Alamosa

Our time in Alamosa has been incredibily windy! Not a great thing when you are trying to visit Sand Dunes! We had hoped to rent a slide and climb up to slide down but it was just too windy. A few people were trying it but those sand grains hit your face hard! We found a sheltered spot and had fun watching others try to nativigate.

We found some other fun places based on my friend recommendations - thanks Denise!

We drove the Los Caminos Antiguos Scenic Byway which took us to some interesting areas. The oldest church in Colorado was very cool to see.

We also happen to hit on Cano's Castle (don't go to the website listed it isn't secure). The bottom line of this place is this. Cano has built this castle with a house, garage, shed, towers, etc out of scrap metal, lumber, and countless beer cans. He states that Jesus has been living there since 1987. Cano wants Jesus to go with him to meet the president to right some wrongs that have been done to his family and himself. He is asking for the US to give him a large piece of Southern Colorado because they stole it from his father. Furthermore, his uncle was murdered by a greedy sheriff and God had given his uncle part of that land as well. He is also upset he is Cano does not live in the Castle, perhaps because the local utility company shut off the water when he didn't pay the bill, but lives nearby in a trailer or sometimes in the mud lodge he has built. He only meets people God tells him to and will share what will happen on DoomsDay. He predicted it would be in 2000 but now just says it will happen soon.

Finally the town also has the childhood home of Indiana Jones as seen in the opening scenes of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". The mailbox out front used to say Jones but was stolen. :( But the house, which is a Bed and Breakfast, has lots of memorable inside from the movies.

One of the cities on the Scenic By-way was San Luis which claims to the be the oldest town in CO. The murals in town were very cool - especially the 3D one. We also stopped in at Fort Garland which has an interesting history, and good fudge. :)

The last day we drove to the Shrine of the Stations of the Cross in San Luis. We took the 180ft elevation gain - 1 mile walk up to the shrine, windy but fun to do. There were wonderful views of the fields below and we enjoyed seeing the Shrine.