As big kid said, while visiting the Denver Mint, we learned about the America the Beautiful quarters, which are being released from 2010 until at least 2021 and feature national sites from each of the 50 states.
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve was selected for the quarter for Colorado. We decided to make the 250 mile drive and check it out …. and we are very glad that we did!!!
The park is at 8000 feet elevation, with 11,000 + feet mountains to one side, and North America’s tallest sand dunes to the other side. We had fun exploring the dunes and the visitor center. But the highlight was renting a sand sled and sledding down the dunes!! All the fun of sledding, but none of the cold and wet of snow!
catching air!wheeee …..not just for the kids!
(Shout out to the lovely ranger working at the entrance kiosk. Fun chatting with you!)
This week we were camped in Aurora, near Denver. On our first day in Denver, we took the train in. We had a good picnic in the park, and started walking around downtown. As we were walking, Ma saw a sign for a trail that she knew went back to our campground and suggested we take it back. Because it was ONLY thirteen miles, we decided to walk back to the car at the train station. On the way, Pa and I were getting blisters from our shoes, so we took them off and walked barefoot. After a long walk, we were very happy to arrive back at the car!
The next day, we toured the Denver Mint. It was awesome. We got to see the coins being made. We learned about the new National Park quarters and we decided to start collecting them. The coin making was awesome to watch. Tons of coins were pouring out of the coin printer. Did you know that 7.8 billion coins are made each year? Cool!
Later we went to the mile high mark on the Capitol building.
The next day was for chores. Our first Trader Joes in five months led to our stock up shopping trip. Because they have the best dark chocolate, we bought many pounds of it. The cashier actually said “wow you sure like this”!The other thing we stocked up on was marinara sauce. After months of sampling and surviving the brands we didn’t like, we bought almost ten jars of delicious Joes marinara.
After a chill day, we decided to head to Great Sand Dunes national park. We had only recently heard of it from the national park quarters.
Today, we went to Riverside Zoo in Scottsbluff,, Nebraska. First we saw the bobcat, a raccoon, giant swans, and some other animals,. Then we went to the petting zoo. Little Kid and I fed leaves to the goats and we saw a Llama.
Afterwards we saw the longhorns and a lynx. We also went inside and saw meerkats, a python, mice, and fish. When we came back outside, we went to look at the lions and tigers. At the lions, one lion lifted its tail and shot a squirt of pee in our direction. After recovering from the shock, we looked at some birds. We saw turkey vultures, and a red tailed hawk.
Then we went to the chimpanzees. They were making farting noises. One actually waggled its tongue at us! We were watching them when suddenly one threw a hunk of dirt in my face! It had surprisingly good aim. Later a keeper explained that Jack, the chimpanzee, did this to girls to get their reaction. I reacted by screaming and laughing!
At the end, Ma joked that going to zoo was worth it to see the chimp throw dirt at me!
This week we were in the Black Hills, South Dakota. We stayed in a place called Custer State Park.
Our first day there was on a Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, so we joined a congregation of about twenty people. In the afternoon, we walked to the visitor center at Custer State Park and saw a whole bunch of wild turkeys. Afterwards, we went on a scenic drive in Custer state park. First we saw a couple pronghorn antelope. Then we encountered a whole herd of bison. One actually was sniffing the car! It was literally touching the car. Later we also saw lots of white tailed deer.
up close
The next day, we drove to Mount Rushmore. It was very cool. I became a junior ranger there. We went on a small hike to the base of the mountain, and also saw the sculpture’s studio with a scale model of the mountain.
Then we went to a small lake in the state park. We took a one mile long hike around it. I was running ahead and climbing lots of rocks. On the way back, we saw something amazing – big horn sheep! At first glance we thought they were deer, but we soon saw their horns. It was awesome to see the animals that we had heard about for a long time.
The next day, we went to Devil’s Tower, in Wyoming. We went in the toad, and it was a very long drive. When we got there, we went on a three mile hike. It was beautiful. Afterwards, we went on a short hike through the boulder field. I climbed a lot of boulders.
Yesterday, we started the morning with an unexpected surprise – a whole herd of bighorn sheep in our campground! The herd stayed around for the entire day. In the afternoon, Pa and I went cross country out in the hills. We didn’t see any animals, but we saw the exo- skeleton of some freaky bug and lots of beautiful scenery. When we got back, the bighorn sheep were jumping the fence to leave. One little baby couldn’t do it, so we opened the gate to try to get it out. After a lot of time and a little herding, we finally got the baby back to the rest of the herd.
Today, we went to a national monument named Jewel Cave. Ma and little kid went on a short tour of cave. Then Pa and I went on the long tour. It was really cool. There were stalactites, columns, thin, hollow stalactites called soda straws, and beautiful crystals. Back above ground, we ate a picnic lunch. Of course, then I did the junior ranger program.
