New Mexico Trip - June 2026

 In June we spent some time with friends at their Cabin in Cloudcroft, New Mexico.  It was very hot in the desert, but nice and cool up at the cabin above 8k ft.  We did some hiking around the area, played games and visited two national parks.  

White Sand National Park was interesting and fun for the kids to go sledding in summer.  Apparently, the sand is made of gypsum, the stuff that's used to make drywall.  We played around until the heat was too intense, then had a nice lunch in Alamogordo to celebrate Shyll's b-day.

If you've never had a chance to visit Carlsbad caverns, you should add it to your bucket list.  I was amazed at how you go down, down, down and keep going down.  This series of caves goes on for miles.  A legitimate hike that's all underground was a fun way to explore while avoiding the heat.  There's even a restaurant/gift shop down in the caves.  

We did some shooting and also visited the space museum.  That area is famous for having some of the best night sky viewing in the country.

Fiery Badlands - Prints available

 

Our big vacation this summer wasn't our usual backpack into the Rockies, but a family trip to visit Nathan and Kameryn and the cousins in Pine Haven.  We just hung out the first couple days and the kids got to play their Playstation VR, then we went for some fun in Rapid City to a water park and Reptile Gardens.  We did do a couple photography outings a couple of evenings.  KD and I spent an evening at Devil's Tower to shoot the sunset and some night sky photos.  She was super patient waiting for dark to come that night waiting for the milky way to show.  Another night we were able to get out to Badlands National Park, which I didn't even know exhisted until we were up there in the hotel and looking at some pamphlets.  I'm glad we checked that one out.  It was such a hidden gem out in the middle of nowhere!

Devil's Tower Milky Way - Prints available

Return to the Sand Dunes - Spring 2023

 The Great Sand Dunes are a special place.  It's a super unique national park that is in the middle of nowhere southern Colorado.  360 Sangre de Cristo mountain views and hundreds of miles of sand with no trails.  To get to the dunes, we started at the parking area and walked across Mediano Creek, which was cold on the first day and warm on the second day based on whether or not the sun was out.  

The kids have been to the dunes before, but Kolby was only a toddler and KD didn't even remember the experience being a 3 year old.   This time, we drove down there and didn't tell our kids that our family friends were going to meet us there.  It was a fun surprise when they showed up to our camping spot the first night.  The look on their face when they saw them was priceless.  We had a great time with the Coffins as we stayed at our parents "cabin" in the Spanish Peaks area the first night and then rented a cabin near the dunes on the second night. The kids (and adults) got to play in the creek and, believe it or not, all of the older kids made it to the top of High Dune, which was not an easy task!  The wind up there was intense.

Mediano Creek

 

Sunset on the Dunes