GO SANDBOARDING AT GREAT SAND DUNES NATIONAL PARK & PRESERVE
Towering mountains of sand, some more than 700 feet high, that stretch for more than 30 miles along the foot of the Sangre de Cristo range—some might consider that reason enough to visit Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve in Colorado’s remote San Luis Valley. But in recent years sandboarding has become the park’s biggest claim to fame, with fans of the sport careening down the steep slopes on boards specially designed for maximum speed and minimum friction.
But it’s not as easy as it looks, as Sarah Watson, 39, of Fort Collins, Colo., found out when she and her husband, David, 43, visited with their son, Isaac, 13, and daughter, Natalie, 10. “I had been to the sand dunes when I was young myself, and I remember having a blast, so we thought sandboarding would be perfect for our kids to try out,” Watson says. “We tried to stand up like surfers but ended up pretty much crashing in the san` an` filling our socks, so we all preferred to go down just sitting on the board holding onto the sides. You still go superfast, and the kids wanted to go over and over again.”
You don’t have to be a daredevil to be wowed by these monumental mounds of sand. Set aside a day to climb 742-foot Hidden Dune, the tallest dune in North America, or relax at Medano Creek, where kids can splash in the water and build sandcastles at Colorado’s “natural beach.”
FOLLOW THE CIVIL RIGHTS TRAIL
Stand in the pulpit where Dr. Mar
tin Luther King Jr. first preache`; reflect on Rosa Parks’ bravery in
refusing to give up her seat on a bus; and walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where voting rights marchers were violently attacked by police, bringing America’s civil rights movement to the attention of the world. These are just a few of the stops along Alabama’s part of the U.S. Civil Rights Trail.
Other highlights include the Brown Chapel AME Church, where protesters prepared for the 1965 march to Montgomery, Ala.; the historic 16th Street Baptist Church, site of the KKK bombing that killed four girls in one of the movement’s deadliest incidents; and the
Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and Parsonage,
where King first preache` an`
lived with his family before moving to Atlanta.
Can’t choose whether to visit Northern or Southern California? Split the difference and head for the Central Coast, where you’ll
fin` a string of classic beach towns, complete with fishing
piers, boardwalks, crab shacks and palm-lined promenades perfect for strolling or pedaling. The road connecting them all?
That’s the Pacific Coast High
way (the PCH) through Big Sur,
which winds along the tops of cliffs so sheer they’ve slid out the past two winters. The road just reopened in April.
Start your trip in Santa Barbara, with its red clay roofs and bougainvillea-draped stucco
walls, an` finish it in Monterey,
keeping an eye out for whales and dolphins in the famous bay. Stop along at Pismo Beach for its lively surf-town vibe, San Luis Obispo for its farm-to-table food scene and up-and-coming wine country, and serene Cambria, where Moonstone Beach offers the perfect white-sand setting for sunset watching.
At the Piedras Blancas Rookery, just northwest of San Simeon and its legendary Hearst Castle, elephant seals put on a show with their ungainly antics, while in Big Sur, McWay Falls and the Bixby Bridge provide can’t-miss photo ops.