By Hailey Shah
As the second Block of the year comes to a close, Colorado College students aren’t just stressing about their upcoming finals, but also the age-old question: what they’re going to do for Block Break. Perhaps it is backpacking through some remote wilderness, driving ten hours to the Tetons or booking a flight someplace. Whatever the trip is, there is pressure for it to be worthwhile and classically “CC.”
This past Block Break, while some of my friends were heading to the Tetons, the rest of us decided to make good use of the break to explore destinations close enough to day-trip. We wanted to spend quality time together and explore classic Colorado locations without an overnight stay.
We set a three-day itinerary that included the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, the Castle Rock outlets and a swimming hole called Paradise Cove. The farthest destination was the Sand Dunes, but even then, it was no more than a three-hour drive.
On Thursday, we all got up bright and early at 5:45 a.m. to leave by 6:30 a.m. Our goal was for us to reach the dunes early so we could decide how to spend our day at the dunes and in the surrounding city of Alamosa, Colo. Unfortunately, we did not take the weather into account. The dunes are quite windy normally and especially so on this day. The temperature dropped into the 40s with no sun and high gusts racked the dunes. The rental shops were not renting any sand boards on sleds because it had rained the night before and the sand wasn’t suitable for either activity. Still, we decided to go on and make the best of the situation.
Upon entering the park, we learned that we were there on Constitution Day and, as such, entry was free for any U.S. resident — a perk that made our experience more enjoyable. Although it was cold and we were being pelted with quite a bit of sand, courtesy of the high wind, we stayed for roughly two hours and, when we weren’t getting sand in our eyes, had lots of fun.
With a stop made on the drive back for food at a little pizza shop called Gub Gub’s, we made it back before 4 p.m. and had plenty of time to shower, rest and eat before we all reconvened in the evening for games and general tomfoolery.
Friday started slower as all we had planned was driving up to the Castle Rock Outlets, walking around and returning when we felt like it. The day passed in a blur of stores, shopping and laughing with each other, and only when our feet and backs hurt and our social battery was drained did we make the roughly 45-minute drive back to campus. Dinner was had, rest was taken and then once again, we all reconvened for more late-night pajama activities and quality time on couches with a movie in the background.
The next day we woke up ready to swim. We packed our towels and lunches, put on some flip-flops and set out to drive an hour to Paradise Cove, also known as Guffey Gorge. And putting in “Paradise Cove” rather than “Guffey Gorge” turned out to be our fatal mistake. After driving an hour north, our maps told us we had arrived at our destination. Where was said destination? A road in the middle of nowhere, Morrison, Colo. Upon some panicked investigation, we quickly realized that instead of Paradise Cove (the swimming hole), we drove to Paradise Cove (a random pin someone had dropped and named Paradise Cove). We were now two hours away from our originally planned destination. Amid the panic, my friend recalled a sandy beach we had passed just a few minutes ago with plenty of people on it. A couple of quick Google searches led us to our new adventure: Soda Lake Beach. We spent the day swimming and tanning on the beach in Lakewood and despite our little mishap, we had a lot of fun spending time together.
We drove back and, once again, got together that night for our final night of silliness. During our Block Break, we were able to spend much quality time together and do fun activities we otherwise might not have been able to do during the block. Although we did not go on a three-day backpacking trip through the Rockies, we spent invaluable time with each other. Not everything went according to plan, but we pivoted when we had to and made the most of the days. Block Break is less about where you spend it and more about who you spend it with.