After our scary exerience on the rocking cable car at the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park we made our way south to our next destination on our vacation, The Great Sand Dunes National Park. What we saw was not at all what we had expected to see.
As many travelers do, we were anticipating huge, larger than life, beautiful glistening white sand dunes, but what we saw was the complete opposite. Have you ever had your expectations set so high that when you finally got to the destination you could not help but be disappointed? Well this is exactly what happened for us.
After leaving the Royal Gorge we began to travel south towards the Colorado and New Mexico border to experience the Great Sand Dunes National Park. When got to the San Luis Valley we saw mountains on our north, south, east and west. The wind was fierce and our car felt like it was in a wind tunnel. The GPS was faithfully giving us the directions to find this great national park destination and about twenty minutes before we arrived Kevin said "I think I can see the sand dunes from here." and I started looking around but did not see the big white majestic sand dunes shown on the national park website. So I said, where? Where do you see them? And he replied, over there up against that far set of those mountains. I looked real hard and said, I don't think that is it. That can't be them, they should be much bigger than that and the sand should be sparkling white.
We made the final turn and the next thing I saw was a sign that announced we were approaching the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The very sand dunes that my husband had seen twenty minutes earlier were in fact "the" actual sand dunes.
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We parked our car and got out to look at the massive sand dunes. To be quite honest it was not that impressive. We know that God formed the sand dunes but it was obvious how they got there. When driving to the park everything in the San Luis valley looked like a dust pool. The pictures we took do not show the massiveness or extensiveness of the Great Sand Dunes, but the pictures will show you the truth. The dunes are impressive and the sand is brown.
So what did we expect? The old saying, "What you see is what you get" is the truth. They are great and they are sand dunes. Just like my journey to a new me has helped me to really see myself for who I am, I was able to see the Great Sand Dunes for what they are. What was interesting is that if you looked around on the other mountain ranges on the far end of the San Luis Valley you could see other sand dunes but there was no signage directing travelers to come view them. They were not given the same status as the Great Sand Dunes. Why? I have no idea but from the view that I had it is a no brainer for me. I could not live there due to the conditions with the sand and dust. I would have a very difficult time breathing here. Would I recommend a trip to southern Colorado to see the Great Sand Dunes National Park? But of course! It is something to see and everyone should experience for themselves at least once in their lifetime. Just know ahead of time that "what you see is what you get", and that's a lot of sand and dust.
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| San Luis Valley drive to our next destination The Great Sand Dunes National Park |
After our scary exerience on the rocking cable car at the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park we made our way south to our next destination on our vacation, The Great Sand Dunes National Park. What we saw was not at all what we had expected to see.
As many travelers do, we were anticipating huge, larger than life, beautiful glistening white sand dunes, but what we saw was the complete opposite. Have you ever had your expectations set so high that when you finally got to the destination you could not help but be disappointed? Well this is exactly what happened for us.
After leaving the Royal Gorge we began to travel south towards the Colorado and New Mexico border to experience the Great Sand Dunes National Park. When got to the San Luis Valley we saw mountains on our north, south, east and west. The wind was fierce and our car felt like it was in a wind tunnel. The GPS was faithfully giving us the directions to find this great national park destination and about twenty minutes before we arrived Kevin said "I think I can see the sand dunes from here." and I started looking around but did not see the big white majestic sand dunes shown on the national park website. So I said, where? Where do you see them? And he replied, over there up against that far set of those mountains. I looked real hard and said, I don't think that is it. That can't be them, they should be much bigger than that and the sand should be sparkling white.
We made the final turn and the next thing I saw was a sign that announced we were approaching the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The very sand dunes that my husband had seen twenty minutes earlier were in fact "the" actual sand dunes.
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| It is 6:30pm at the Great Sand Dunes National Park |
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| Me at the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park entrance |
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