Near Alamosa, CO and the dunes is a Colorado Gator farm. Yes it's strange but there are geothermal pools that keep the water at this farm warm year round and gives the gators a great environment to live in. The farmers originally were talapia fish farmers and decided to buy 100 baby gators to help dispose of the fish remains. The gators grew so well that the public wanted to see them. Now they have huge ones and many other things to see. We recommend a stop here, but make sure to get the 20% coupon from their website and get the brochure from a nearby hotel to get the free gator chow pellets to feed the gators. We were the first ones there that day and it never was busy there. One of the first things we did was we got to pet a gator and then they asked if one of us wanted to hold him for a picture. Brian volunteered to hold "Fluffy" as he's called. He still has all his fingers.
After seeing his dad do it, Marcus wanted his turn. He wasn't scared but the gator was heavy for him. The gator didn't move much, but he'd blink sometimes. Maybe he was sleepy or they gave him a calming drug.
After some convincing Lucas agreed to hold it too. Travis would have no part in even touching it.
Then Marcus and Lucas each got a certificate of bravery with Fluffy's teeth prints stamped onto the paper. They put the paper in his mouth and tapped on his nose and he clamped down on the paper. You might see the small (fortunately small) holes just past Marcus' name.
After seeing all the talapia fish growing (see the video below), we went outside where all the gators are. They moved slowly, or not at all, but some of them were hungry and you could get an idea of how strong they were.
Here's Brian temping the gators with Marcus.
They also had a canal where the kids could fish for free. It was midday so the fish weren't biting but it was still fun to cast a few times.
We stayed in a Comfort Inn for 3 days and 2 nights and the kids loved the heated indoor pool and the many yummy choices for breakfast.
Here's the video of the fish and the gators. The fish were quite amazing how many they had and how hungry they were.
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