Megan’s Take
The kids got to bed at 10:30 pm last night, almost 3 hours past their usual bedtime, so I thought they might sleep in. But no, they were up before 6 am…
Today was spent exploring the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Emilia got her first Junior Ranger badge, and both kids had a blast climbing and exploring the sand dunes this morning. Emmett was clearly tired and less energetic than usual, but Emilia had so much bounce in her step. I really enjoyed watching them play in the sand, but I wish 5 pm Megan could have warned 9 am Megan that she would be sorting through sand when combing for lice nits later.
Today had a slower pace, which was what we needed, and the kids had fun at the campground playground midday. When the potential for rain cleared up in the afternoon, we impromptu decided to go on a 2.7 mile hike to a dunes overlook. Emilia surprised us by hiking it all. I got almost 15k steps today, and she was with me for almost all of that. She is a powerhouse. Overall, we have loved the beauty of this park and feel it was a worthwhile stop.
Phil’s Take
We arrived in the dark last night, so we had no idea what beauty we missed. I was the first to emerge and saw this view from the campground.
We decided to hit the park first, with the obligatory sign photo.
We went straight for the dunes after buying our year pass for the parks, catching a much better view on the way than I had at the campground.
In order to reach the dunes from the parking lot, you have to cross a creek fed from melting snow on the mountains. Apparently it gets warm and deep enough that people play in that water, but we were able to step over it and avoided what was quite cold water, according to Megan. I snapped this picture of the creek with the mountains in the background.
On the other side of the creek, the kids were full of energy and very much loved playing in the sand. Emilia was running pretty much the whole way, which is quite difficult, and if you’ve ever run in sand, you know.
I had no desire to keep up with her. Emmett just threw himself into the sand.
The view of the dunes up close was awesome. I grabbed this panorama to hopefully capture some of the beauty.
Megan was convinced it was going to rain, so after a visit to the visitor center, we headed back to the camper for lunch and rest. It became clear to me that it was not going to rain, so I suggested we go on a drive on the primitive road that heads closer to the mountains. It did a great job of rocking the kids to sleep.
Megan and I decided to drive back to the camper and nap what we could in the truck. After my hat fell off and I woke everyone up, we decided to hike the 2+ miles to the overlook. Emilia was a champ hiking it all, Emmett was not, but he did like the ride.
There was some nature in the way of the view at the overlook, but it was definitely worth the hike.
After dinner I managed to capture the sunset view. This was such a beautiful place, and as always, the pictures don’t do it justice.
Love all the pictures!!
Great pics. We have been there twice. Once we hiked. Hiking in sand is a chore