Great Sand Dunes National Park

    We had a long drive from our hotel in Gunnison, which was the worst non-camping night of the trip, to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. As with the rest of Colorado, it was a beautiful ride and the weather was great. We made it to the park late in the morning and started with a stop in the visitor center.

    The park is not just the giant sand dunes that are visible from quite a distance, but also encompasses the mountains behind them that rise above the treeline. We only planned to visit the dunes though. A short drive from the visitor center brought us to the sand field. Before getting to the dunes we had to walk through the shallow stream that separates the sand from the meadows. The kids had a great time once they took their sandals off and we all splashed around as we moved along.

    Sully had a hard time walking through the sand so Adrienne took him back to the stream while the girls and I trekked on. The scale is hard to see in pictures, but it was a really long distance to get to the dunes. But the girls were troopers and we made it to the top of the first dune. The sun was hot out on the sand so we returned to the coolness of the stream to cool our feet. It wasn't a very long visit, but we had a surprisingly good time!