Crested Butte and the Great Sand Dunes
Crested Butte, is, well a butte – a conspicuous hill, low mountain or natural turret, generally isolated with a nice crest on top.
Crested Butte is a small town in Colorado with a population of 1,529. It is located north of Santa Fe, where I am from and southwest of Denver. It is used to be a coal mining town, now a popular destination for skiing, snowboarding, fishing, whitewater rafting, mountain biking and hiking.
The Drive
The drive from Santa Fe to Crested Butte is 6.5 hours long but it was fun. The drive itself was worth it although it was raining like cats and dogs.:D For me, Colorado is the most beautiful state of America. There are beautiful sceneries all around the state. These spectacular sceneries entertained us so the 6.5 hours felt like 6 hours. Hahaha. Pagpasensyahan niyo na, I shoot these photos from the car. Tamad ako para huminto at magshoot at baka maabutan kami ng dilim sa daan.
The Town
There are pubs, restaurants, shops all around the town to accommodate the locals and the tourists.
Interestingly, I found a store called Mabuhay. I went in and indeed, it was owned by a Filipina. I never got a chance to talk to her as she was busy with a customer.
The Scenery
The beauty of Crested Butte is spectacular. I am lost of words to describe it. I felt like I was in a different planet. It was utterly beautiful. I thought there is no such thing as paradise on Earth, but Crested Butte is indeed a paradise.
The mountains were perfectly shape with green meadows all around them. Pine trees and aspens made them more spectacular. The birds inhabited this place. I saw a fox and a deer but I was too slow or they are too fast to capture them in a photograph. 
I was two weeks late to witness the bountiful wildflowers that grow in this area yet I was able to see a handful of them. A lot of the wildflowers died already. Annually, every first week of July, Crested Butte celebrates Wildflower Festival. Thousands of tourists come to celebrate every year.
So we went driving around the dirt road. Understandably, the road to the wilderness is unpaved. We were lucky our car had survived although you really need a four-wheel-drive to get out of this place unscratched. Lolz. It rained the entire Friday night, so the road the next morning was muddy. To top it off, we got lost…no GPS signal and no cellphone coverage to call 911. Hahaha.
Instead of bumping into bears, elks ..we bumped into a herd of cows. Because of this, we decided to have steak for dinner. Our car was wrapped with mud and cow sh*t all over, I tell you. My legs were dirty with cow sh*t and mud but I couldn’t find any paper towel or tissue to wipe it off. Coincidentally, I remember that the shirt I got from the Chippendale show with Reynz was still in the trunk. Hahaha. So I now know its purpose and why Reynz never took it from me. Lolz. It was sad but I had no choice. Hahaha
This mountain is called Mt. Gothic and that’s the aswang sa bundok na ito.
We also went to this beautiful lake called Irwin Lake. Its beauty is breathtaking. I could’ve waited for sunset for a more dramatic shot but my stomach was already growling.
Driving back was just as fun. We stopped by at the Great Sand Dunes National Park located in Mosca, Colorado.
Located against the rugged Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the Great Sand Dunes are magnificent natural system that includes high mountain peaks, steams, powerful winds and of course, billions of grains of sand. Parang nasa Sahara Desert ka! During early June and July, creeks flow around the dune field. Too bad we missed it. Great Sand Dunes become the only beach of Colorado during summer. The creeks come from the melting of snow. The sands are eroded from mountains, shattered by freezing and thawing, tumbled and moved by streams and the wind…and this is a cycle. It is amazing how nature works.
Photo Credits: Moi and my camera.
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Reesie is the author of Off The Top Of My Head. She is a research and IT support-slash-analyst in New Mexico and a Certified COMPTIA A+. She was a college instructor before she works in the US. She enjoys her new found hobby, photography. She is a proud Cebuana from the barrio of Katugasan.
I LOVE the pictures Ressie!
grabe ang ganda ng lugar.pati yung dinaanan ang ganda rin! 
thanks manay glo!
love ko yun 3rd to the last shot. parang ito yun mga frame na naka display sa kapitbahay namin hahaha yun nilalagyan ng pictures
hahaha! sa kapitbahay talga? thanks malenski!
GORGEOUSNESS!!!
grabe! ang ganda! reminds me of rural pennsylvania! sana i could go visit Lancaster County para makita nyo ang beauty nang rural pennsylvania dun sa Amish County, kaso mula nung shooting, i don’t know if they allow visitors.
but this place is totally beautiful talaga! am sure, dagsa ang tao dyan in the winter!
tama ka reynz, dagsa talaga! isa to sa mga winter destination sa colorado. at ang mahal ng mga bahay dito at ang gaganda at may view, yung iba malapit sa lake or river..sosyal talaga.
di pa ako nakakita ng mga country side sa east. di ko pa kasi na try magdrive sa eastern part. puro west lang.
