I haven't posted a blog in ages. For the few people who read my blog, I'm quite sorry. It's the lamest of lame excuses, but I've been busy. Well, busy and lazy. I've been back in Siberia for about a week now, so this is the perfect time to reflect on my trip back to Colorado, home sweet home.
Of all the fun adventures I had
in Colorado, on the top of the list was going to the Great Sand Dunes with Lisa
and her girls. We had never been there
before and since the girls were on spring break, it seemed like the perfect
time to see what they were all about.
Lisa picked me up at 6:30am and with a less than clear map courtesy of Google Maps we were off. Driving in south western Colorado is a treat for everyone, the roads are maintained and you can usually spot about three or four herds of deer or antelope. There was some disagreement in the car about which adorable four legged creatures we were looking at. Amongst the deer it’s possible to see coyotes, rabbits, the usual squirrels and other wildlife that we just take for granted in Colorado. In Russia, you are lucky if you see anything other than a pigeon or sparrow. Anyway, so along the way we passed the time by playing the ‘Would you Rather’ game which led from fun variants like, ‘would you rather eat cow poo or bird poo’ (remember we were traveling with kids aged 11-15) to ‘what would be worse: being eaten alive by snakes or piranhas?’ When you’re traveling with three young girls and two older ones who refuse to grow up, all topics of conversation are fair game. I don’t know if I can recall the last time I laughed so much.
When we finally arrived at the Great Sand Dunes, we were speechless. Next to a tree and snowcapped mountain was a great big pile of sand. Not sand like you would find at a beach, something much softer, like walking on flour or sugar. The peaks of the dunes would be hard to measure since the wind is always blowing and moving the sand around. As we tried to process what we were seeing, I couldn’t help but be reminded of how little we all are. According to the visitor center hand books, the Dunes are the result simple rain and wind erosion. The Dunes sit between two mountain ranges and they constantly blow and pick up small stones and gradually wither them away. It’ quite difficult to put into words how stunning beautiful this area is. Almost like a painting come to life, or rather we stepped into a picture. Since it was spring time we were able to walk on the sand in the middle of the afternoon without burning our feet; in the summer the temperature of the sand is above 100F so it’s inadvisable to explore the Dunes at that time. Naturally, there are other mountain trails you can explore, but lets face it, everyone comes for the sand.
Interestingly enough, when you look across the street, all you see are mountains and fields, and on the other side is all the sand. Not bothering to plan ahead, we took some water and nothing else and we started walking on the sand. After thirty seconds, the girls and I decided to take off our shoes since the sand was so soft and shoes plus sand equals being annoyed because there is sand in your shoes. Lisa wasn’t happy about the chilly wind which was quite unpredictable, so she sported an impressive hat and snow boots. We thought she was crazy. As described above, the sand was incredible. Even though there was still snow on some areas, the sand itself wasn’t really cold. In fact, it was quite warm in area and remarkably dry. As we ascended the hill, we learned to our dismay that one just can’t walk vertically, you have to crawl if you hope to make it anywhere. For every step we made up the hill brought a new wave of fresh sand cover our tracks. This would be a perfect place to hide some treasure, except for the fact that the land marks are forever changing. Walking on the sand itself, and really, really looking at the sand seems almost alien. Imagine the Sahara desert 20 meters from the Alps. Boiling sand next to snow and yet they seem to get along just fine. Even more remarkable is that there is vegetation which can some how manage grow in such conditions! This is my moment of zen, life is simply impressive. In this seemingly vast wasteland of sand and extreme heat and extreme cold- there is wild grass which gets on just fine. It's equally astouding when you find trees growing next to chemical dumping zones and grass protesting all the weed killer people pour on it. Somehow, life always seems to win.
Panting and laughing away we managed to make it to the top of a peak, only to realize that it was quite small considering everything which lay behind it. Perhaps this what Zebulon Pike felt like after conquering Pike’s Peak; not that we are great explorers but more like for the first time climbing something so amazingly difficult only to realize that there are way higher and more difficult things just beyond. So this is our life lesson for the day: once a challenge is surpassed, there’s another one just around the corner.
After spending the whole morning driving and climbing we really one stayed in the great sand pit for a few hours. In hindsight, shame on us, we should have stayed longer, but since we naivelly thought there would be a place to get sandwiches, we were quite hungry and had consummed all of our water. The nearest eatery was 40 miles away. In the end, hunger won so we had to slide and roll our way down the hill just to get back to the car.
