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 f...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Mary Davis Home - Part 2

None of these pictures were taken by me,  they came right from the MDH website.  I am posting these so that friends who have never seen inside where I worked can gain access.  After 27 years I have many stories, tales and acquaintances.  But, I wouldn't know how to express them appropriately in a few paragraphs.  I enjoyed 98% of my stay there and hope I made a difference in the lives of a fraction of the kids who entered.  The original MDH at this site was just the front part.  The large red-roofed area in back was added on in the 90's. This is the Jerry Carlton library.  It was unofficially named after one of the counselors who truly loved the place.   He passed away around 2002, I think.  Mr. Farber looks like he is explaining a few things to a client. The classroom. Activity area with the gym behind the windows. Another shot of the classroom. It was a little different area to teach since we had 2 classes and 2 teachers i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Statuary In North Straub Park

The Vinoy is not the only park in town.  The place is fairly littered with them, and almost all, except Bum Paradise, are pretty nice.  This is North Straub and they have some old pieces in that seem to have suffered from time and perhaps human folly.     These and some 30 other statues were imported from Italy by local developer C. Perry Snell to help beautify the city.  Mr. Snell was in real estate and during the depression he went on a European shopping trip to collect items for the city.  He obtained these from Italy and installed them in this park even after the bottom fell in the markets.  He fulfilled his obligations at great personal loss to his own company and wealth.  Halso continued to pay his staff during those tough times.  He developed many areas in the city, Vinoy, Snell Isle, Crescent Lake and the beach area down around Fort DeSoto.  He lived from 1869 until 1949 and then buried in Kentucky.  I wo...
Post a Comment
Read more