Pennsylvania is really nice lalo na sa mga barrio barrio and we also have our own sorta “Colorado” which we call the Pocono Mountains, andun den ang winter destination namen where you can ski and all that. Masyado lang syang mataas akyatin and we pass by this place whenever we drive to Toronto. Para den syan Alpine destination although i could from your pic na mas maganda talaga dyan senyo.
Haiz, I should visit that part of the world..hanggang New York lang ako eh tapos sa Manhattan pa, puro buildings. Lolz.
Ang ganda! Ibang klaseng mga bukid yan ah! hehehe
Parang nasa paradise ka talaga Ajay!
ang ganda! *singing the hills are alive with the sound of music…* weheheehe galing ng mga pics fave ko yung last pic
fave ko din yung last.
Asus, maniwala kayo kay Reesie. Dito sa Bukidnon yan kinunan. Nyahahaha!
As usual, great shots Rees. Congratulations! Diyan kami magha-honeymoon ni Papa Piolo. Lol
hala takbo na Mel ta bili na ng tiket, make sure walang shooting si Piolo..LOL
Make or Break
Ate Pehpot huwag kang maingay dahil sorpresa ko yun kay Papa Piolo. Baka pagkaguluhan kami ng mga fans. LOL
waaa. mel,dapat may dala ka talagang papa p sa mga ganitong lugar. useless din kung wala. hahaha
BUKIDNON?! hahaha! inferness, i saw those pictures dun sa movie ni Piolo and i’d say, ang ganda nga nang Bukidnon! I hope you’d post picture Mel!
Ate Reynz, yung pinagshootingan nila Papa P masyadong remote yun. Sasadyain talaga. I will post the beauty of Bukidnon soon. In the meantime, picture ko na lang muna pagtiyagaan niyo. LOL
Ang gaganda naman ng mga Pictures… Kasing Ganda mo rin Reesie..
salamat manong jeri!
May aswang din pala diyan.. pero hindi naman Hati ang katawan buo pa rin.. at saka Magandang aswang.. he he he
nice pics, ms. reesie… buti name-maintain nilang ganyan kaganda at kalinis yung lugar nila… kasi dito sa pinas, kahit maganda yung lugar, may makikita ka parin na basura na naka-kalat, pampasira ng view..
sinabi mo pa jules. ni isang basura noong nagdridrive kami, wala akong nakita.
i like evrything including… ressie.
Anak ng sampung pating, umandar na naman ang pagiging palikero ni Dencios… he he he
Ang kay Pedro…kay Pedro
Ang kay Juan.. kay Juan
Pero pwede rin lahat kay Dencios.. nya ha ha ha ha
mga loko kayo! dencios, ang landi mo talga. haha
fwend,
Meron ka bang resolution nito na pang wallpaper sa laffy? Ang ganda ng kuha mo!! Hahahhaha…
saan dito ang gusto mo fwend, send ko sayo high resolution.
Fwend,
Pictraks 1,3,8 and 9. Kung kaya sa email, pasend na lang. Hahaha.
Grabe fwend, talagang gumagaling ka na sa pagkuha ng litraks ah. Proud meh sa iyo. Galing mo.
Nakapost din ba ito sa flickr account mo?
send ko sayo fwend. thanks namn, at na iyak ako.
alam mo nakalimutan ko ang flickr, inuna ko ang barrio! haha.
ang ganda ng mga pics Reesie.. specially the jump shot.. sali mo yan sa aking crazy PHOTO CONTEST
Make or Break
Wow, may pakontest ka pehpot? tingnan ko nga kung pwede ba akong sumali.
Rees, hinarbat ko lahat ng litraks mo dito. Type ko ngang gawing header ng blog ko ang first photo eh. Hahaha! Thanks much kung papayag ka. Mwah!
of course mel, you can harbart as many as you want. send ko sayo na wala dito, gusto mo?
Wow ang gaganda ng mga litrato!
Kasi maganda talaga ang view doon!
Thanks, Mahalia!
[...] P.S. You didn’t see any wildflowers, huh? I will tell you in the next post. Thanks for reading folks. If you want to read a summary of my trip, please read it in Barrio Siete. [...]
It’s beautiful. As in. Makapunta nga one of these days.
Reesie!! Ang ganda naman ng mga PICS!! I love it! Nakaka-engganyong bumisita diyan… huwaw! Breath-taking views talaga ha? Pinakang favorite kong picture? Yung 1-20~!!! Lahat sila!!! Thanks for sharing!!
Ang ganda talaga ng mga pictures. Very relaxing…
wow pati pala rito nagkalat din ang mga awesome shots ni Mdm. Reesie! wow! *hats off*