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Day Fourteen
The day began with Dan's cell phone ringing its little brains out repeatedly. All business calls. Gave him a debilitating headache.
Ate yet another great breakfast at our French bakery, then hit the road for Alamosa.
We crossed the Continental Divide at Wolf Creek Pass in the San Juans, near the headwaters for the Rio Grande River. They were doing all sorts of road construction at the Pass, and it took hours to get through the work zones. They were building snow walls, avalanche sheds, and rebuilding heavily damaged area of the roadbed.
We came down from the San Juans into a large dry valley between the high and wet San Juans and the more easterly high, dry Sangre de Christos. The valley is called the San Luis Valley, and is home to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument and Preserve. The sand is carried down by streams in the San Juans then blown across the dry valley. Then the Sangre de Christos act as a wall, trapping the sand. The dunes are as tall as skyscrapers, and cover some thirty square miles. A huge area adjacent to the dunes was once an incredibly large ranch called the Zapata Ranch. It was turned over to the Nature Conservancy, who is restoring the ecosystem, such as reintroducing bison.
The nearest large town to the dunes is Alamosa, where we were staying. When we reached Alamosa, big storm clouds were building over the Sangre de Cristos, so we decided to check in to the hotel and let the kids swim a bit. Calibaby suggested I try to get into the hot tub and pool, as this was the first day I was not limping from my ankle injury. So I did try, but it was still too tender (still bleeding, too).
We then headed out to the Dunes. The kids had an absolute blast -- this is, after all, the ultimate sand box!!! There is even a small stream, Mosca Creek, that runs along the base of the dunes, so you can build sand castles. After a lovely sunset, we headed back to Alamosa for dinner and bed.
Day Fifteen
Got up early, checked out of the hotel, and headed out to the dunes. Let the kids play as long as they wanted, then drove on the Jeep trail along the base of the dunes, which was fun. We then went out for ice cream, then headed for Colorado Springs.
South of Pueblo, we spotted an immense mountain to the northwest. I said
Quote: I think that is Pike's Peak.
but the others all said that since Colorado Springs was still more than 60 miles away, that it was not possible for it to be Pike...
But the white topped mountain loomed larger and larger the farther north we travelled on the freeway. Eventually everyone had to admit that it really was the Peak. It was large beyond description, beyond imagination. It is rather far down on the list of Colorado's 14000 foot + mountains, but it has so much bulk to it, and it is rather alone in its part of the Front Range, whereas most of the other 14000 footers are surrounded by other Giants...
There was a bit of confusion when we got to Colorado Springs, as our hotel had changed from a Holiday Inn to a Park Place, but we eventually figured it out, settled in, and had a good dinner in a sports bar.
After dark we visited Seven Falls Park, to see the seven waterfalls lit up with laser lights. It was pretty, and Steven enjoyed climbing up the huge staircases to see the tops of the falls...called it the Pass of Cirith Ungol.
Stevie has been asking for a bow and arrows for a long time now, and I have been denying him, as I am worried he would use them to hunt squirrels in our yard. I do not mind hunting as such, as long as the animals are eaten, but animals dying for no reason does bother me. But they had a bow with suction cup arrows at the gift store, and I got that for him. He was overjoyed, and soon decided that Bill's butt is the most ideal target on earth.
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Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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