What latest adventure got us into this achy breaky mess? Dune sledding. Two days of it at Great Sand Dunes National Park. We can only describe it with one word: ohmygoodnessthatwasFUN! There are some places you go and sit and stare in slack-jawed wonder at the beauty and others convince you that when God made the Earth he was happy to create a few playgrounds.
My back hurts and I am sporting new bruises. My tailbone took a solid pounding and now it hurts to sit or stand. Kevin is scraped and scabbed and sore. He just turned 43 yesterday. We are getting a bit old for this stuff, but the kids are fine. What latest adventure got us into this achy breaky mess? Dune sledding. Two days of it at Great Sand Dunes National Park. We can only describe it with one word: ohmygoodnessthatwasFUN! There are some places you go and sit and stare in slack-jawed wonder at the beauty and others convince you that when God made the Earth he was happy to create a few playgrounds. The knife edges are great before you walk all over them, then the wind repairs them within a day. When we asked the kids how they think the dunes were formed and why right there between a mountain range and sweeping desert plain they came up with this: "When God was done with this part of the world He noticed he had some leftover sand in his pocket so he dumped it here saying, 'Watch them try to figure this one out.' " We did not get the best weather for photography on this particular visit. Kevin, Joel and I were here last April with friends and the weather was far better. This time around we got a lot of afternoon precipitation and wind so the big camera spent most of her time in the safety of my bag while the iPhone and the GoPro did the lion's share of the documentary work. afternoon storm clouds Honestly, I would not have cared if we left with no good photos at all, because the dune sledding was so much fun it cancelled out any further bummers. Joel and I created two videos of our thrills and spills. The kids declared this park to be in their top three favorites so far. And if my rump still hurts a month from now I will still think it was all worth it. This first video is the the whole experience. The second video is just the gnarly wipe-outs. - Jenni
Cyndi
4/30/2013 07:50:36 am
was there a "beginners slope"?...lol...looks like the pup had as much fun as you guys did...and I'm sure there was sand in places that sand shouldn't be...ever...what an amazing time!!!
Joel K.
4/30/2013 08:34:00 am
Yes there are. I would suggest starting out on those to get used to the sleds and then tackle the big ones. But you have to do the big ones at some point or you're just missing out. If you get sleds and hike up to High Dune (which has a great view) then you can slide down High Dune which isn't so long that you get too much speed and wipe out, but not too short so that you don't get a great slide out of it. It's just right. In fact if you pick your course correctly, then at the bottom you'll hit some grass/bush/shrub things and actually catch air. All in all it's loads of fun.
T.
4/30/2013 07:39:08 pm
FUN!!! Comments are closed.
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