Great Sand Dunes, Colorado – Day 2 (Pit Stop)

Great Sand Dunes National Park is about an hour from where we were staying in Crestone, but since we wanted to go sandboarding, we needed to stop and rent a board. Normally there are places closer, but since it was off-season, we needed to do a bit of traveling.

We found Spin Drift Sandboards in Blanca, Colorado; it was about 30 mins away from the Great Sand Dunes. They showed us different boards and sleds and taught us how to sit on the sled we selected, how to wax it, and tips for keeping the sand and sun at bay. Then we were off!

The Great Sand Dunes do not look that impressive from afar, but they are huge; it is hard to wrap my mind around how large they actually are. It takes a lot of strength and energy to hike up the dunes, and you get sand in all of your nooks and crannies and all of your belongings (I still have sand in my National Parks Passport). If you plan a visit, bring extra sun protection, eye protection, water, and snacks. We had to take multiple breaks to make it up the dunes to board down.

The visitor center was great; I got the Junior Ranger Activity Book and a few stamps for our National Park Passport. It was fun to learn about how the Great Sand Dunes were formed, the types of animals that live there, and chatting with the rangers about the upkeep of the area. While my kiddo has not been interested in the activity books, I love them and have enjoyed collecting the badges for completing them. The Passport Book will be one of the keepsakes from our trip; most National Park sites have stamps at the Ranger Stations that have today’s date that you can stamp on anything. I choose to buy the book at our nearest National Park because it has maps showing you where all the parks are and information about each of the parks.

Before heading back to Blanca, we took a detour to Alamosa for lunch at Emma’s Authentic Food of the Southwest. We had a pizza burrito, and it was divine; I have never had a burrito with pizza sauce. It was very laid-back, and the service was excellent.

On the way back to Blanca, we noticed a park right off Main Street. I have not been able to find it named on any maps, but it is train-based. It has an old engine you can look at and cargo train cars that you can go into and climb on, and some train wheels to boot. We had fun exploring before returning our boards.

Then we were on our way to Loveland, CO, for our stay in a Museinn (Museum + Inn)!