For my birthday this year I asked for a vacation. Now that I own one or more of practically every piece of camera gear made by Canon, there was nothing left on my wish list. Except, of course, some time away from my computer doing something fun with my family. So we road tripped it to Southern Colorado.
Day one we drove to Alamosa, Colorado, and played on the sand dunes. Wow. I’d been there before, but didn’t remember them being this fun (maybe because the last time I went I was a stubborn teenager).
To get to the dunes we had to cross through this: 
Does James’ expression give you a clue as to the waters’ temperature???
Jim and I brought the pocket wizards and played around with some off-camera lighting.
The next day we went up the road to Hooper, Colorado, where we hung out at the Alligator Farm for most of the afternoon. Tons of fun.
I’m glad Jim was smart enough to put the 70-200 mm lens on his camera. I had the 35 mm on mine, so midway through, when I realized the 70-200 was the PERFECT lens of choice, I switched him. :)
Jim snapped this one. I love it. 
When we entered the farm they gave us a bucket of alligator food, which Colin quite enjoyed throwing to the alligators.
And the alligators equally enjoyed Colin tossing them food every other second.
The night before we slept at a motel in Alamosa. All went well, until 2 am when Colin woke up. He started wandering around the room looking around for things to play with…the Bible in the desk drawer, the hotel coffee maker on the side table, our bag full of camera gear, etc. etc. etc. We tried and tried to get him to lay back down and go to sleep, but NOTHING worked, and obviously, made it impossible for the rest of us to sleep. Finally around 5:30 am he layed back down and went to sleep. I kind of felt like throwing him to the gators. Good thing there was a sign up warning against it.
I think this is the BEST photo of an alligator I’ve EVER taken!! :)
They also had a room full of other interesting animals, including an alligator that we got to hold, and a couple of big tortoises munching on some food.
Jim and James went fishing earlier in the day.
Maybe he thought if he backed up far enough he’d catch something???
Meanwhile Colin did what he enjoys most…finding rocks and throwing them into the water:
See Colin’s road face? That’s why we chose to stick to Colorado. 
The last day we went to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. 
Good times. If you live in Colorado and are looking for a fun three-day weekend road trip, this is it!
Looks like fun and almost makes me want to have kids to go on cool trips with! I love the road face! I think I remember having one of those up until I was a teenager…probably when daddy would pull over on the side of the road to take pictures.
What a fun trip! I had no idea there was an aligator farm in CO. Who’da thunk. I enjoyed seeing your vacation through your camera lense. Very cool and Happy Birthday.
Angie! I check your blog from time to time because I still love looking at your photos. I especially love THESE! Your family is adorable and these photos are magnificent. We have something in common: I went to the Sand Dunes when I was a belligerent teenager with my parents as well :-) Oh how things change when you have your own kids… I can’t wait to take my kids there now after seeing your pictures. Maybe when Duncan starts walking… any day now, we hope! Take Care!
ang – i’m glad you had a great birthday! you deserve it! your family is so adorable, i will never get sick of those pics. the sand dune ones are amazing!
Hi Angie,
I’ve never commented before, but I somehow found your website a few months ago. We just moved from Denver to NY in November, but we’ll be back in Denver in 3 years. I soooo want to go back to the Dunes. But I too remember going as a grumpy teenager. I grew up in C Springs with God’s Garden (as we like to call it) in my backyard. I miss our mountains! But NY is OK too. :)Anyway, it looks like we have kids about the same age, and we are both photographers, although my husband won’t touch the equipment (so jealous there). So just wanted to say hello, and glad you had a great weekend on the road! Looked like fun.
Wow… great photos! I esp. like the one of James and Colin walking together across the dunes. I disagree with you though about the greatest alligator photo ever… I like “covac9.jpg” with the teeth and happy little alligator “smile”. Best alligator photo ever. Oh yeah, and the “accident-free” sign is classic…
Wow- what great photos! It looks like you guys had a blast. I love the shot of you.Wow- they are just all so cool.
Nothing beats a great vacation than having great pictures to remember it with. You should take your boys to the Great Salt Lake when you come to Utah next month. Your sand dune photos reminded me of that, except its black sand. I think you would have a blast.
These photos make me want me have kids! It looks like a really fun trip.