At the Great Sand Dunes

I took the family for a visit to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in central Colorado. We parked at the campground and set up our tents. Then we crossed the shallow stream and headed for the dunes that towered overhead. Our goal was to reach the top of the first dune where we could get a view across the expanse of sand. But then, as is typical in a Colorado summer afternoon, a thunderstorm swooped in.

At the Great Sand Dunes National Monument

We started up the dunes that day,

The sun was beating down.

But then the thunderstorm came up,

And we began to frown.

The wind picked sand up from the dunes

And blew it in the air.

We turned our backs; it stung our legs

And nestled in our hair.

The rain was cold upon our backs.

The sand stuck to our shirts,

And when the dune sand hits your skin

You know, it really hurts!

John M. Campbell

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