Trinidad, Colorado

We are parked at Raton Pass Campground---halfway between Raton, New Mexico, and Trinidad, Colorado.  We have made several trips south to Raton, and finally on Sunday it was time to go north for a trip to Trinidad.  We found a little Lutheran church, and attended services there. The building is on the national register of historic places, and we loved the friendly congregation that worships there.

 

It was right beside Trinidad State Junior College, so we walked on campus.  Here is Denisa doing her best Trinidad State Trojan pose.

She loves flowers, and her blouse almost blended into the flower pots in front of one of the ivy-covered buildings on campus.

Trinidad offers a free trolley ride and tour from its visitor’s center.  The price was right, and we really enjoyed the information that the trolley driver gave us about the town.

There's an interesting statue in one of the parks downtown of a human-size canary in a cage.  This is mining country, and those canaries were used as indicators of air quality down in the mines.  If the canary stopped singing, the miners needed to get out in a hurry.

Interestingly enough, one of the trolley stops is the local hospital.  That is because the waiting area has a wall-size three-dimensional mural that was designed and formed by Sister Augusta Zimmer.  The mural tells the story of the town of Trinidad, from the founding fathers to the mining and agricultural influences.

At the right center of the mural, we see that the religious influences were also emphasized, and the four oldest churches in town were included.  Here's a picture of that portion of the mural, as you will recognize that the second church is the one we attended earlier that morning.

Normally the trolley runs 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. but it was getting close to 100 degrees in Trinidad and the trolley wasn't air-conditioned.  So we were lucky to get the last tour of the day.  With that kind of heat in town, we were ready to head home to our camp ground at 7,888 foot elevation where it was cooler.  This was our last evening there, so it is fitting to end our time with a beautiful sunset from the top of Raton Pass.