Great Sand Dunes NP

 Hello again!

I am going to do two posts today, one about Great Sand Dunes (which was wonderful) and the other about our day today.  My second post will be a little (or a lot) whiny so I will save it for later. 

We knew little about Great Sand Dunes (except that it had sand).  As many of you know, I have become a bit of a birder and expected to see no birds here - birds don't hang around sand.  But this was the best birding spot so far.  Didn't realize that there were trees and bushes with berries and nuts that the birds loved.  For water, they hung around the campground spigots.  And they always were in search of camper food.  So I saw a ton of birds and a few new ones.

This is a great park with not only dunes but hikes among trees and a creek.  We were sorry to leave it this morning.  We really love the early morning peace and quiet in the campground and then the sounds of people as it comes to life.

View from our campsite.  Gorgeous view of the dunes.

View of the dunes and the timberline.

It is amazing that flowers and grasses grow in the sand.

In the first photo, you have to zoom in to see a tiny speck in the sand at the top of the dune.  Can you see me smiling???  The second one was zoomed in.

The colors in the sky were spectacular.  View from our campsite.

Our first campfire!  Finally cool enough to have a fire.  However, we were chased inside by rain about 10 minutes after it got going.  Instead we played cards - Texas Hold'em with our leftover laundry quarters.  Not my favorite game - I lost.