This picture was taken in Great Sand Dunes National Monument in southern Colorado. Although this picture doesn't show it very well, Great Sand Dunes is a very unusual sight. Seven hundred foot tall sand dunes rise up from the flat plain of the San Luis Valley in front of the rugged Sangre de Cristo mountain range. It's like a tiny piece of the Sahara Desert dropped into the Colorado mountains. Although you are free to wander around on the dunes as you please, the sand becomes intolerably hot by early afternoon on sunny days.

This is Grays Peak (left) and Torreys Peak (right), two of Colorado's 54 14ers. "Fourteeners" is the local term for mountains that are over 14,000 feet tall. Hiking up these mountains is a popular hobby for Coloradans. Although most of them are single peaks, there are a few places (like this) where more than one are connected by a "saddle," allowing you to hike up two or three fourteeners in a single day.

Here is the view from the top of Torreys Peak. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't really capture the beauty or excitement of standing on top of one of these mountains. (By the way, that's me in the picture.)