The Great Colorado-Utah Vacation 2011, Day Four.
GREAT SAND DUNES NATIONAL PARK, CO – Last night after posting, Greg managed to get a great shot of the view from our campsite at night. This was Colorado Springs.
Today we awoke early even though we didn’t need to rush to leave camp. I guess we’re still on CDT, but that’s okay. We had a stop we wanted to make along the way.
Can you guess where it was?
That photo of the kids with the biggest cactus they’ve seen in person was taken there.
What, not good enough? Here’s another hint:
Yup, that’s it! The Royal Gorge Bridge, built specifically as a tourist attraction, which is obvious from all the boarded up businesses on the approach. Still, our attitude with this type of thing is that it’s something to see once in your life and we’ll probably never go again, especially considering it cost us $80 to get in – and that’s with a coupon!
By the way, have I mentioned how windy it’s been? At Cheyenne Mountain it was so windy the trailer was rocking around even with the stabilizer jacks firmly secured. Here, it was so windy the bridge was visibly swaying as we moved across. Another unsettling factor is the very large gaps between decking slats and oh yeah, Greg mentioned they only bothered to bolt down every few boards.
Kitsch was the order of the day, and Royal Gorge just oozes it:
Even so, the view from the bridge is just gorgeous.
Once we were on the other side of the bridge we availed ourselves of the ‘attractions,’ which included burro rides for Ethan…
And a “Petting Zoo” chock full of those exotic creatures such as goats. And cows. And…that’s about it.
Granted, they did have a more ‘exotic’ portion of the park with non-pettable animals such as a white ‘buffalo’ and elk.
Then we walked over to the aerial tram which was, of course, broken. We waited around for the repairs so we could ride across. I mean, hi, $80.
While nervously moving across the valley, our operator pointed out JFK Mountain, so named because it appears to be JFK in profile.
I found that a little disturbing. It looks as though he is laid out in a funeral casket.
We hopped back in the truck soon thereafter, ate some sandwiches on the road, and tripped on down to our primary destination, the Great Sand Dunes. They don’t look like much from afar…
…but trust me, you’ll soon see just how majestic they are.
We checked in at camp, unhooked, watched a dust devil do its thing, and watched the kids shake off some road weariness.
We hurried away to the Park with a sled and high hopes. I was determined to ignore the voice in my head nagging, “Remember how much you hate sand, how it gets into everything, EVERYTHING, and you don’t rid yourself of it for weeks? You don’t remember? Hey! I will not be ignored!”
I ignored it anyway.
Greg made a valiant effort to climb to the top of the dunes while I hung back, buffeted by wind and sand, watching the kids play, but he didn’t quite make it. Those dunes are far taller and more expansive than first appearances would have you believe. Exhausted, we trudged back to the truck. The truck was far, far away.
Our visit to Great Sand Dunes was brief, and tired though we were by the time we’d dragged ourselves through it all, I have to say I was a little disappointed we didn’t have more time to play. Great Sand Dunes National Park is a treasure of diversity, with alpine environs, sandy dry dunes, and everything in between.
But boy, does the surrounding terrain give me the blues.
Our campsite:
Today’s mileage: 182.
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