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Joe Steinbring

Colorado

Two self-serve gas pumps on a gravel lot, with pale dunes and mountains behind in evening light.
Gas pumps near the park entrance, with the dunes piled against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.2014 · Photograph by Joe Steinbring
Static offline map showing Colorado in the United States with a location pin.

In June 2014, my family and I took a trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park, in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, where the tallest sand dunes in North America pile up against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It was windy out on the sand. Down the road in Mosca, we stopped at Colorado Gators, an alligator farm kept warm by geothermal water in the middle of the high desert, which is about the last thing you expect to find there.

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  • My sisters on windblown sand below forested mountains, with my Dad in a wheelchair in front.

    My sisters and my Dad on a windy afternoon on the sand below the dunes.

    2014 · Photograph by Joe Steinbring

  • A hand-painted yellow sign on a wire fence: “Beware pickpockets & loose gators.”

    A warning at Colorado Gators, an alligator farm in Mosca.

    2014 · Photograph by Joe Steinbring

  • My Dad smiling, leaning on a wooden walking stick in tall golden grass, pines and hills behind.

    My Dad the next morning, in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

    2014 · Photograph by Joe Steinbring

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