Gator Lake

#5 on the Alabama Bucket List.... See an alligator in the wild - Check

We stopped at Gator Lake this weekend on our way home from the beach.  We made it about three feet and Dean (our fearless leader) saw this sign...

Now Dean has been known to have some irrational fears in the past (sharks will never be in the Pine View Reservoir, babe) but I think most of you reading this will agree that a "Self Guided Nature Trail" is not the thing you want to hear in the same sentence as alligators.  We decided to press forward, past the signs warning us not to feed the alligators (I kid you not) and were pleasantly surprised by the mac-daddy of all gators.  Ten feet long and not six feet from the trail we were standing on.

Just before we walked back some crazy man decided to climb this tree so he could get a better picture.  His rationale was that alligators don't climb trees... an alligator doesn't need to climb if it's only three feet off the ground, buddy. Dean's wise advice to Ben and Alan was, "you only have to be faster than one other person."

We saw some lovely deer as we were leaving.  

Dean fondly named them Appetizer, Main Course and Dessert.

The Spanish Moss only grows in Florida, not Alabama.  I know it's a parasite, 

but it looks so elegant

My favorite picture of the day.  They really do camouflage themselves well.  We have a favorite song on a Tom Chapin cd about a cute little girl with an alligator under her bed.  It happened to be the very next song we listened to on the way home.  "Go to sleep now, Susy, you know it isn't true. What would an alligator be doing under you? Alligators live in ponds, they don't sleep under beds.  

Go to sleep now Susy, and rest your little head."  

I can't be sure, but I swear I saw Dean checking under his side 

before he turned the lights out.