That's right. She bagged a 13 foot, 1025 pound alligator!
That thing is massive. Knowing there were lizards that big roaming around in the wild out there made me very apprehensive about visiting. I’ve been fearing for Leslie and Marty’s safety the whole time they've been there, and I literally had dreams that I was eaten by alligators the week before the trip. It was pretty terrifying. I was certain I was going to have an alligator encounter sometime on the trip.
Well, my worst fears were realized, and Sunday morning, I came face to face with one of the critters.
He was pretty creepy and kept winking at me, which made me all the more leary of him.
Fortunately, he lived in the zoo, and I was perfectly safe, which was lucky for me, as I wasn’t allowed to carry my industrial strength pepper spray on the airplane. (It really works on alligators. Look it up if you don’t believe me.)
Not all of the animals were as creepy as alligators. There were tons of cardinals, which I love. Also, I didn't get a picture of one, but mockingbirds abound. They do really good impressions of car alarms and crying babies. Fun.
Tiny lizards run around, too. They are cute and don't frighten me like their larger alligator cousins.
We saw lots and lots of tadpoles...
And one tiny green frog.
This critter is really rare. The elusive Johnna raccoon.
In addition to alligators, I was kind of dreading sharing space with the giant palmetto bugs. I actually only saw two the whole week I was there, so no pictures of them. But I did get some neat pictures of these blue dragonflies.
Palmetto bugs aren't the only big insects. The praying mantis grows pretty large there, too.
Finally, we saw lots of turtles sunning themselves. If you look closely, there are two on the rocks in the foreground of this picture, and four on the tiny rock in the middle on the right side.
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