Skip to main content

Alligator Walk

I saw in the paper about an Alligator Walk at the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve not too far from Shawshank, so I rustled up the troops and off we went. Smack dab in the heart of the city, this place has been around a long long time, and it used to be all by itself, but the people and the city have been encroaching on it for some time.  So, we arrive, plunk down our $3.00 entry fee and wait a while for the walking tour to begin.  Ms. Norah has joined us so she had some fun at the kiddie corner.



Alligators?  Ooooh, I wanna go.



The place is primeval.  All types of native flora and fauna (how many times can you put those words into a sentence?).  Before the walk we had to endure one of those soup line sermons instructing us about gators and letting kids wander off into the underbrush.  I think, as our guide prattles on in a mind-numbingly monotone,  Darwin was correct.


Gee, guess which one is our guide?  


The landscape truly is breathtaking.  







Our guide was fast, but he told us we could leave the pack and wander about on our own.  For the entrance fee you can stay all day.  He did have a couple bits of information that were fascinating.  One was the old one about picking up a baby bird would be abandoned by its mother.  He told us that was false, that birds have virtually no smell.  The other was to not allow your children to wander off and try to pet a gator.



A local sculptor used stainless steel to fashion this cormorant.  His work is spread all over the park.  Nice work, and pleasant to see these in various places. 


Some bird preening in the branches.


That is Lake Maggiore and that white building on the other shore is the Tropicana, home of the Tampa Bay Rays.



A cormorant sunning itself.






Uh, yeah, that's a gator all right.






Tomorrow we'll conclude our walk at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, and yes, to answer your question, we saw more gators and you'll see them.  You really didn't think I'd miss an opportunity to leave you anxious and thirsty for more, did you?  And not just a small mini or middling gator, a big gator...huge.  You'll see.      

Comments

  1. Neighbor TimFebruary 25, 2012 at 9:22 AM

    and yet once again you test my pateince? I want to see a GATOR!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless.  Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001.  It was one of those things that can generate crime:  two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job.   Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things.  Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold.   But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find.   His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead.  He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds.  He will be paralyzed for life.   None of this is pleasant.  Reading the facts of the murder and attempted murder are most unpleasant
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week.  Except for me.  I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers.  These pics need no words.  Why muddy the waters?   They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley.  The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter.  If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one.  But, please, no more.   
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida.  There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife.  In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride.  He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much.   He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A.   But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here.  If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying.  He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed.  Note the propeller
1 comment
Read more