Everyone has the special place they call home. And everyone has all of the great places to visit at home that many tourists or outsiders may not know about. Here are 10 signs you are from the San Luis Valley.
1. Mexican Food
We have a million and one different Mexican restaurants in the San Luis Valley. Each one is fantastic and has it's own amazing meals and dishes. But this doesn't matter. If you are from the Valley, you know there can only be one favorite Mexican joint. Choose wisely, this will be your new place for the rest of your life.
2. Green Chiles
In the SLV, it isn't Fall unless you can smell the chiles roasting on the side of the road. And you can't just buy a couple, you've got buy a couple pounds. The aroma from those delicious chiles waft throughout the entire Valley and people flock to grab some for their own green chile and salsa. When the sketchy dude pulls out the roaster in Walmart's parking lot, you know it's time to break out the scarves and sweaters.
3. Valley Accent
We have a very special accent here. It's actually extremely difficult to describe. But it is special. First of all, we all drop t's from the middle of words (I'm looking at the Mountain...or should I say Moun'ain.) We also consistently add "s" to words that quite frankly do not need it (Safeways, Walmarts, Sonics). You might not realize you do it. But you do. Trust me. You do. We don't get out of cars. We get down from cars. It doesn't make sense. Yet, here we are. To make matters worse, we talk super quick. Eeeee, it's annoying huh?
4. The Unusual
Okay, we live in a pretty awesome place. One of the great things here are the natural aquifers. This means that we have hot, clean water that we can swim in. So, it's pretty common to find people flocking to the springs for a nice dip in the pool even when it's below freezing and snowing! What this also means is that we have alligators. Yeah. That's right. A nice day out might involve going for a swim and then hitting up the alligator farm where you can walk around a completely sketchy enclosure and feed the alligators and wrestle them. (Just be careful, it is only chainlink fence so maybe don't stick your fingers through).
5. Nature
So all that's pretty neat, but let's be honest. The views in the Valley are superb. We are surrounded by mountains, have amazing landscapes and wildlife all around. We've got bears, mountain lions, and of course possibly the most dangerous of all, the deer. Plus we have the dikes that we can walk on along the Rio Grande River (side note: evidently it's a Valley thing to call it a dike.) And we have the Sand Dunes National Park. It's basically a bunch of sand that's built up over millions of years. But what's even better is sand surfing/boarding. So even if the snow is gone, you can still shred, dude. But be warned. It is hot. So try not to biff too hard.
6. Family
Okay, so in the Valley, just about everyone is related to someone else. If you go for a walk with a friend you will more than likely run into their uncle, great-aunt, fourth cousin twice removed and great-granny Trujillo. Be prepared. Due to this, you also know that you should not go to Walmart on Sunday unless you want to become involved in at least 10 family reunions.
7. Weather
We have two seasons in the SLV. We've got cold and we've got windy. (Okay, okay, summer is pretty nice but let's just talk about these two right now). In the winter time, we can get to record-breaking colds. At one point, we were holding the record for the coldest place the United States! However, as any true Valley kid knows, even if it is -35 degree's out, it's still acceptable to wear shorts and flip-flops. In the spring it's super windy here. Blow you off your feet windy. As they say here, "It'll be windy as long as there is snow on Blanca." So that's cool.
8. Driving
If you live in the SLV then you know that you'd better have a decent car if you want to get anywhere. In order to shop somewhere that isn't Walmart, you've got to drive all least two hours, if not more for the really good stores. But it's worth it because you get to see some pretty stellar sights along the way.
9. Potatoes
We have a lot of them. We have a Colorado Potato Committee. Also, a spud queen. I'm not really sure there is much else to say. Just remember, everyone loses with potato bruises.
10. Valley Time
Finally, in the Valley, we have something known as Valley time. Everyone here is always and consistently late. To everything. All the time. We operate on a different schedule here. But can you blame us? Look at all the cool things we have to do (hiking, camping, fishing, snowboarding, biking, etc). If someone asks you, "right now? Or right now right now?" Know that there is a significant difference.
