A Month (Almost!) in Colorado

We've spent a little over three weeks in Colorado and plan on at least that much more time here.  Possibly more.  But our next move will test our reliance on "devices" and wifi.  We will have to drive about six miles to get a 3G cell signal so blogging might be delayed more than usual.  

We left Kansas and headed west over familiar roads toward Limon, Colorado.  After an overnight stop at the Limon KOA we drove south through the plains of Eastern Colorado and then cut back over to the west where we picked up US 160.  Our next Colorado stop was LaVeta at Circle the Wagons RV Park.  This was last minute choice for a stop near the Great Sand Dunes National Park and we really felt like we lucked out!  A cute little town, beautiful mountain scenery and very nice campground made our short stay very pleasant.  

This was our view of the Spanish Peaks from our walk one evening, just a block or so from the campground.  A beautiful welcome to the Rocky Mountains!

Our long back in site at Circle the Wagons with the sound of the Cucharas River behind us lulling us to sleep at night!

They even had a couple of little vintage campers available to rent for those without an rv. I didn't get a chance to peak inside, but I bet they were cute.

For my quilting friends, I discovered by accident that LaVeta is the home of Ricky Tims' quilt studio where he hosts quilt retreats and special events.  There are several cute shops and nice galleries in this little town which seems to have become a favorite of several artists.

While we were "sort of" close to Great Sand Dunes National Park, we drove the Jeep over to explore the Park.  It was about 60 miles to the park entrance.  Dennis got his NP passport stamp, we watched the informative movie and took a short walk around the Visitor Center. These are the tallest sand dunes in North America and the park covers more than just the dunes.  There is a diversity in landscapes and many more activities than one would expect.  In the Spring the Medano Creek flows at the base of the dunes and a popular place for families to come to the "beach".  There are many hiking opportunities here if one wants to climb the dunes, but we chose to drive the Medano Pass Primitive Road.   If you know my husband, once he heard the pass had just opened up the entire way, he was up for the challenge.  The soft sand wasn't as big of challenge as we were led to believe, but the stream crossings were "exciting"!

The dunes were quite impressive as we approached the park!

 It was a beautiful day at the "beach"!  There were lots of families setting up their sun tents and preparing to spend the day wading in Medano Creek and even trying to sand surf.

We didn't find it necessary to lower our tire pressures, but did require our 4 wheel drive in many places.

This was one of the many stream crossings on Medano Creek Pass.  I tried to upload a video but I couldn't get it to work:(  There were a few times the water came over the hood and we've still got a few remnants of  mud splashes inside!

We made it to the top and I think we were probably one of the first vehicles to come the entire way from the Park this year as they had just cleared several downed trees and opened the road for traffic. 

From LaVeta we moved on to one of our new favorite destinations.  I'll go ahead and post this and tell you about Creede and Mountain Views RV Resort next time!