On Friday we grabbed Cannon from school (he gets out at 11:05)and headed south to Great Sand Dunes National Park.

It’s about a four and a half hour drive for us and it’s beautiful.

We stopped in Buena Vista for coffee (for the adults) and treats (for the kids). If you’re in the area Brown Dog Coffee is AMAZING (also a location in Salida).

We found a camping spot San Luis State Wildlife Area Campground directly West of the Dunes.

The views from from our campsite was incredible.

Once we got set up in camp we made our way down to San Luis Lake.

The kids had a blast playing around in the shallow water.

This was taken right as Emmy completely fell in =)

On Saturday morning we headed over to the Great Sand Dunes. It’s important to get there early especially in the summer as the sand can reach 150 degrees!

The Seasonal Medano Creek was running and that was by far the kids’ favorite part of our visit.

We neglected to take any cute pictures of the kids in the creek =(

We tried to go sledding on the dunes and it didn’t exactly work, but it was still fun.

It would have been fun climb the dunes and see the view from the top but the sand was already hot and I think that hike is way beyond the kids ability and attention span. One day it would be nice to come back and get to the top when the kids are a bit older.

After our morning at the dunes we scrapped our plans for a hike because the kids were having fun at the campground and just wanted to play.

We were happy to slow down and just enjoy where we were.

On Sunday we packed up and pointed our car home. We stopped in Salida for a playground break.

There is a fun playground right along the river and just down the street we grabbed sandwiches at Sweeties highly recommend if you are in the area.

We have stopped in Salida a few times on trips and really want to spend more time there, so cute!

We have been to seven national parks in the last year and Great Sand Dunes National Park was my least Favorite. It was fun, and beautiful but also smaller than I am used to. Definitely worth a visit if you are in southern Colorado!