Monday, Sept 26 – Alamosa, CO

Today we set out for Alamosa, CO. We were hoping to be able to sled down the dunes at the Great Sand Dunes Park! We brought our sleds and some wax, just in case. After about two and a half hours on the road, we decided to stop in the really small town of Ojo Caliente which consisted of 3 little buildings, and 2 houses. We were pretty hungry, so we chose the Mexican restaurant – hahaha! All 3 were Mexican restaurants J We sat outside and enjoyed the nice weather while we ate enchiladas, burritos and huevos rancheros. There were quite a few people there for such a small little place, but it’s not surprising since it is the only town for miles and miles along the highway.

Our next stop was Alamosa KOA to drop off the RV before heading to the dunes. The mountains were breath taking!! They were covered half way up with trees in their bright autumn colors; the tops were rocky and dotted with snow; and the great dunes glistened in the sunlight at their base. Yay! It looks like our sleds will work out really well. From the parking lot, the dunes looked SO close. Wrong!!! Walking a half mile in soft, deep sand is tough, and that is just getting to the dunes! Then it’s two steps up and one step down, sinking and falling all the way up just to slide down and start all over again! IT WAS A BLAST! We climbed and sledded until we could climb no more. It was time to call it a day. Uh-oh…… The half mile in the soft deep sand again. By the time we reached the car, we had severe noodle leg and could hardly breathe!

As we left the park, we saw a turn off to a water fall that we will try and check out tomorrow. We went into downtown Alamosa to the Rio Grande Inn for dinner, then headed back to the KOA to clean up and get to bed a little earlier than the last few nights.