06_25 to 07_02_2013 Mom, Hannah and Zoe visit Colorado Part IV

Day five of their captivity took them to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Southern Colorado. We got up early....really early...to get to the park before our brains cooked in the heat. 

A quick hike around the parking lot area uncovered some good tree climbing. 

We found a shady spot for mom to hang out while the girls and I prepped to head up for our ascent of the Great Sand Dunes. Photos really don't capture the extent of these Dunes. And even being there in person doesn't ...one must climb them. And that is hard. Really hard.

We waved goodbye in case we didn't make it back. 

The hike required about 1,294 stops to dump five pounds of sand out of each shoe. 

Hannah imitates a monkey picking at her toes following a sand dump.

This one bottle of water wasn't quite enough. :/ We were rationing at the end and discussing when we should consider drinking our pee. Happily we did not have to stoop to drinking our own pee. :)

A smallish pit (the photo doesn't capture the angle well) was immediately irresistible to them. They plummeted down the pit.

A rest and sand dump stop. Contemplating if we really wanted to keep on knowing mom was sitting below with lots of fluids.

Self portrait. Cooking sun.

Rest while watching someone way below. This pit beckoned them. Steep and deep. What could go wrong?

Down goes Hannah!

Zoe watches to see if Hannah survives then takes the plunge.

The draw of the plunge blinds people to the fact that they have to come back up afterward.

Later, this descent into the pit was reported to be the 'stupidest thing' they'd ever done. The climb out of the pit was hard. :)

Sand dump.

It is here I wondered if they would refuse to continue. They worked hard and were tired. They decided to continue though so we did.

Getting hotter. Soon we would all be naked to deal with the heat.

Okay, not really. No one got naked. Still it was hot!

Finally, we arrive at the summit! Victory shot!

Down took only minutes. It involved a straight line jump into huge pits while the sand went "bloounk" and made other weird sounds. We had sand in every crack, crevice and orifice imaginable. I still do.  Ow.

Luckily there are very cold showers to rinse off in.

Freezing cold. :/

Then we headed over to the visitor's center to look around. Lots of great exhibits AND a pay phone! That was a really fascinating museum piece. 

These dunes are about 900' high. The photo just can't capture it.

We headed home. We stopped in Crestone to have a delicious lunch. It did not disappoint.

Here we are at our 37th pee stop. Think this was Pagosa Springs. Lots of fun cut-outs to play with on this trip.

I thought both would be K.O.'d on the way home. It took a long time, but Zoe finally cratered (and missed some Antelope/Prong Horns). Hannah stayed awake the entire time. Mom was punch drunk in front. :)

Mom did get a photo of the cow rock! Cool! We got home to Boulder at about  6:30pm. Then had some crazy weather including hail. Everyone went to bed early. Tomorrow we have another full day of fun planned!
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