Great Sand Dunes Oasis - Mosca, CO

Blue corn pancakes with pine nuts! Yummy!

We awake in Santa Fe to a 57 degree morning.  This actually works for us because the plan is to see Santa Fe and leave Drex in the RV.  The morning starts with Blue Corn Pancakes with Pecos PineNuts.  On to the Institute of American Indian Art (veterans and family - free), a nice art exhibit.  Then on to the New Mexico Historical Museum (veterans and family- free...thank-you Santa Fe, it is really appreciated).  New Mexico was an established European settlement when the pilgrims landed.  By the 1800’s there was fear and distrust of Mexicans by the US.  Hmmm!  By noon, we were ready for some Southwest cuisine.  Deb had a burrito covered with green chili, I had green chili and half a panini.  Back in the RV, the temperature had risen to 71.

Great Sand Dunes

Three hours later, we were checking into the Great Sand Dunes Oasis, a private RV lot.  The small campground in the park was full.  The restaurant at the Oasis, our planned date night locale, was not open for dinner until after Memorial Day.  With two meals in Santa Fe, that we couldn’t finish, it was probably just as well.  Corn Chowder for dinner, with a good Doctor Who episode.

This is a two day stop.  The morning is 48 degrees, we haven’t fired up the furnace since January.  Our mission is to hike the dunes.  These are the tallest dunes in North America.  You know how hard it is to climb up a dune by the beach in soft sand.  This is 750 ft of that!

Downtown Santa Fe

 Deb’s Fitbit is going crazy!  First of all, we are at over 8100 ft of elevation, and this is hard work.  As we are climbing we can see a mile long line of cars trying to get into the park.  Most of them will just hang around the base of the dunes.  Only a few of us ventured to the top.  Although the climb up was 50 steps between rests, the trip down was easy.  After our hike, and our lunch, we went to San Luis Lake.  The level of the lake is way down because of the low snow fall, but Drex was able to get his whole body in the lake.

More than most places, the weather here turns on a dime.  Everyone is hunkered down, then ten minutes later, they are all out tossing footballs, then the winds and the rains come, and they are hunkered down again.  In most of the country, they say, “Have a nice day”...here they say, “Enjoy the next ten minutes!” Tonight it’s dinner of beef stew.  Tomorrow we head for Canyonlands National Park in Utah.