After departing Durango we drove though the mountains on our way to Great Sand Dunes National Park. Along the way we drove though some significant towns geared toward tourists with hotels, camping facilities and businesses. Other were significantly lacking in services.
Along the way we stopped and Leandro’s Resaturante in Center, Colorado. It was a Mexican restaurant run by a family. It was a restaurants catering mostly to the locals – those who farmed the area and worked at the oil businesses. We waited a longer than usual time for our food, but realized that the cook might have been so used to cooking for the buffet that anything apart from the buffet would be a special order. Our food portions were huge. However I have found that at most all Mexican restaurants the portions are almost always huge.
Great Sand Dunes National Park is a long drive from the main road. We drove in an open range for cattle. Saw some llamas along the way. We stopped at the vistors’ center, purchased some postcards and souvenirs. We then proceeded to the dunes.
The sand dunes is somewhat like a big sandbox with dunes built up as high as small hills. Those photos of a explorer or sheik walking through the desert could have easily been filmed here. Vistors brought boards to slide down the dunes on. I spied a camping table in the middle of the park and took some photos. I don’t know how or why the table was there. I’m guessing maybe someone had a picnic on the dune and decided not to take it back with them. In any case it made for some good photos.
I would have stayed longer on the dunes, but we had a time schedule to adhere to. We drove though several small towns to get to the Royal Gorge. The area around the gorge is quite desolate. We arrive at around 6:15PM and found that the bridge closed at 5:30PM, a extraordinary early time We left somewhat disappointed, however we realized that some things are beyond our control. We have to save the Royal Gorge for another time.
We made it to Colorado Springs at around 7:30PM. We ate at Fargo’s Pizza, as recommended by a coworker. The themeing of the restaurant was an old west saloon style with female servers dressed in frilly dresses. A player piano played music in the background while we waited for our order to be prepared. The pizza was good, although the crust was not baked in-house.
I highly recommend the Holiday Inn in Colorado Springs. From flat screen Tvs, DVD player, fridge, microwave – it has it all. Definitely one of the better hotels I’ve stayed at.