A New Kind of Sand

We’ve lived here for over 3 years and consider ourselves verywell experienced with sand.  I’ve had to learn various sand mitigation techniques for the house, the car, the shoes and especially the bathing suits!  Allen had been telling us that we needed to visit the sand dunes when we came to California.  I had no idea what to expect.  I should have been clued in when we saw dune buggies all over the place {they even sell them at Costco!}

WOW!

Prepare yourself for photo overload!

We pulled off of the highway and saw this.

As we pulled into the parking area there was the jaw dropping view.

Oh and as an interesting side note we were about this close {holding my fingers apart about a quarter of an inch} to the Mexican border at the time.    This was on the other side of the parking lot.

When we lived in Texas, we saw these trucks all the time.  They are literally more common than taxis in many places in the Southwest.  I am so grateful that there are people who protect us from terrorists, drug traffickers and other illegal activities.  Yet  it makes my mind swim to think of those that are so desperate for a different life that they are willing to cross those sand dunes for a chance to experience for what we experience every day.

Back to the fun stuff…

Of course the boys needed to explore…off they go!

I stood there for a few minutes taking it all in.  Look how tall and thin I am in this picture!

I turned and realized I was quickly being left behind.  I had to hurry!

Man alive!  I couldn’t believe how quickly the boys got to the top.

My attempt at a jumping picture {fail is what Jackson would say}.  Really I needed to catch my breath those dunes are steep!

Then they went even higher!

and higher.

It would seem that the sand dunes are endless… It would be cool to hop on a dune buggy and explore them.  Once.

There were quite a few dune buggies and dirt bikes zipping across the dunes.   If you look closely you can see one is jumping through the air at the top of the dune in the next picture.

I don’t think that they come across very many people crazy enough to walk up a sand dune  pedestrians so I was glad the boys were wearing very bright colors!

You wouldn’t necessarily think that this landscape is beautiful, but you would be terribly wrong.

The boys did what boys do, they played, rolled, jumped and even spit in the sand!

They tried to roll down the dune…

It was starting to get a little bit dark, so we headed back to the parking lot.  It was a total novelty the people who were camping there.  It never occurred to me, but they definitely have their own culture and everything.

Here you can see our tiny white rental car. I sure am glad it was a rental because although we brushed the sand off, I didn’t take into account how much sand was in the boys pockets and when they sat down, it came pouring out.  Oopsie!

What a fun adventure!