Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Woke up to rain in the middle of the night and the wind was
ruffling the rain tent, but it was nothing like our night in Colorado Monument
when the storm almost tipped our tent! In the morning, the calling of cows was
loud and clear. The cows were grazing by the bathroom across the street from
us. The kids thought this was hilarious and mooed back until we were packed up
and on our way.
I've given up on oatmeal at breakfast and we're eating a steady
diet of peanut butter sandwiches for multiple meals every day. The kids stood
around, everything was wet from the rain and I was anxious to get to the Great
Sand Dunes and then to somewhere to get my breaks fixed, so no chairs came out
of the trunk.
*Note to self- slow down. This constant drive to get to the
next place has made mornings suck for me, and... when mama ain't happy, ain't
nobody happy... so every morning seems pretty rough for all of us. Although,
especially waking up in the morning and everything around us being wet makes me
that much more of a grump in the mornings. I need to work on that for sure!
We made it to Hooper, CO before we needed to make a bathroom
pit stop, which was also a good time for the kids to change out of their pants
and into shorts as the day warmed up. We also picked up an overpriced loaf of
bread for another peanut butter sandwich and made it to Great Sand DunesNational Park and Preserve about 11am.
As the Ranger at the Visitor Center
made incredibly clear, we showed up too late and it was almost too hot to do
any hiking and I should have stopped to rent sand sleds before showing up if I
wanted to sled. He wasn't very friendly, but did mention that they recently
took a girl out of the park in an ambulance due to heat stroke, so his concern was valid. We got
our Jr. Ranger books and hurried to The Dunes to get a short hike in before it
got way too hot. These Dunes are amazing! It's 'just' a 30-square mile patch of
sand dunes with mountains on one side and dessert prairie on the other.
Incredible! The kids and I were psyched to walk on the tallest sand dunes in
North America... We didn't make it far. Hiking boots on sand makes the trek
much more intense! And you have to wear close-toed shoes because the sand sure
is hot!
Pumpkin took the opportunity to roll down the dunes a few times after
multiple complaints that she wanted to sled down them instead. She loved
rolling down, until she had to shower off in cold water! *Don't turn on the sound for the video!
Pumpkin didn't
complain once and seemed to really enjoy the hike. The creek that ran across
the bottom of the dunes was shallow enough to walk through with our hiking
shoes and not get our feet wet, but treading through it barefoot felt lovely. I
had to chuckle at a couple women bringing armfuls of sand toys and then looking
around asking each other where the deep part of the river was :)
A shortish stop at the Visitor Center again gave us time to
fill out the books to earn Jr. Ranger badges and we were off again.
We had
planned at camping at Zappata Falls but didn't make it last night. Stopping
today would have been awesome, but I really wanted to get my car in before we
headed to the Rockies, so the falls will have to be on our bucket list. I
started to head towards Alamosa, but chose to turn around and go East, since
our next stop is that way. After eating lunch and catching some Wifi in Fort Garland
so I could make a non-roaming call to my dad, we turned around and went back to
Alamosa; the next available mechanic or hotel was on the other side of the
mountains, no good with bad breaks.
Found the public library for Wifi to find a decently priced
hotel and a mechanic. Automotive Concepts had great reviews. And a 2 week waitlist. But they helped me find a few other shops in town. Fred at
TradeWheels Auto Performance checked my wheels, told me that was backed up with
auto work, but since I was driving through town, he'd get me in first thing in
the morning. He stayed late to give me time to drop of our things at the hotel
before dropping off the car. When I finally left my car there, he put it up on
the lift so it was all ready to go in the morning :)
After finding TradeWheels, I went to Rodeway Inn to get a
room. I had stopped there on the way into town but the rates they gave me for a
single King were higher than what I had seen on Kayak or Google Maps during
lunch. This was after I had to get someone's attention more than a few times
after the two women at the counter complained about a person staying there. At
the library, I had checked prices again and Kayak gave me a rate $20 cheaper
with tax than Rodeway Inn gave me at the counter. When I got back to Rodeway
Inn, they said they don't match online prices, so I booked through Kayak.com. I
was waiting for the booking to show up at the hotel, which they told me can
take up to 15 minutes, so as I stood at the counter, I asked about the pool.
Closed until tomorrow for cleaning. While I continued to wait, the two women
complained about wifi not working and the 'stupid computer' that always needed
ink. Another customer came up and asked a couple of questions and received
significant sarcasm and irritation from the woman who indicated that she was
the manager. The same customer came back and gave the manager the stick to the
blinds and she just looked at him dumbly and said 'what, don't you know how to
put it back on yourself.' He just turned and walked away and as he did so, she
looked at me and rolled her eyes. I left.
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