Great Sand Dunes National Park...And An Announcement

Our final sightseeing stop on our Last Hurrah trip out west in October was a very brief one at Great Sand Dunes National Park, near Alamosa, Colorado, on Monday, October 15. It was brief because we were homing. We'd had enough of motels to last us for awhile.

So, really, this visit to Great Sand Dunes involved only a few photos from the road to the Visitor Center and the scenery visible from the area around the Visitor Center. We didn't take time to do any deeper exploring.

Approaching Great Sand Dunes

One doesn't normally expect to find sand dunes so far from large bodies of water or nestled at the base of snow-capped mountain peaks or containing dunes in excess of 700 feet tall, all of which combine to make this a special place indeed.

The main dune field, at its widest point, runs six miles and, at its greatest length, eight miles.

The Sangre de Cristo Mountains provide a stunning backdrop to the dunes.

To lend perspective to the size of the dunes, those tiny specks on and at the base of the dunes are people.

And thus concludes the saga of our Last Hurrah trip out west. Thank you all for letting me share the memories with you.

And now the announcement. I've decided to retire from blogging. This will be my last post. It's impossible to adequately express my appreciation to all the bloggers who have encouraged and supported me since I started this journey back in 2010. Many of those special people are no longer blogging, and I've lost contact with them. Some of you, however, have been faithful encouragers almost from the beginning. Others have come along more recently. But all are truly appreciated. Each one has been a blessing, and I'll miss you.

As for the blog itself, my plan is to leave it active for now.

So my friends, thank you and farewell. May God greatly bless you and yours.

The End

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Doug and I love to visit National Parks. Springtime, a year ago, we drove out to Colorado and visited three National Parks in that state. You may never have heard of the Great Sand Dunes National Park. I know we hadn't until we were planning the trip. But it's truly an awesome place, covering 107,000 acres in south-central Colorado.

As you drive down the long road toward the park, you begin to see the dunes in the distance; but it's hard to get the perspective of their size because they are dwarfed by the 13,000-foot peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains behind them. However, these dunes are up to 750 feet tall and go on for miles.

To reach the dunes themselves, you have to cross Medano Creek, which usually flows only in spring, due to melting snow from the mountain tops. Children and adults alike seem to love wading and playing in the stream almost as much as exploring the dunes.

But people find many ways to enjoy the dunes, too, including sliding down them on anything they can find that would slide over the surface of the sand. To tell you the truth, cardboard seems to work better than most of the manufactured sliding products.

Others just enjoy hiking and exploring.

And some just have to climb to the top of the tallest dune.

Great Sand Dunes National Park is just amazing. If you're ever in that area, we would highly recommend that you check it out for yourself. It's a great place "to behold the beauty."