Alamosa

Alamosa is home to 8,818 people, not including the college kids who attend Adams State for the better part of the year. It is a nice little town with many smaller single family homes lined up along tree lined streets. There are a variety of shopping and dining options and the town has some great views of the mountains. In the surrounding areas there is a ton to do, especially for outdoor enthusiasts.

The local schools here are pretty average and students tend to score about average on state testing standards.

The main industry in Alamosa is educational services, followed by health care and social assistance.The median household income is $27,873 with over 32% living below the poverty rate. Unemployment here is high and much greater than in the rest of the state or nationwide. You can purchase an average single family detached home here for $173,710 which is almost $100,000 below the state average.

One big drawback to Alamosa is the crime rate. It continually ranks above average for crime compared to the rest of the country year after year, with most types of crime being represented in those numbers.

Alamosa has been a place to stop for food and gas since I was a little girl. It seems to be a hub for the southern San Luis Valley. I frequent the Sand Dunes and at night up on the dunes you can see the lights of Alamosa and the farms sprawled out across the San Luis.

Alamosa in Spanish refers to the Cottonwood tree and there are plenty of them in the valley along the Alamosa River and the creeks in the area --tributaries of the Rio Grande. The mentioned Great Sand Dunes to the east and New Mexico to the south are just some of the perks of living and visiting the area. I must say though that the summers are brutally hot, dry and the sun beats down unrelenting in town. The winters are a bit milder than northern Colorado but the open parched landscape bites you with wind and dryness. This is a rough place and I would rather go into the nearby San Juan or Sangre de Cristos to live.

But the surrounding San Luis Valley is the largest intermountain valley in the world and cold weather specialty crops are grown here because of the amazing artesian wells that flow here. The mountains to the east and the west provide the runoff and that water seeps into sedimentary layers that slope down in the valley and exit as springs or artesian wells, meaning the water is already under a natural pressure because of the gravitational slope through those sedimentary layers. This makes a dry, high valley a place where water keeps coming and offers the unique opportunity to grow crops in the desert!

The Colorado Gators Reptile Park is near Alamosa where there are live gators, snakes and other animals. There are also lots of shops and places to get groceries or get your car worked on etc...