Day 13 - It's all sand

Started the day with a heart attack on a plate breakfast at diner over the road from our motel, really set us up for the day. Then went on our merry way, turning off the I25 at Walsenberg onto the 160 West. Fantastic scenery today: mountains, plains, forests. Even saw a number of prongthorn deer in the fields, two of whom seemed to be enjoying themselves doing what comes naturally! Must be the time of year for that sort of thing. Took a side trip North on the 150 to Great Sand Dunes National Monument. The first picture shows a general view on the approach. On the second picture you may be able to make out someone near the top, and the third is a zoomed view of the person(s) near the top. Quite a feat in this heat. We continued again along the 160 and were tempted to stop for coffee and banana pie blizzard at a Dairy Queen in Alamosa. Jenny was the one who had the blizzard, she struggled successfully and finished it (what a surprise!). The rest of the ride to Durango was interesting and scenic; we passed over the Great Divide once again, this time at Wolf Creek Pass, at 10,850 feet. Jenny's ears have been popping all day, much yawning going on. We arrived at Durango around 5.30p.m. and promptly went to the Durango and Silverton Railroad ticket office and booked tickets for a trip tomorrow. We then checked into a motel here for two nights - the first two motels we tried were full, so this place is pretty popular, mostly old gits like us, spending their kids' inheritance. Good on them I say!