Great sand dunes

Having spent too many weekends in a row not doing anything that special it was about time to make a small road-trip down south. Our destination was the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve not too far from the New Mexico border. It was going to be a long day so we set out at 7 in the morning. To get there, the plan was to take the longer but much more scenic route through the mountains while returning via the quicker but much much much much much more boring I-25.





Larger map

This turned out to be a good decision as the views in the mountains were pretty spectacular. We passed quite a few of the Colorado fourteeners along the way but the last hour or so before reaching our destination was pretty yawn-inducing. There was a good 30 mile/50km long arrow-straight straight followed by a left turn and then another 15mi/25km of the same. During this, you could see the sand dunes in the distance and they didn't look that impressive to be honest.

A view to Buena Vista with the some random mountain in the background

We ate sandwiches at the heart of the blooming metropolis Hooper

After lunch we passed by the Colorado Gators Reptile Park and decided to give it a go. The entrance fee was a hefty $15 but where else in Colorado would you run into something like this? The park turned out to be in surprisingly bad shape but there were lots of gators, snakes, lizards, turtles and even ostriches and emus.

We didn't want to spend too much time before even hitting our destination so we kind of rushed through the place. As the dunes got closer and closer we realized how big they really were. On the plains we saw quite a few mini-tornadoes (or maybe a swirl would be a better word) that were more cool to look at than scary.

From a distance they don't look that big...

"April is often one of the snowiest months at Great Sand Dunes, but there can also be some sunny days with highs in the 60s." Yeah, or in the high 70s. We had to cross the Medano Creek to get to the dunes.

Why not?

This gives you some idea of how massive it really was. If you view the large picture - those tiny specs near the top are actually people.

Nice backdrop.

Note to self - next time apply some sunscreen

The original plan was to climb to the top but we ended up turning back about half way up. It would've been challenging even at sea-level and at that altitude (8200' / 2500m) and with the heat, it was just too much. I tried going barefoot for a while but the sand was so hot that I quickly changed my mind. Some of us ran down a steep slope as fast as we could and although it was great fun, I still have some sand in my pockets. And my wallet. And my cell phone.

Close to the dunes there was a place called Zapata Falls which we had to check out before heading back.

The bullet hole in the middle adds a nice touch

Those you didn't want to skip from stone to stone or wade through the icy cold water only got to see this much.

The return trip wasn't terribly exciting but before hitting the I-25, we rode a bit on the northernmost stretch of the Highway of Legends and saw the Spanish Peaks.

The easternmost 4000m peak in the U.S.

All in all - it was a very long day but well worth it. Seeing massive sand dunes or alligators wasn't something I was expecting when I moved to Colorado.

Coors brewery and a dam

On Friday I decided to drive to Golden again to see if the lines to the Coors Brewery tour were decent this time. Golden was the territory capital of Colorado until it was moved to Denver in 1867 and nowadays it has a nice little historic district and of course the home of the Coors beer. Like many of the most successful American companies, Coors was founded by a European immigrant (a Prussian bloke called Adolf Kuhrs/Coors) coming across the pond in search of better opportunities. The company survived the prohibition years (1920-1933) and nowadays it's one of the largest brewing companies in the world.

This building has seriously been beaten with the ugly stick but it's still the largest single brewery facility in the world

Just so that you don't have to exhaust yourself by walking the quarter mile route from the parking lot to the tour entrance

From the outside the facility is just as ugly as you might imagine but the free tour inside is an interesting way to spend an hour or two. The whole brewing process seems quite complex. Something about malting, milling, mashing, lautering, boiling, fermenting, conditioning, filtering and finally packaging with words like hops and wort inserted in the the middle.

The command centre

The end result is what matters and I have to admit I'm not the biggest fan of beer in general. They offered plenty of tasting to anyone over 21 but I was driving so I had to skip it but I did buy a sampling pack of six different brands. Many of them only have 3.2% ABV (alcohol by volume) which seems strange compared to the stronger Finnish beers that I'm used to.

In the evening I went for another ride without any real destination and ended up at the Gross reservoir and Dam. I also bumped into some furries along the way, 12 of them to be exact.

Bendy roads <3

That's Boulder down there

Looks like it's been burning up here recently

Furries!

The road up to the reservoir wasn't paved

Spring and bikes

The wildfire stayed as the #1 news around here for many days and it took quite a while before the containment percentage rose from 0%. Eventually they got it under control though.

Spring is here

On Saturday I noticed a lot of parked cars and cyclists on the street when I opened the curtains in the morning. You see a lot of cyclists wearing their racing gear and with proper road bikes around here but the parked cars peaked my interest so I went out for a walk. Turned out that there was a local bike race right next to my condo that lasted pretty much the whole day. There were different classes based on the gender and the age. The one I watched was for men over 45 and it lasted for 50 minutes. While one race was taking place the contestants for the upcoming races were warming up all over the surrounding area. They had some seriously cool bikes that probably cost more than I make in a year.

+28 C / 82 F

Inspired by this, on Sunday I actually went ahead and bought myself a bike. I had checked out quite a few stores in hopes of getting something decent for cheap and eventually decided to go with a road bike from Walmart for $169. I started riding it home and less than two miles in, the front tire came off the rim and before I managed to stop, the inner tube exploded. With a price tag like that, I knew it wouldn't be the best bike in the world but I didn't expect it to be that crappy. I took it back to Walmart and got my money back.

I should have sued them for one hundred dollars

$169 worth of Made in China greatness gets you this

After the incredibly warm and dry March, it finally cooled down on Monday. On Tuesday it finally snowed again. It was long overdue and I don't mind the snow at all since it will melt right away anyway.