L&K Take America

I used to be more adventurous in my younger days. I’m not sure if it’s because I value life more now or that I now actually realize how dangerous some of the things I did when I was younger were. However, our trip to Alamosa gave me the opportunity to try something new and a ton of fun that made me remember why I used to do more adventurous things…just because it’s enjoyable.

Alamosa is the closest town to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. If you plan ahead, you can rent a special sandboard and board down the dunes. However, DO NOT underestimate this outing. Don’t just think it’s going to be nonchalantly sliding down some hills. Oh no no.

You look at the dunes and think, “Yeah, those are some big sand piles, this is going to be great!” Then you start walking up them and realize it’s slow going. Two steps forward, a half a step back. Again, you start up the dune and think, “Pfft…I’ve got this,” and 25 steps in you can’t breathe. Wheezing, you stop for water. Then you realize if you stand still too long, your feet start burning because you’ve taken your shoes off and are only in your socks for easy boarding (you can’t wear shoes on the board). Then you go down the first dune on the board and remember why you set out on this trip. However, once you get to the bottom, you then have to make it back up from the valley. Picking the steepest dune now seems like the worst idea you’ve had in a long time. You make it to the top, again unable to breathe, feet on fire, and watch two 65 year olds practically skipping past you. Poof! There goes your ego.

It’s basically a giant’s sandbox surrounded by mountains. Really really beautiful.These pictures look like sand pits at golf courses. Clearly doesn’t do it justice. But if you look, there are little specks in almost all of the pictures which are actually people.

I of course set my sights on climbing to what appeared to be the tallest peak and wouldn’t let us give up. Pointing to the tippy top from the bottom of the dunes and saying, “We are going there.”After going down a few dunes and realizing we wouldn’t have nearly enough energy to make it to the top dune if we kept going up and down, we decided to go all the way to the top and then come down as a reward. Little by little we made it to the top. It was embarrassingly difficult, but we did it. When we reached the peak, the wind picked up and was sandblasting us. No joke. It was unbelievable. On top of not being able to breathe from exhaustion, the wind took way what air we might have been able to bring in. I had to practically lay down to avoid the wind and sand being whipped around. As we reached the peak, a new higher peak appeared. Of course!! There were dunes upon dunes. We decided that what we thought was the highest was high enough for us. It was about a 2 mile hike up, but surely felt like A LOT more than that. Then as we were getting ready to board down, the two skipping 65 year olds came running (actually running) from the further peak yelling “WAIT!!!” when they got to us, they rubbed it in a bit and said, “We thought you were coming to that higher peak, but we want to watch you so we ran over.” Great…now we have an overly energetic audience.

Prior to this, I had never snowboarded, water skied, wakeboarded or anything that would be similar to this activity. Of course, Mike is a seasoned snowboarder. I fell a lot, but it was still great. According to Mike, the sandboards have a lot less maneuverability than a snowboard. I will take solace in this, even if he was just saying it to make me feel better.

Your feet aren’t really in bindings like a snowboard. They are basically big unadjustable, padded elastic bands and because I have little feet, mine were pretty loose. Additionally, you have to wax the boards between each run and the wax comes off really fast. If I were to do this again in the future, I would definitely invest in some higher quality wax than the stuff they give you with the rental. We did some research after the fact and apparently there are some better waxes out there that help.

There are dunes of different sizes, with the smaller being at the beginning of the hike. This would be a great activity to wear out some kids. Highly recommend this adventure.

We are going to be reeeeallllyyyy sore tomorrow. We definitely earned the amazing burgers we ate at The Rubi Slipper (Bostonians…not a strip joint).

I thought the dunes would be tough with Luna so she went to All 4 Paws doggie daycare in Alamosa. It was great. I was skeptical from the outside, especially with only about a dozen pitbull mix dogs (I know I know…they have unwarranted bad wrap) in the outdoor area when we pulled up. However, they were great and Luna seemed very at ease going in and very happy coming out.

Lesson of the Day: Train for the dunes. Yoga, running, calisthenics, sprints, pilates, those weird “feet moving in sand” elliptical trainers at the gym that no one ever uses. Whatever you need to do, do it, and make this a priority stop on your next trip to Colorado.