Playing in the Sand

Good Morning!

We woke up at 5:00  this morning to the sound of something banging or scrapping on the top of the motorhome.  There was a very gusty wind blowing so it must be something loose or blown on top.  Since it was dark, there was nothing we could do at the moment.  We did go ahead and get up since we couldn't sleep anyway.  Finally, about 6:15 it was getting light and the sun put on quite a show for us.  The first two pictures were taken of the sunrise and the last two were taken facing the west.  The entire sky was a picture of red, pinks, purples, and yellow.  It was worth getting up early for.

After the show we visually looked from the bottom to the top of the roof and could see no reason for the banging.  That meant that Carol was going to have to climb the ladder to the roof to check things out.  Carol does not like climbing ladders or heights!  He gathered the courage and went up the ladder but could not find anything that was causing the noise.  It remains a mystery.  I guess the wind was blowing just right.  It seems the wind is not our friend this trip.

It was an overcast, cloudy, and sometimes rainy day as we drove west toward the Great Sand Dunes National Park.  This and a few below are scenes from that drive.

Today, everyone entering the park did not have to pay the entrance fee.  We don't know why except they were doing work at the entrance.

The Great Sand Dunes

This looks like a great way to see the dunes.

It was cool enough to wear a jacket which we haven't done so far on this trip.

Several people were climbing and walking on the dunes.  Just walking on the flat part wore us out so we stayed at the bottom.

You could rent a sand board and use it like a sled to go down the dunes.  This shows a sand board trail.  It made Carol and I tired just to think about walking to the top with a board so there was no way we were going to do that.

As we were leaving the park, we saw these three mule deer.

These snow-covered peaks where at the exit to the park.  There are four peaks in this area that are over 14,000 feet high.

No snow on top but still pretty.

We got back to camp around 2:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon sitting outside enjoying the view and comfortable weather.  After supper, we loaded the car so we would be ready to leave in the morning.  Our next stop is Santa Fe.