Sand Dunes!!!

The second happiest place on earth, according to my cousin Jamie.

I agree.

In southern Utah, there's a place called Little Sahara. Sahara as in the huge desert in upper Africa. It's hot. Very hot. But it's also the best place to go four wheeling.

My alarm went off at 5:53. (My clock is eight minutes fast so it would really be 5:45). I'd slept in my clothes so I wouldn't have to get dressed in the morning. Upstairs my family waited for me. We threw the last minute things into the back of the car and started on our one-and-a-half hour trip to the dunes.

We started our car ride routine. Get in the car, eat breakfast, stare out the window, maybe sleep, and then watch a movie.

We passed the town of Eureka, which meant we were almost there. Driving over a railway, I spotted the trees.

Trees you say? Yes, there are trees, and lots of them! But they look very different from our trees.

See what I mean. Different. Here's a close up view because the above picture is a wee bit misleading (because the trees aren't that green):

That's what they look like. Pay no attention to the rock/sand formations in the back. There's none of that at the sand dunes. 

As we drove into our favorite campground, our car got stuck. There had not been any recent rainfall in the area so the sand was very loose and shifty. The tires were so low in the ground that the front of our car touched the ground. It took a while to get it out, but we finally moved it out of the pit.

My aunt came with her four-wheel drive truck and made it over the pit without any trouble. Nothing to worry about, right? Wrong.

My cousins came with their truck and drove over the pit. Guess what! They got stuck. Even with their fancy shmancy four-wheel drive truck (yes, they had one too) they couldn't make it. 

It took forever to dig them out, but we finally did it. After that, we all went on our four-wheelers and drove around. I took my little bro on our first ride. After digging out two cars, I was anxious to get going. We drove into the trees, which is my favorite place to go because it exercises your brain. You have to make last second decisions of where to drive your four-wheeler because there are lots of twists and turns. 

After taking many rides (yeah, I hogged the four wheeler), I came into camp and grabbed a doughnut (second breakfast!). It was delicious.

My little cousin Savannah wanted me to play with her on the sand dunes. There's a place where kids can go to play on the sand dunes. It's marked off so four-wheelers and motorbikes can't ride in. We chose a shady spot and started to dig. 

Soon she made up a game (as little kids always do). We were the queens of a place called shloppen dople doo, and we were in charge of all the birthday parties. She gathered eight buckets to use to make her cakes and cupcakes. I dug a hole. She said I could give it to her as a present on her "birthday".

Using this shovel, and this shovel only, I dug a hole that went up to her shoulders. The shovel looked like this:

Very small, I know. The hole was this deep:

To give you a better idea of how deep it was, my little brother chose to hop in to show you all.

And he's tall for his age.

After my little play date, I went back to have lunch. We ate turkey wraps. Mine tasted like a sandwich. By that time, it was one in the afternoon. We were all tired from the day. It was too hot to play on the dunes without getting your feet burned. I decided I would go take my nap. Every time I go to the dunes, I take a nap. Even when I don't feel tired, I always end up falling asleep. 

I ended up taking a three-hour nap. What can I say? I was tired.

When everyone was up, we drove around on our four-wheelers again, waiting until it was nighttime. I took my last four-wheeler ride of the day. 

Yeah. I look cool.

After eating a dinner of brats (pronounced brawts), which are hot dogs with cheese inside, the sun had finally gone down. Time for nighttime dunes!

The best time to be at the sand dunes is night. It's when all the animals come out of hiding and the sand has cooled off so it doesn't burn your feet.

One thing that is really cool about the dunes is the rippled designs the wind creates. It looks like an ocean made of sand. Here's a picture to show you what I mean:

We played kick the can and tag until it was time to go.

Piling (pile with an ing on the end) into the car, we settled down to watch the rest of the movie. By the end, everyone was asleep except my dad, my little sister, and me. I wanted to watch How to Train Your Dragon and my little sister was too tired to argue. I was happily snuggled in the car watching my favorite movie. 

A perfect end to a perfect day.