8.15 - Day 2 in Colorado

Timmy slept with 3 dogs. He had fun. Then we hung out there talking about what we'd do for the day. 

The view walking to breakfast

We went to breakfast with Griff.  I got French Toast and couldn't eat them all. I didn't realize at the time, but later I sure wish I had the rest of that food in me. 

Then we headed to the Sand Dunes. They were a few hours away. I didn't quite know what to expect. They were much larger than I thought. I didn't really know what to expect at all. I didn't google the dunes in advance or I would have known. 

Even though I wanted to quit on the way up, I did not. I made it to the top. It was very hard to climb them. I'd get out of breath like crazy. But also my fear of heights made me breathe weird because I was scared the entire time. I guess that also impacts the feeling of being out of breath.  Sometimes I'd have to take deep breaths before moving on. I tried to just look at the ground and not look around at how high I was.

Coming down from the top (note Callie's method to hold her sandals)

Also it was the middle of the afternoon. After we were up at the top and on our way down, Callie said that people usually go in the morning because it is so hot.  Also in the morning the sand isn't nearly as hot.  It seemed like other people who made it to the top had gear with them and hiking boots.

The second thing that was hard for me to climb the dunes was that I don't normally wear sandals. I didn't pack good sandals. I didn't realize how hard walking on sand would be or I might not have worn the sandals but once you set out to climb the dunes, there's no going back.  The sandals were rough to walk in and hurt my feet but then walking directly on the sand was hard too. The sand was so hot most of the time.  I'm betting walking in sandals isn't rough for most people but I rarely wear sandals and when I do, it is on good terrain. Now at first I thought the sand was just hot on me but it was hot for Callie too and she walks barefoot outside all the time.  She even runs barefoot. She walks across rocks in her bare feet and it hurts just looking at her. I don't even walk barefoot in my house. I can't handle the crumbs on the floor. I definitely don't walk barefoot outside. I have some pairs of shoes that have labels in them that I cannot handle the texture of and need an insole over it so I can wear the shoes.  It sure sounds like I need to toughen up my feet.

At the top of the dunes I looked at my feet closely for the first time and I had blisters. One blister already had the skin flapping.  At the top we heard one of the couples telling another group how they just got engaged.  Also at the top, I sat down. I couldn't handle the walking. I even butt scooted to the edge to go back down. When I put the sandals on quickly on the way down, I got blood on them. My blisters did not like the sandals anymore... or ever.

Now it might not sound like it was fun because it was scary and I got blisters. But it was a great experience and once you are done, it made it even better. I made it to the top! Granted I bet a lot of people make it to the top but it is probably not their first days at a high elevation. I didn't even realize until later but we got sunburn. I got a line from my BodyMedia fit armband.  Timmy got a burn too He had a line from his sleeves.  Once we noticed the burn, Callie mentioned the sun screen that was in the car. Whoops.

Timmy didn't wear sandals up the dunes but wore shoes. I think that was better in the long run. He did get lots of sand in them.  On the way down, he did not stop to clean out the sand and he ended up with a blister at his heel but at least he wasn't in as much pain the entire way up and down.

Oh, my sandals broke on the way up and down.  The decorative edge or whatever you want to call it kept coming off. It was just a piece of rubber from the entire edge. These broken sandals impacted my attire for the rest of the stay because I brought 2 semi-casual dresses that I would need to wear the sandals with. So I guess I wouldn't be wearing those dresses.  The dresses were only if we went out to dinner or something but I also accounted for them in total number of outfits I brought.

So on the way up and down, I was behind Callie and Timmy. They always had to wait for me. I felt so out of shape. Heck I'm a runner so I should be able to walk. I like to pretend I have excuses like being afraid of heights and my feet hurting, but I probably was just out of shape.

The view from the dunes parking lot

Dunes, Driving, etc

On our way home we stopped at the hot spring.  They had a hot pool, normal pool, and then the hot spring.  We had to test out them all. It was my first time at a hot spring.  They had different spots and some were cold and some hot and some warm.  Sometimes we'd find a warm one but it had a hot spot. Then timmy would go trying to "fix" it so it wasn't cold in spots or super hot in spots but he always made it worse.  So then we were forced to try out a new spot. Too bad we'd repeat the same issues with Timmy "fixing" the temperature.  The first one we were in was OK but it wasn't that deep. Once I dug out a little hole for my butt when I was lying down, it worked well. We joked a lot about doing that.

We were at the hot spring until after dark.  We went to Mexican for dinner. I had enchiladas for the 2nd time in my life. They were pretty good.

We went back to Callie's.  Later we went out and went in a bar and left the bar immediately. Then we went to a new bar and left that immediately.  We headed home after that. Then Griff came over and visited.  Man I was tired. I wasn't used to the time zone change plus they stay up until 1 their time and I was used to staying up until 11 our time.... so 1 felt like 3.  Oh boy was it rough staying up.

Attire for breakfast. At the dunes, I wore capri athletic shorts and no jacket.

Jacket: Costco
Shirt: Loft
Jeans: Express
Shoes: Brooks via some online store.

It was hard to figure out how to dress there.  It was 40 in the morning or cooler.  Then it was 70 at the hottest point but 70 degrees felt a lot hotter there when the sun was beating down on you.

Now tell me isn't Colorado so pretty?