Wow. It’s been a long day.
And a wonderful day.
More about this picture later!
We left Trinidad this morning and took the most amazing route west. This area is beautiful!!!
Having to change our entire route due to the quarantine in New Mexico turned out to be a huge blessing!
The landscape and topography changed dramatically over this region.
We headed straight into the Rocky’s!
Even the brush changed
The mountains got bigger and bigger as we approached.
Then I saw a sign for the Great Sand Dunes National park! I had no idea we would be passing right by it, so of course we had to stop and play in the sand a while!
The dunes are massive! 30 square miles!
I recommend bringing a sand sledding board. People had rented them in Alamosa, CO, about 30 miles west.
It was windy! These dunes are massive!
We reached over 11,000 feet heading over the Wolf Creek Pass and drove through the Rio Grande and San Juan Mountains.
Things got pretty dang spectacular. I’ll list a few pics of what we passed.
Alpines!
12 inches of snow
In Pagosa Springs we stopped at Treasure Falls. Wonderful hike. Incredible falls. They are very appropriately named!
We accidentally took the treacherous primitive trail rather than the main trail to the falls. When I noticed basketball sized holes in the snow Nina could fall through, with rushing water underneath, I quickly turned us around to find a better route.
The trip back down the mountain was a blast. The girls basically went skiing in their boots.
Nina and I kept each other from sliding down the mountain.
When we finished the hike, I asked the girls what they enjoyed most, the hike up to the falls, seeing the falls themselves, or the slide down the trail. They enjoyed the slide down the trail best.
“THAT is why Mommy doesn’t just stop and take pictures of beautiful waterfalls and hop back in the car“, I told them, “As spectacular as the falls are, the real fun is in the journey there and back”.
Back on our road trip we saw lots of deer as we went through the National Forest and Ute Indian reservation .
And I saw old barns that I love.
We arrived at our resort, got settled, and went out for Mexican. The girls have been wanting burritos ever since we’ve been in the Southwest.
Boy, was it Spivey!
We read a chapter of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and hit the sack.
What a blessed and unexpected journey of treasures today.
The Grady Bunch Life 