Living In San Luis, COLORADO

[Hal Roach]

Originally Posted by WinterJo

I would think for investment, you might do better in Del Norte than Monte Vista. Del Norte is closer to a lot of outdoors activities and they have worked hard on their trail/river projects. I live in Alamosa and I like it a lot more than Monte. It does get cold here in the winter but it doesn't seem to get as cold as everyone warned us it would. We have also lived in Minnesota and Alaska so we may not be the best judges of what actually feels cold to other people.

I see Del Norte is the county seat, but also farther from Alamosa, which looks like the go to place for some things. Is it cold to the point, where people have sludging issues with their motor oil?
Summer looks like it would be great. Is wildlife on the roads a big problem? Years ago, there were scores of deer out there around the sand dunes.. Maybe the most I have ever seen running across a highway.

[WinterJo]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

I see Del Norte is the county seat, but also farther from Alamosa, which looks like the go to place for some things. Is it cold to the point, where people have sludging issues with their motor oil?
Summer looks like it would be great. Is wildlife on the roads a big problem? Years ago, there were scores of deer out there around the sand dunes.. Maybe the most I have ever seen running across a highway.

Alamosa is the economic center of the valley. We all come here for stuff. That is actually why I moved here. We used to be nearly an hour away and I got tired of the driving. Honestly, I don't know exactly how cold it is supposed to get. I have only been here for two years. We were warned about -40 nights but I have never seen one. I am sure it is possible. There is lots of wildlife. I even see deer in town but I have never come close to hitting anything here. Out near Del Norte, we always had pronghorns but they seem smarter than moose because they always ran away from the roads and not into them when cars go by. I did hit a moose back in Alaska because it made the opposite choice.

[Rogarven]

A friend that lives in Red River, NM bought her new Ford SUV in Alamosa. Surprised she bought there instead of STF.

[BornintheSprings]

Is the COL of living in Alamosa pretty reasonable?

[TCHP]

Sure, if you are buying a house in the town. Acreage for farming or ranching, not so much. Gas and some groceries are slightly higher. Insurances are slightly less. Healthcare is fair.

[Hal Roach]

I was looking at driving distances from Monte..Amarillo 360, Denver 270, Albuquerque 220, Colorado Springs 182, and Sante Fe 158..Do you think they identify more with Colorado Springs than Sante Fe?

[interloper1138]

Hal, it sounds like you ought to visit the valley again before making any decisions about buying a house. Monte Vista is truly nothing like either the Springs or Santa Fe in terms of pace, culture, influence, or lifestyle. It's a small farm town first and foremost. Overall, the culture of the SLV and North Central New Mexico are really one and the same. The small town identities within this region do vary considerably (Crestone and Capulin, for example, are extremely different towns), but the common bond among them is an identity shaped by self-reliance, perseverance, and isolation.

There's New Mexican influence in Monte, if that's what you were getting at, but much in the way that exists everywhere in the valley, not the ritzier/artsy Santa Fe / Taos version that you might be thinking of.

Still, I don't think anyone in the valley would identify their town with Springs or Santa Fe, or any decent sized city for that matter. There's just not much overlap in terms of what it means to live out here versus somewhere like that. If anything, and even this would be a stretch, Pueblo would be a closer comparison than Springs or Santa Fe.

[Hal Roach]

Originally Posted by interloper1138

Hal, it sounds like you ought to visit the valley again before making any decisions about buying a house. Monte Vista is truly nothing like either the Springs or Santa Fe in terms of pace, culture, influence, or lifestyle. It's a small farm town first and foremost. Overall, the culture of the SLV and North Central New Mexico are really one and the same. The small town identities within this region do vary considerably (Crestone and Capulin, for example, are extremely different towns), but the common bond among them is an identity shaped by self-reliance, perseverance, and isolation.

