We woke up and got packed and ready to go. We didn't stay in the castle but on the property in another building. It was an okay night...we were crammed in a small basement room and didn't get a lot of sleep. The amazing breakfast buffet made up for it...almost.
The property was just gorgeous. Big horned sheep grazed near-by and turkeys were all over the lawn. It would have been great to have more time to hike the trails around the area.
We headed toward the cosmic highway for Jamie's benefit but when we realized that we couldn't do what he was interested in doing, we were close to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. What an amazing surprise this place turned out to be!
You can see it from the highway in the distance. You think that you can't be that far from it...but you are! The dunes are so tall and you are in the middle of nowhere!
We start at the visitor center and the day was gorgeous!
My first impression is that I can't believe that this is in southern Colorado! It was just beautiful!
We did not have enough time to rent sand sleds although there are places outside the park to do so. It looked so fun but the girls had a great time running up and down the dunes and rolling back down!
The water was very cold but the sun was warm with a cool breeze. The temperatures of the sand reach over 100 degrees in the summer.
This National Park surprised me with its diversity and solitude.
We weren't initially planning on going to this park as it was out of our way. Jamie really wanted to drive the "Cosmic Highway" which is Highway 17 to Hooper. This area is said to have more UFO sightings then anywhere else in the country. On the highway near Hooper there is a UFO Watchtower that has an observation deck. This was closed when we arrived and only open with an appointment during the week. Jamie was disappointed but we found we were 20 miles away from the Great Sand Dunes NP and figured it would be worth a look while we were there.
The UFO watchtower
No comments:
Post a Comment