Rock-a my Soul (in the bosom of Abraham)

This October has had so much sunshine and beauty.
And struggle, and prayer, and mundanity. But I'm going to show you some beauty, because that's what I want to remember.

I took this selfie a couple of Saturdays back when I was giving myself a break and a bucket-filling day. Just me lingering at the park with the dog, no makeup, cozy in my hoodie. A particularly weekend indulgence.


We had a more vigorous energy last weekend when we visited the Happy Apple Orchard.
It was a lovely day. The orchard looked... almost like a real orchard.

























I'm a little facetious. As a fall experience, Happy Apple was a lovely one. But as an orchard, it was really a disappointment. There was one bucket of small yellow apples remaining, and NO cider left. Honestly, what is the point of calling yourself an orchard? Autumn is really the season in which I am probably least content to be in Southern Colorado, even though the skies are bluer than reason and the sunshine looks awesome on the yellow leaves. There's just no sense of bounty in the nature around here.
Still, we enjoyed the hayride!

And the pallet maze!

Koopa loving tolerating the hayride

I got some decorative gourds, so you know it wasn't a total loss. Still, I bought some cider at the grocery last week and I swear to you it's white. It's WHITE. 

I miss apple country.



We're cuddled up in Fall Break this week! I am a huge fan of Fall Break; I don't know what I did without it before. Yesterday we had an experience in nature that made up for the disappointing apple scene. We finally made it the 2+ hours to the Great Sand Dunes National Park! Guys... I don't say this about a lot of things. But you  HAVE to get here. It's haunting and exhilarating at once.





After the visitor's center, you can choose to hike to the dunes over the trails, or drive. Someday, we'll always take the hike option, but this time, we drove. Still, we managed to get some epic hiking in once we got to the dunes! I was proud of our stamina at 8000 feet!

You have to begin by crossing the creek. There is no bridge. This is best done barefoot. The water is wicked cold! but the sand is warm.






Miles had a bit of a meltdown here. He is so much my kid; he didn't want to cross because the water was so cold and "the sand would make his feet messy!" I'm positive I had similar meltdowns as a child, usually surrounding my family's attempt to go fishing.

I told Miles, the water is "so high, you can't get over it (not true), so low, you can't get under it, so wide, you can't get round it" and tried to get him to sing Rock-A-My-Soul with me. It didn't work, but I enjoyed it. It took about 20 minutes and a bunch of prayers and threats to go on without him, but he finally crossed the river, put his shoes back on, and began to walk on the dunes.


If that wasn't miracle enough, we spent more than two hours climbing dunes and having the most transformational time at it, too.

When you turn around and look back from the dunes, this is what you see. 

It looks exactly like the Sahara, or like Tattooine. You expect camels at any moment.


This is a nature experience I found extremely moving, for some reason. It's a surreal place, because there appears to be absolutely no life anywhere around you. The quiet is deafening. But there's the sense that you're utterly safe, somehow, walking on these sand precipices with the only danger being that you'll fall over onto soft sand and slowly slide down the side. I can't fully describe why I found this so spiritually electric, but it was like nothing I'd experienced before. There's no loud, powerful ocean to draw your eyes or ears, just soft sand and still, cool air. And a slowly appearing sunburn, in my case.



The dog was in heaven; we let him run and frolic and dig a bit since there was so little traffic on the dunes. He was totally worn out by the end.


The peace and sense of utter security just overwhelmed us. It feels like the very best kind of dream, or like the beginning of some kind of afterlife adventure. I can hardly describe the feeling but I can't wait to go back. We've sketched out an anniversary trip complete with lodge and stargazing.



There came a point when Adele's and Jon's bodies just wouldn't go anymore. It is super taxing to hike here; imagine climbing a mountain made out of the beach. But Miles and I were inspired, so we set out and let the other two play in the sand and then mosey back toward the creek. 

Sand angels.

Miles and I made it to the top! Or at least, it felt like the top. We're calling it the top. It took a while...


Sometimes, I read, elevations of 8000 feet and higher can cause altitude sickness. I had a mild headache throughout, but mostly what I experienced was exhilaration.

Miles running along the high ridge.

At the top, you can see mountains in nearly all directions.

Bliss.


On the trip  back down, we fell in with a father and daughter on a cross country trip. They were on their way to Cali from Philadelphia and they went to church at Wayne Presbyterian! And knew about Eastern! And recognized the school where I used to work! That was a cool moment of serendipity.



On the way back down, we sang the old hobbit walking song from Fellowship and other tunes that popped into our heads, and we just laughed, for the fun of it.



That trip was worth every mile. If you make it down to see us some time on a vacation week, we'll bring you.

Spanish Peaks, twilight.