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Published: July 23rd 2011
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Yes, indeed, there are alligators in Colorado, but we'll get to that later. We spent a lazy morning (for us) at Colorado Springs KOA, doing a little cleaning (the boys), eating breakfast, and pretending to be Indiana Jones and his dad at the playground. A short drive later, we arrived at Alamosa KOA, a much smaller place with a much better view. (At the previous, there was a family about 5 sites away who did nothing but stare at us. We get looks, but this was a bit beyond normal.)
After dropping the camper, we headed off to Great Sand Dunes National Park. We've seen lots of sand this trip, but nothing quite like this. These are the tallest in North America; this is the only place where you can see both sand dunes and mountains. The park encompasses alpine and sub-alpine regions, as well as the sand (dunefield, sand sheet/grassland, sabkha), montane forest, and stream. There's no water in the stream right now, nor apparently in the lake state park nearby due to drought, which is very strange coming from Minnesota where we've had a flood warning for months. I forgot decent shoes and it was a bit hot,
Unedited
Doesn't this look fake? Best Buy gave us the Mac edition at the same time that we purchased a Windows-based laptop, so I still don't have photo-editing capability. I couldn't do this even if I tried anyway. so we played around just a little bit on the edge of the dunes and decided to reserve a hike up High Dune for another visit.
The highlight of the day was definitely our visit to Colorado Gators, located in Mosca, northwest of Alamosa. It started as a tilapia farm, but gators were brought in in the late 1990's as garbage collectors. They successfully breed their own gators, as well as take in pets from what can only be pretty dumb people. They also take in other reptiles, such as snakes, tortoises, frogs, etcetera. They have a reticulated python named Bonnie, a former pet in Colorado Springs, who tries to kill them each time they go in her cage. They have a rating system for pet appropriateness. Garter snakes, leopard geckos, and white-lipped tree frogs were the only ones I noticed to get a great rating.
There are 400 gators or so in the park, along with the other creatures. The boys had a fabulous time feeding them, watching them, etcetera. They walked around trying to see which ones would be the most active. Jeff wanted to get a nice big open mouth photo, but the gators just
don't have to work that hard to get food. Morris, a 50-year-old movie star who is listed as destroying an entire set on the TV show Coach, didn't move at all, even for the food nugget 3" in front of his face. Elvis, a 25-year-old, was a bit more active, but the smaller ones seemed to do better. As I said, the boys had a blast. Liam was so excited to tell Grandma all about it by phone.
The boys are swimming now, while I enjoy the best connectivity we've had so far. They should be getting tired after a full, very yummy meal at True Grits Steakhouse, where the decor is all John Wayne, as are the menu items.
- - - - -
We learned that alligators can survive freezing. They have been found here in the winter, and once thawed, will move into the warm water.
We forgot that Carmex does not do well in a closed up camper in high heat.
Conversation of the Day (while discussing honey-roasted peanuts):
C - They're coated with sugar.
J - No, they're probably covered in salt.
L - No, they're not. If they were,
Busy Bees
at Great Sand Dunes how would they be so sweet?
J - They're honey-roasted, which means they are covered with honey while roasted. That's why they taste sweet, right? Is honey sweet?
C - Yeah.
J - Just like Mom, since she's my honey, right?
C - Mama is lovely.
Miles: 258
High Temperature: 140, the sand at Great Sand Dunes National Park
Low Temperature: 73, in Fountain CO
Geocaches Found: 13
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Snowhawg
Bob Kribs
Very Nice Pictures
Been to Colorado several times, but never to the Great Dunes. Very cool, and so are the pictures.