Showing posts with label road trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label road trip. Show all posts

9/6/12

The Great Sand Dunes

  The purpose of our mini roadtrip last weekend was to see the Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado, as it was another natural wonder on my must-see list.  Colorado seriously has an overwhelming amount of beauty to offer.  It was about a five hour drive each way, but didn't seem bad with two people driving and with a stop in the middle for food.  Also, this is definitely not your typical outfit post.  In fact you may as well ignore what I am wearing, as it was for practical hiking purposes, and just enjoy the scenery!
Outfit Details:
Tank: Lucky Brand (old)
Shorts: Fossil (old)
Hat: Burton (old)
Shoes: American Eagle (old)
Backpack: Dakine via Ebay
     The sand dunes are quite a baffling phenomenon.  They are hundreds of square miles of sand piled in the middle of a valley and mountain range with an ocean no where in sight!  These pictures do not do the sheer height and size of the dunes justice, as it is hard to portray scale when everything is the same beige color.  I tried to use people in the pictures so you could see how tiny they were compared to the surroundings.  We hiked up the sand ridges for about an hour, which was super hard work! We did not make it to the official "high dune", but we got high enough where we could still really appreciate the amazing view.  
     The sand can reach temperatures of up to 140 degrees, which is crazy, but we got there early enough in the day that there was still a nice cloud cover.  This allowed me to hike all the way to the top barefoot, which was amazing! On they way down though the sun was shining in full force and I suddenly was doing a crazy hot-potato dance because my feet were burning so bad! You know how when you walk along a beach in mid summer, there comes a moment when you realize your feet are on fire and you need to sprint to the ocean that very second like your life depends on it?  Well, there was no ocean here.  I ended up flinging my body on the ground and balancing on my butt with my legs straight in the air until I located my shoes in my backpack. Whew. It was quite the sight I'm sure!
      I promise to have some more actual outfit posts now, as all of my adventure pictures are almost all used up.  Late summer and the beginning of sweater weather, here I come.  I still want to be able to wear dresses all the time, but also love when it is just cool enough to throw something cozy on top! With all my traveling I have also been completely neglecting my shop, but I promise to have an amazing update for you next week!
And one last thing! I just joined Chictopia yesterday (username braidedbandit), and I still am not too sure how it works!  If you guys have accounts on there or on lookbook, leave me your names and I will come say hi! If you have any tips of the trade, I'd love to hear them!
Happy Thursday
xo Hannah

9/4/12

Garden of the Gods

Back to the grind! It actually doesn't feel too terrible being back at work today because I took a little computer break while camping over the long weekend. Now, it feels nice to sit with a cuppa joe and do my monotonous job while intermittently flipping through my blog roll. I really like how taking a few days away from it all can rejuvenate you and make typical internet activities that can get droll after awhile seem new an exciting again! 
     Anyway, this is my ACTUAL 100th post, so hooray for that.  I really love where this little blog has taken me over this past year.  I have met so many wonderful people and had some really cool opportunities because of it! Also, though it can be a lot of extra work, it really acts as my creative outlet and keeps me sane.  I know it has been a little bit less of an outfit blog and more of a travel log lately, but I actually really like when I can mix the two!
Outfit Details:
Dress: Vintage/ thrifted
Collar Necklace: Ampris Loves
Sandals:  Naturalizer/ gift from mom
     On the note of travel, I spent my weekend on a mini road trip to Southern Colorado to camp near the Great Sand Dunes National Park.  There are so many spectacular natural wonders in the state of Colorado, and I feel like I have only brushed the surface of exploring them all.  For someone in a constant state of wanderlust, this weekend has actually opened my eyes to the fact that there are amazing things to see in my very own state and that traveling does not always necessitate a costly plane ticket.
      These pictures are from yesterday on our way home when we stopped at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.  As you can see, this is not typical garden of flowers and produce, but an amazing geological park with towering red rocks.  It creates a beautiful view, especially in contrast with the bright blue sky and the green mountains directly behind it.  We only were able to stop for about a half an hour to eat a little picnic lunch on the rocks and snap a few pictures, but we plan to go back to thoroughly explore the area soon!  I wore my sunflower dress to really become a part of the scenery, as sunflowers line the highway pretty much everywhere you go in this state!  I cannot wait to catch up with all of your blogs to see what you did over the weekend!
xo Hannah