February 2017-- which seems a lot more recent than it is, in hindsight-- I went on a road trip with my mum from our home in Louisville, Kentucky, first to visit her sisters in Colorado Springs, then on to a friend's home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As much as I love road trips, I did not love driving across Kansas the long way!

In Colorado we did a lot of exploring of old stomping grounds-- Manitou Springs, Garden of the Gods-- and discovering new places, like Manitou Cliff Dwellings. On our way from Colorado Springs to Santa Fe, we stayed a night in the town of Crestone and visited Great Sand Dunes National Park. The dunes are AMAZING. The tallest dunes in North America, they are a phenomenon nestled at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the "centerpiece in a diverse landscape of grasslands, wetlands, conifer and aspen forests, alpine lakes, and tundra" (from the NPS website). We crossed the Rio Grande at some point, and I got a shot of the beautiful canyon-like layers it cut through the earth.

Sadly, I put my camera away during our Santa Fe leg of the trip, as we were doing a lot of walking and touristy activities (Meow Wolf, Santa Fe plaza, Georgia O'Keefe Museum, gallery hopping on Canyon Road, etc!).

We took the southern route back to Kentucky, and got to travel Route 66 for a while, which is something I'm going to have to revisit in the future! The town of Tucumcari, NM by itself is worth a visit, though we only passed through... it's like a time capsule of amazing old signage and buildings.

Photos from this blog can be purchased as prints!