Day 17: Hooper, CO to Santa Fe, NM

Stops:

Great Sands Dunes NP, CO

Antonito, CO

Ok, so no UFO sightings last night, but we did get a cloudless night and a night sky full of constellations.  Based on our previous ranger talk, we spotted the Big and Little Dippers and the North Star.

We slept up top in Moby with all the screen windows open, but woke up freezing with 32 degree temps. Brrrrr....but it was a desert climate which meant large temperature swings, so we headed out early to Great Sand Dunes NP. These are the tallest dunes in North America.

We spotted wildlife everywhere we go and this was no exception. A deer today as we entered the park.  We headed straight to the Dunes parking lot and picked up our cardboard sleds and started climbing the dunes.

Climbing in sand is no easy task.  Sometimes the sand was hard, providing some support, and other times you would just sink in, especially when trying to climb to the ridge line.  The park book tells you to stick to the ridge lines as it is easier to climb.  I'm not so sure I agree with that assessment.  It was just as hard to climb the side of a dune vs. the ridge line, but the views where worth it. Even more interesting are the patterns made in the sand by the wind.

The winds help form the sand dunes, but the Medano Creek helps keep the sand dunes in place.  We were shown a picture from the late 1800's and then one from from 2011 and the dunes pretty much look the same.

The dunes contain 1% of magnetite which gives it that dark or almost black appearance in places.  If you were to take a magnet and move it over the surface of the sand, you could attract some of the magnetite.

We did try sledding with our cardboard sleds but they didn't work well.

Finally, after a little playing in the Medano Creek, we left for Santa Fe.  On the way there, we stopped at a roadside attraction at Antonito, CO. called Cano's Castle. This guy is a little eccentric, so we decided not to leave our van and jut took this picture, plus the neighborhood was kind of sketchy.  The house is certainly interesting. It looks like he made it our of a lot of scrap metal and windows.  I have no idea how structurally sound the house is, but it is still standing.

We headed for Santa Fe, NM, to celebrate our engagement anniversary.  We actually got a hotel room and cleaned up before heading to Ten Thousand Waves Japanese Spa.  About 4 years ago, I had proposed there to B.

What a great celebration.  We soaked in the community tub, meditated in the meditation room, and sweated in the sauna.  I love this place, and recommend it.  In fact, B and I are talking about going to another spa later on in our trip.  We were going to sleep well tonight...