Moments to remember: Weekend at Great Sand Dunes National Park

We have fallen in love with our National Parks.
So much so, my hubby hit the outlet on the way home from Denver one evening and got himself a pair of hiking boots from Timberland ;-)

One weekend in May, we made a 3-hour trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, Alamosa, Colorado.

Here is some info on the park, taken from americansouthwest.com

There is plenty of sandy desert in Arizona and California, but nothing quite like the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado. Seeming totally out of place at the edge of the snow-covered Rocky Mountains, these dunes of pure golden sand cover an area about 7 by 5 miles and reach heights of 700 feet above the floor of the flat San Luis Valley, making them the tallest dunes in the USA. The valley, which is over 7,500 feet in elevation at this point, extends for over 100 miles south into New Mexico and is bordered by the San Juan Mountains to the west and the lower Sangre de Cristo range to the east, hills which mark the edge of the Rockies and continue southwards towards Santa Fe.

The dunes were formed from sand deposited by the Rio Grande and its tributaries, which flow through the adjacent San Luis Valley. For thousands of years, prevailing westerly winds have blown over the Rockies and down over the river flood plain, picking up sand particles on the way. These are then deposited at the east edge of the valley before the wind rises to cross the Sangre de Cristo mountains. The process continues and the dunes are still being gradually enlarged by the wind, which also changes the shape and sand patterns of the dunes daily. In some places, patches of black sand are found caused by deposits of magnetite, a crystalline black oxide of iron. This is one place where footprints are definitely not a problem, unlike many desert parks of the Southwest where the delicate sandy soil is easily damaged by visitors.

Another amazing feature of the Great Sand Dunes is Medano Creek - a small stream fed by melting snow that is only about ten miles long and flows during spring and early summer. It starts in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, flows along the east edge of the dunes and disappears below ground in the valley, in common with many other such streams in this area. For several hundred yards, the creek flows across a flat sandy area many meters wide. The clear, warm water constantly changes course and intensity and moves in babbling wave-like ripples across the sand. One can be standing in a fast-moving current over a foot deep and then suddenly the water will stop and flow instead several meters away. Sometimes the sand is washed into small dams which then break causing periodic waves of stronger intensity to be released.

It was a very nice and relaxing weekend.
Hubby and I agreed once a month we would explore some place new :-)
Here is to many, many more enjoyable and fun experiences like that weekend.