Great Sand Dunes

Day 2 of our trip started a little bit dicey. I did not sleep well and finally got up to take a shower around 6 and ended up throwing up. I had a huge headache and was just not feeling well at all. I was so disappointed. Mark being the super man that he is, brought me some light breakfast and then took all of the kids down for breakfast so I could try and get a little rest. I never did quite feel right on this trip, but I was able to dull things a little bit so it was manageable.

Once I was feeling a little better, we hit the road! I had been checking the weather A LOT before we left on our trip, and we were supposed to have 50s and 60s with rain every day. I came prepared with ponchos and all the things to keep us having fun in the rain and spring chill. What I did not come prepared for was THE SUN. And this day ended up being full of SUN. Now, I am not complaining about the sun, only that we were definitely not prepared for it. With our family’s skin, we just think about the sun and we burn.

Our first stop today was the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. We are not really “dunes” people but this was such a fun and different kind of trip for us. We stopped and rented some sand sleds before we entered the park (highly recommend – they do not rent them in the park and we had several people ask about them while we were there) and they made things so much more fun!

Then we stopped at the Visitor Center to stamp our passports, grab some souvenirs, and learn more about this fun and unique park. This park is so unique because when you look at the map, it is pretty much a giant blob. There are only a couple of trails and the rest is just SAND – ready to explore all on your own!

So let’s talk about the sand. These dunes are HUGE! They are the tallest in North America!

One of the reasons this trip appealed to us for this spring was Medano Creek was running. This is a shallow creek that runs along the base of the dunes and only is there for a short while in May and the beginning of June. The water felt amazing on your feet after walking in the hot sand. The kids loved the creek – in fact, it might have been their favorite part!

But my favorite part may have just been the contrast between the sand dunes and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains that surround it. It is beautiful!

We parked at the dune field and had some lunch – and then we made our way down to the dunes. First, you have to wade across Medano Creek – again, kiddos in heaven.

Then we made our way up the dunes! If I were doing it again, I would have packed hardy sandals. We only had tennis shoes which we ditched at the creek but the sand was so hot that it was rough not having them either. We walked up to the first mountain of sand and Lydia and I made camp on a beach towel while Mark and the kiddos sledded down the sand! It was so much fun watching them. It took some time to perfect the sand sledding but they had a blast.

Mark and I think it would be a lot of fun to trudge up to the top of the dunes, but it was definitely not a trip for our little family this go around. After getting ourselves thoroughly sunburned, we made our way down off the dunes and back to the car.

We were going to do one of the few hikes in the park, but instead found a really fun hike just outside the park – Zapata Falls! More to come!