GATORLAND
Every time I drive/walk/run or even see a body of water (any
body of water, including the drain ditches on the sides of the road) I scan for
alligators. About two weeks after moving here, we went for an outing to the
mall. As we were passing one of the retention ponds in the parking lot, Bill
pointed out a six-foot gator skimming along the surface. I didn’t realize that
they could be at the mall too! Since that day, I always look, hoping to see
one. Maybe I haven’t trained my eyes to see them well, but I have yet to spot
my own gator.
Well, I got tired of waiting and took matters into my own
hands. At the Village we have tickets for a little place called Gatorland.
Every day I passed the sign going to work and I pretty much decided instantly
that I had to make a day of it. Our fabulous intern was sporting a Gatorland
mug one day and I knew I could recruit her as my partner in crime.
We arrived right as it opened (me scoring the Florida
resident discount, by the way). I quickly scanned the show schedule and planned
out our visit. I mean, not to sound like a giant dork, but it was everything I
could have dreamed of. After taking a gander at the pond of big gators, we made
our way to the first show of the day, Close Encounters. I got picked to take
secret box. I acted coy but inside I was jumping for joy, be an alligator, be an alligator. Friends, I must add a side note
in here, I have interacted with alligators quite a bit in the past, so I myself
am not sure why this is such a thing for me. Well, they ended up taking my box
back because apparently it had a rattlesnake in there. BUT, at the end of the
show, they had me come up and be one of the people that got to hold the giant
snake. He asked me heads or tails… I picked heads!
We continued our way down
the list of shows and of course visited the giftshop. We made our rounds throughout
the land of gators and even came across a rather wide croc that I could sympathize
with. All in all, it was a pretty “country” excursion. I really liked it! But,
it still is not the same as seeing one in real life out in the open. Without a
fence between us or its mouth taped. So, I will continue to scan the water,
hoping to find my Florida gator
Every time I drive/walk/run or even see a body of water (any
body of water, including the drain ditches on the sides of the road) I scan for
alligators. About two weeks after moving here, we went for an outing to the
mall. As we were passing one of the retention ponds in the parking lot, Bill
pointed out a six-foot gator skimming along the surface. I didn’t realize that
they could be at the mall too! Since that day, I always look, hoping to see
one. Maybe I haven’t trained my eyes to see them well, but I have yet to spot
my own gator.
We arrived right as it opened (me scoring the Florida
resident discount, by the way). I quickly scanned the show schedule and planned
out our visit. I mean, not to sound like a giant dork, but it was everything I
could have dreamed of. After taking a gander at the pond of big gators, we made
our way to the first show of the day, Close Encounters. I got picked to take
secret box. I acted coy but inside I was jumping for joy, be an alligator, be an alligator. Friends, I must add a side note
in here, I have interacted with alligators quite a bit in the past, so I myself
am not sure why this is such a thing for me. Well, they ended up taking my box
back because apparently it had a rattlesnake in there. BUT, at the end of the
show, they had me come up and be one of the people that got to hold the giant
snake. He asked me heads or tails… I picked heads!
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