Monday, 9/18/17

Our campsite and Great Sand Dunes National Park!

Those are two people standing along the ridge of this dune!

Another frigid start to the day!  When we woke up this morning it was 42° in our van and 31° outside.  Just a little chilly, but as soon as the sun rose over the eastern peaks we warmed up quickly.

We grabbed coffee and a breakfast sandwich in Silverthorne, filled up the car with gas, and we were on the road by 9:30 AM.

Our destination today was the Great Sand Dunes National Park, about 200 miles due south of Silverthorne.  It was a beautiful ride; not a cloud in the sky and the turning aspens added another level of beauty to Colorado’s spectacular scenery.

Our first stop was in Leadville, where we both purchased fleece hoodies from Melanzana, a local store that makes the garments right in their showroom.  We bought another coffee and split a sticky bun from a coffee shop we’ve visited on previous trips.

From Leadville we continued south to Salida, a gallery rich small town on the Arkansas River, where we had a wonderful lunch in a funk bar called Fitz's, and then purchased a salad for our dinner from a different sandwich shop called Sweeties! 

I really liked both Leadville and especially Salida and could easily spend more time in each.

We arrived at the National Park around 3:45 PM and stopped at the visitor center to get acquainted with our new home for the next 18 hours.  Our National Parks never cease to amaze me, Joni said, “it’s as if we ended up in the middle of the Sahara without having to fly across the ocean.”  Our campsite directly overlooks the dunes; you couldn’t ask for a better spot. 

We spent the rest of the evening just soaking in the view and the stars, only stopping briefly to have a late dinner in the van. 

What a great day!