmas parade (one town east of us), even though the forecast was calling for single digit temperatures. A bunch of locals watched the parade from their cars!
Brrrrr!
Luminarias! [And, yes, Virginia, that is police tape...]
Sorry for the blurry image, but I think my eyes were frozen when I took this. =:-O
The next weekend, we amped up our holiday spirit even more by driving up into the nearby National Forest with an axe, a borrowed saw (thanks, 2 Dogs!), an $8 Christmas tree permit, and many many layers of clothing. Our mission: cut down our own Christmas tree, for the first time ever! Of course, I started feeling bad for the soon-to-be victim, as soon as we parked the car, but I made Nate promise we'd only take one that was crowding another tree. He humors me so. :) Anyway, here's how one hunts a Christmas tree:
Start by doing some difficult climbing, in an area of higher altitude than you are used to. Try to see some spots. Then, keep exerting yourself, marching through deep snow without snowshoes. Get downright woozy. Pose for picture.
March around in the woods, until you find a suitable victim, but not too big to fit in your house (beginner mistake). Be sure it looks crowded by other trees, so you can assuage your guilt at killing a perfectly innocent little tree. :( Or just be male, so you have no such feelings in the first place. ;)
Head home, so exhausted you can't even think of decorating the tree yet. And when you finally do decorate it, lose all the pictures you took, to frustrate your blog followers. ;)
Still looking for more pics… we only have this one, which I call "Rare Sighting of Sasquatch Tree:"
Once you've recovered sufficiently, jump back in the car and drive 45 minutes east to see another Christmas parade!
We hit Monte Vista (two towns east of us) for their parade and fireworks, and froze our eyeballs again. Here is our only good, sharp picture:
Since then, the Del Norte crowd has invited us to a fabulous Christmas party (that was actually in our neighborhood), regular hockey (playing, not watching!) on most Saturdays, a nice little dinner party, and even the Capricorn Birthday Bash in January (with a live band and dancing)!
We managed to infuse ourselves with so much holiday cheer that we decided to make Christmas cookies (we have never done this together before, somehow). Initially, we were really impressed that Tigger was so eager to help, but then we realized he just wanted to eat the cookies: he is one carbohydrate-loving kitty!
"I just want to tell Santa about those boots I want."
Yum… red # 5.
Up Next: Over the Mountain, and Through the Woods... to Pagosa Springs We Go!
So I shunned work for the last couple of hours and read your entire blog. I'm loving it, and your adventures even more. I grew up (half of summers/every other christmas) up in the NE corner of your map, in Westcliffe; a tiny little town with a few good restaurants and stunning views of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Those mountains are just so beautiful and uncrowded (shh, don't tell anyone about them). My dad still has a building there and his business partners, Dave & Kathy, used to build earthships. They are great people and, I'm sure, would be happy to show you their "ship". I need to get out there to clean up my dad's accumulated junk, so maybe I'll see you before you head to OR! Go see the sand dunes, especially the eastern side. Keep those kitties safe from coyotes. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteHi Lara! Boy, do I owe you a phone call to catch up. ;) Glad we've at least given you a couple of hours of playing hooky. I was wondering where in CO you had spent so much time: can't believe we're so close to your old stomping grounds. We'd LOVE to see the earthship… and YOU! Will call soon and see what we can put together. :)
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