I don’t know about you but I love traveling!
It is another thing I plan to use this blog for – posts about my adventures!
Brady and I set aside a cash fund for traveling – weekend adventures and such! We try to go camping once a month, just a little time to take a break and breathe. Sometimes we invite friends and sometimes we just go alone. It is something we started when we got engaged and then it was put on the back burner as wedding planning started taking over our lives but as soon as we got married it became a priority!
I don’t believe in living a life that you feel you need to escape from – that isn’t what we do or how we see it. We find traveling to be something we love to do and sometimes as part of life we like to gain new perspectives, experience different cultures, and just see what is around us. Another thing, is sometimes we can get to caught up in struggles, in work, in things that start to take over and distract us from living, distract us from who we are and taking a pause to breathe and recenter is a necessary part of living!
Okay, now that I have given all of the background…we semi-recently went on a whirlwind trip to Colorado! Usually, on these weekends, we can’t travel more than a few hours but Brady had an extra day because of Labour Day weekend so we decided to make a trip over to Colorado!
freecampsites.net
Brady found this site that shows campsites all around the US and it was really helpful for finding somewhere to camp along the way – in the Middle-Of-No-Where Texas Panhandle. We got there about midnight – camped using our wedding gift, two-person, lightweight tent (proper review to come, hint: we love it)! We got up early the next morning (Brady with the sun and me a bit later) and continued on our way!
We got to the Great Sand Dunes around 11:45/12pm!
Entry was $15 per car and is good for seven days. We parked and headed for one of the picnic areas to have lunch and then be able to return our things to the car and grab the cameras before headed to the dunes! We used my cheap small Coleman stove (review of that coming as well) and the pot set we used in New Zealand (need to do a review of that as well) to cook our food! We cooked some ramen noodles – we divided them when they were done and Brady added the normal chicken flavouring packet to his, but me being vegetarian I don’t eat the flavouring so we brought along some velvet cheese packets we found at Walmart and I added one of those to it. We ate, cleaned up, returned the things to the car, and grabbed the cameras and headed for the dunes!
I had never been there before, and Brady only when he was little. They were so strange! We looked in the museum but I didn’t read everything about how they were formed so you can go to their site and check it out yourself! You have to cross a river/runoff to start hiking up the dunes – when we were there it wasn’t much a river but our feet still got wet! There were so many families in the area – lounging and watching there little ones playing in the shallow water. It was one of those sites you remember and smile when you look back on it. It is something I can’t wait for Brady and me to do when we have little ones. Anyway, we started hiking around the dunes. It’s like walking on the beach…sand does not make quick or easy travel! It makes your calves burn and you and you are getting winded (especially when you are as out of shape as me) and you look out at the horizon or in front of you where you are headed and you haven’t moved at all. Needless to say, we didn’t hike to the top. We probably only went about a third of the way up. But it was so surreal. I love the surreal moments in my life. Standing there, taking a break, and looking around soaking up the views you realise you don’t hear anything. It is silent, you see people around – hiking, working out, sand-surfing but you only hear silence. Occasionally you hear laughter or intangible voice carry on the wind but it seems so distant. It is one of those experience that is hard to explain but wonderful to experience.
After the noon/afternoon time at the dunes, we got back in the car and continued to the trailhead of the South Colony Trailhead, which leads to Humboldt Peak. We get to the first lot, and we read online the 4WD was suggested if you continued past the first parking lot of up to the actual trailhead. Suggested. My little Subaru Forester has AWD, so we don’t question and continue.
4WD/AWD & not a low vehicle are a MUST
This was more than a “suggested” 4WD road. ‘Trail’ is more fitting. Well, it was an experience and we made it all the way to the trailhead. When I get the vlog footage edited/pieced together and uploaded then you will be able to watch it and get a glimpse on my YouTube channel. It was madness! We make it before the daylight runs out and we find a nice, peaceful spot to set up camp. The parking lot was packed, there were so many cars up there, creating parking places, and we heard loads of people throughout the night. As the sun began to set I started getting very ill. Altitude sickness never used to bother me but a few times over the last several years it has had a big effect on me and this was one of those times. If I didn’t hate throwing-up so much (I mentally keep myself from it most of the time) then I would have been sick all night long. Instead, I just kept swallowing it down all night. It was rough and I couldn’t get warm and then that. Brady ended up trading me sleeping bags and we had to find more things for me to put on, it was crazy. I finally slept, a bit. The next morning I told Brady I wouldn’t be able to hike to the peak all day and so we slept a bit more and then Brady began getting a headache (from the altitude, he never gets headaches). Basically, we have a lot of work ahead of us before we can tackle the AT. We packed up and hiked around a bit to see some of the beautiful scenery.
Since we weren’t hiking all day we decided to tough it and drive all the way back after leaving there and got home around 3:00 am.
It was a short, whirlwind trip but that doesn’t matter. Brady and I love seeing new corners of the world and being able to have these experiences together. Even when they don’t go as planned and we learn just how out of shape we are.
What corner of the world are you planning to see next? I’d love to hear!
Until our next adventure, cheers!
Carlie
