We’ve had the pleasure of chatting with several people visiting our community from out of town over the last week.
Beyond signaling that the tourist season is beginning, which is good news for a lot of our friends and neighbors who rely on tourism for their businesses, it was interesting to talk with folks who were seeing Pagosa Country for the first time and see what caught their attention — and what didn’t.
Some of the people we spoke with were in the area for a work conference in a neighboring community, but brought their spouses and came early just to explore Pagosa Springs and drive down to New Mexico, exploring Archuleta County.
They were astounded by the beauty of the area and variety of landscapes the area offers. They can’t wait to get back. Their comments about their trip to that point had nothing to do with our downtown road construction or any of the other challenges facing the community (they wanted to know the price of land, but we’re pretty sure that’s because they fell in love at first sight).
Others acknowledged the construction project is big, but it didn’t stop them from hitting up local restaurants or exploring the area.
Some asked us if seeing the mountains that surround us every day ever gets old. No. Not at all.
Those of us here at The SUN have lived in this community for a long time (some of us are natives), and we still comment on and discuss the beauty of the area.
Yes, Pagosa Country is experiencing challenges, growing pains and struggles. Yes, we have a big construction project and many smaller ones going on. But, we need to keep sight of how lucky we are to call this magnificent place home. Every community has it’s struggles.
But this place makes those struggles worth it, and we will make progress on each of them, even if we know more are down the road.
This area is rich in history, beauty and heart. It’s worth it.
A few notes
We also have a few items of housekeeping this week:
• You will not see letters related to the La Plata Electric Association election in this week’s issue of The SUN due to ballots being due back on May 20 — before the next issue of The SUN comes out. This is our standard practice leading up to elections (and may extend further out before an election for some elections). Now is the time to make up our minds and vote if we haven’t already.
• Be aware that if you come to see us on a Friday afternoon, you’ll be out of luck because we’ve changed our hours. The SUN is now open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday (we close from noon to 1 p.m. for lunch) and 8 a.m. to noon on Friday.
• The SUN will have early deadlines for our May 29 issue due to Memorial Day. The display advertising deadline for the May 29 issue will be noon on Friday, May 23. The deadline for legal advertising, articles and letters to the editor will be noon on Thursday, May 22. The classified advertising deadlines will be 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 27, with the Too Late to Classify deadline being at 3 p.m. that day. The SUN’s office will be closed on Monday, May 26, in observance of Memorial Day.
Randi Pierce
