Vacation Part 3: Alligator Hunting

There was a little pond near our beach house called "Alligator Lake". Paul, Bruce, Lori and I went with Greta to look for alligators one morning. We didn't see any, but we had fun imagining what might be hidden under all those lilly pads. I don't really remember this view of Florida from my vacations as a child. I never thought of it as swampy since I was only interested in the beach. Paul and I talked often on this trip about how densely the trees and bushes grew, and it was hard not to ponder the swamp-like nature of Florida when listening to the cacophony of treefrog songs each night. Greta did finally see a Florida gator: in Steve and Heather's back yard! Steve said not to worry, though, they just go under the water when they see you coming. This was after Heather wanted us to put our shoes on while outside since she's recently killed pygmie rattle snakes on her front sidewalk. Yikes. I believe the beach is the still the best part of Florida.