Miles and Miles of ... Sand?!?!?!

What a GREAT day we had today! Matt, Mary, Chris and I slept in while Dave and Kevin hiked up the hill next to their house. They found some neat rocks and enjoyed the hike. After breakfast, Kevin took us over to their neighbor's home and we had a nice visit with them. The Goldens are a couple in their 80's who are transplanted Texans. They built a neat log cabin home in Del Norte 35 years ago and are a very interesting couple. They have a large garden and shared some of their vegetables with us.

While we were visiting, Mary packed a picnic lunch and had the van ready to go for our trip to San Dunes National Park. On the way there, we passed the Rio Grande River and also saw some mountains that are famous for climbing. Many expert climbers come here to practice.

We could see the Dunes from a distance and, after 45 min, came upon the 30 square miles of sand dunes. It was absolutely spectacular! We were surprised to learn that the Dunes were 12,000 to 1 million years old. It's hard to believe something this unique exists in America! Just learning about their formation was so very interesting. The sand originated from the San Juan Mountains more than 65 miles to the west. Wind and water moved the grains of sand and the wind, primarily, was responsible for building the Dunes that gathered toward the low curve of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The sand piled up at the base of the mountains and the Dunes were formed.

We had a nice breeze as we ate in the shade, then the boys headed to the dunes. Later, we found them building a dam across this little trickle of water. They must have worked on it for 2 hours. Dave and I hiked to the first dune (approx 1 mi), then climbed it (2 steps forward, 1 step back). It was a pretty windy day, so the sand was whipping around and hitting our legs. We felt like those people in old movies climbing and climbing, not knowing where an oasis would be. The wind even blew away our footprints so we couldn't see where we'd been.

We've definitely learned that those of us who live at low elevations have a really tough time climbing and hiking at these higher altitudes. The sand dunes started at 8200 ft and went up to over 9000 ft. Climbing one dune was enough for us! The scenery was fabulous, but we decided not to go on.

Later in the afternoon, we ran into a woman who, believe it or not lost the key to her rental car "somewhere" in the dunes! She was a bit worried, to say the least. Mary, Kevin, Dave and I all started to search, but no luck. Matt wanted to walk up to the first dune, so I decided to go with him. On the way up, we asked about the key and found someone who spoke to a woman further up the dunes that had found the key. Now, it's no easy task to catch up with someone on these dunes. It's slow going and almost impossible. Matt took off running and eventually found the woman. Lucky for us, she'd sat down for a short break. I couldn't even see where Matt had gone - he was up over one dune and down another. He came running back carrying the key and was soooooo excited. We made the hike back to the entry of the park and found the woman - a 6th grade Science and Math teacher from Tulsa. As you can imagine, she was very appreciative. I told Matt it was his good deed for the day.

Temps were dropping and we were all getting a bit chilly. We decided to drive back to Del Norte via Alamosa. Kevin drove us by the main hospital where he works along with his office. He's a Physiatrist and on staff at two hospitals in the area. Mary also works at the same hospital in the Laboratory. Next we drove by Chris' school - Alamosa High.

In Monte Vista, we stopped by a little hole-in-the-wall place for dinner, "Fernandez Taqueria." It was a Mexican restaurant / Laundromat that was run by the same guy. Great food - we all loved it!

Home for a little basketball on the driveway, showers and bed. We leave tomorrow on our long journey home. Hope to get a long day in tomorrow - decided to go as far as we could before stopping, so no hotel reservations.

This is BEAUTIFUL country - a laid back lifestyle - great weather. Mary and Kevin have been great hosts, and it's been fun spending time with them. We've had a terrific trip, but must get back to Peoria. All good things must come to an end!

I hope this blog has been a neat way to keep everyone in touch with the details of our trip. See you all soon!