Dunes, Arizona, Vegas, and LA

We left Matt and Jacqueline on Saturday morning and drove to Great Sand Dunes Nat'l park along CO160 in southern Colorado. we camped in the park.. the wind picked up in the night and blew our tent around like crazy. Probably would have blown our tent over if we hadn't been weighing it down. (pics to follow)
After that, we drove through CO and got stuck in a HUGE dust storm all the way from Cortez, CO to Kayenta, AZ. Navajo Land is NOT prime real estate. We stayed the night in a motel run by Navajo in Tuba City.
We saw the Grand Canyon the next day, it's so unreal. It all used to be underwater, but as the Rockies rose out of the sea, the land in AZ rose too, and the river (whose flow was estimated to be exponentially stronger than it is today) cut through to the coast, carving out the Grand Canyon on its way as sediment eroded the sandstone and the sides of the canyon collapsed. We would have camped the night there, but it was supposed to get down to 19F, so we drove to Flagstaff, AZ, a hip little town. Had some dank sushi nomnoms.
Drove to Vegas the next day and Dean got his ticket cherry popped on Route 66. Cop was cool and marked his speed as lower, so it's a $100 ticket.
Stayed with Dean's Cousin Lauren in Vegas and saw a couple Casinos. The Wynn and the Encore are incredible. I failed at slots. I'm not much of a gambler. Had a really delicious cocktail, though.
After Vegas, we drove to Long Beach. Hung out at Huntington beach, ate some delicious food with Zoe, and went to a house party in LA. There was a pinata full of condoms and a really diverse crowd. Everyone kept saying I look like Jack Sparrow. I guess dreads aren't very common in LA. Hippies tend to stay away? We met these Brits from this band, Purple Melon, and one of the guys kept touching my hair. Too much tequila that night. Food has been amazing and I don't want to leave, bonfire tonight and then Zoe leaves for Virginia tomorrow and we go to Venice Beach then camp at Leo Carrillo. San Fran by Friday....