In the nine years of living in the Southwest, we’ve explored a lot of ground. We’ve seen much of Colorado, our neighbor to the north. But one area we had not seen was Grand Mesa, in the western part of the state. So last week we took a trip to see it.
Earlier this month, we drove about 3-1/2 hours to Trinidad, Colorado to take in a small-town rodeo. The 111th Annual Trinidad Round Up might make it seem like a bigger deal than it is, but it is definitely a small-town affair. That’s also what makes it entertaining.
One might think that the tallest sand dunes on the continent would be in some exotic beach location that few people visit such as the Bering Strait of Alaska, or along the hurricane-ravaged southeastern coasts of the United States. I was surprised to learn that they are located hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean in, of all places, southern Colorado. President Herbert Hoover declared the Great Sand Dunes a National Monument in 1932…