The Land Of The Sand People

This past week, my friends Charles (Dave) & Tina were in Colorado. They insisted I do things with them. On Saturday (May 5th), they wanted to do the Coors Brewery Tour. They needed me to take them Golden. So I went and drank my three free beers. It was painful:-) I had Killian's Irish Red, Blue Moon, & Molson. Sorry Rick, Molson finished last in the taste test.
On Sunday (May 6th), they dragged me down to the Great Sand Dunes National Park for a couple of days. It is just a bunch of sand, mountains, water, snow, ice, wildlife, etc. Who would like that? I only took 314 pictures over the three-day trip. When we got to the Sand Dunes on Sunday, it was snowing lightly. We went for a short walk on the Dunes and drove around a bit.

Charles & Tina along Medano Creek with the snow coming down.

We ended up staying in a motel in Alamosa. Nobody was thrilled with the idea of starting off camping in the snow & wind. Tina almost got herself in trouble by using the wimp word, but Charles was able to ignore that word. He was driving.
The next day started off in the 30's. (Fahrenheit) It didn't feel bad to me. The animals were out that day. We saw elk, coyotes, antelope, bunnies, and enough deer to rival the Shenandoah's. The snow had stopped, but there was a little left on the Dunes when we arrived in the morning.

Snow on the Sand Dunes.

Charles and Tina crossing Medano Creek to get the Dunes.

We ended up going for a long hike on the Dunes. The Dunes were wet from the melted snow. This made it a lot easier to walk on the Dunes. The Dunes can be tough, but they were not on this day.

That's Charles in the front and me in the back. We are on top of High Dune. Photo courtesy of Tina.

The three of us in front of Star Dune.

We came across what is believed to be a Native American drawing of the Ancient Sand People. Quite scary! Photo courtesy of Tina.

Later that day, we went to Zapata Falls. It is a pretty cool waterfall that is hidden within the rocks of the mountainside. We did camp on Monday night. We had an excellent site. It had a 270-degree view of mountains and dunes. On Tuesday, we hiked along the side of the dunes.

Charles with Mt. Herard peeking out of the clouds.

After our hike, we made our way back to Denver. I had the pleasure of working on Wednesday while Charles & Tina went to Rocky Mountain National Park. Lucky Me! They came back Friday afternoon and treated me to some buffalo meatloaf. I took them to Tommy Knocker's before their flight back on Saturday. I will post more pictures on my Picasa picture site. They will probably be cooler than the ones here. I just got to go through them. So stay tuned and check back if you're interested.

- M