There's New Mexican influence in Monte, if that's what you were getting at, but much in the way that exists everywhere in the valley, not the ritzier/artsy Santa Fe / Taos version that you might be thinking of.

Still, I don't think anyone in the valley would identify their town with Springs or Santa Fe, or any decent sized city for that matter. There's just not much overlap in terms of what it means to live out here versus somewhere like that. If anything, and even this would be a stretch, Pueblo would be a closer comparison than Springs or Santa Fe.

Easier said than done, as I am about 9500 miles away, but I see your points. Where is their local news station? Or are there any OTA stations available? Any college football fans? NFL? I would expect the Broncos to have a big following, but noticed a lot of Cowboy fans in the SW, as they had their games in Spanish, many years ago, possibly prior to Denver playing.

Where would one likely go for Toyota sales and service?

[interloper1138]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

Where is their local news station? Or are there any OTA stations available? Any college football fans? NFL? I would expect the Broncos to have a big following, but noticed a lot of Cowboy fans in the SW, as they had their games in Spanish, many years ago, possibly prior to Denver playing.

Where would one likely go for Toyota sales and service?

No OTA news stations are available. Years ago you could pick up stations via a tower on San Antonio mountain out of New Mexico near the state line along 285, but no longer. Local broadcast news now has to be picked up by Cable or Satellite subscription, generally out of Denver, Colorado Springs, or Pueblo depending on your provider.

The SLV is firmly Broncos territory. You can listen to their games on various local radio stations. I don't follow college football but I would assume most locals follow Adams State out of Alamosa. There does not seem to be a large following for their football team in the valley as a whole, but I would imagine support is heaviest in Alamosa.

The nearest Toyota service and sales locations are in Durango, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and Santa Fe. You're looking at similar drive times for all locations (2-3 hours), so your best bet would be finding the dealership you like best out of all of those locations. The nearest big car dealerships are the Town and Country chain of GM, Ford, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and Ram, with locations in Alamosa, Taos, and Salida. For any other manufacturer, you're going to the locations listed above.

[TCHP]

The Valley is unique. Its huge. It takes an hour to get across it east to west and two hours north to south. Its cold as the air often gets trapped in their. Some locals have been there for over 200 years. Farming is a major way of life and many small commerce centers reflect this. It is a small slice of the cross section of the south-western US from migrant farm workers to very profitable and well to do ranchers. It houses a very high performing school districts in Sanford and Sargent. It has other schools that struggle with barely 25% meeting educational expectations. High school sports are a major event and it is not uncommon for many local teams to make state play off berths, which in turn see the schools busing half the student population to Denver for the events. It has a strange legacy of cattle mutilations and UFO hunters, the funky eclectic groups in Crestone, some obvious off the grid proponents, cheap and useless land speculators, and a few religious radicals.

My family moved outside of Del Norte on a 50 acre ranch near National Forest in the early 90s. A big part of the purchase was very junior water rights that allowed just enough water for two cuttings of alfalfa on the land. Despite my step-fathers family having moved to CO in the 1860s, many in the Valley still referred us as the newcomers and had a certain dis-respect for us as a result. On the flip side, my stepfathers land planning ability also endeared him to some in the valley as he helped them navigate the many pitfalls that state imposes over land developing. So it really was an exercise in contrasts, which, IMO, is typical of the Valley. Now, this obviously was in a a very rural part of the area and the same impression may not have resulted if we had moved to Monte or Alamosa, the more urban areas in the valley, which also come with pseudo-urban trappings of somewhat rebellious youth, loud music, higher crime, etc. Once all my brother and sisters had graduated and my parents age was requiring more specialized care, the did decide to move back to El Paso County in the mid 00s.

Some obviously love it there. For others its a disaster. The proliferation of cheap land, inadequate water, and increasingly stringent development and building requirements bring a sometimes undesirable element to the valley that a great many look down on. I'd agree that northern New Mexico/southern Colorado are very similar but is not a lot like central areas of either state.