We made it to Gatorland. We had a great experience. It started at the customer service line - who can say that? I brought my $2.50 coupon (you can obtain from the website). The cashier asked us if anyone was military. My Dad is a Vietnam Veteran. He got in free! Not only that but she really made a big fuss over my Dad. I think he really enjoyed it. When he came home from Vietnam, people were not very thankful, not at all like today. So many people were opposing the war - you still have to be supportive of your soldiers though. He still does not like peace signs today as they remind him of the protesters from his time. Aaaahhh, I digress.
It was very cool that they offered him free admission. Along with that, they also offered the family a 25% off discount. We were off to a great start!
We got to see big alligators, wow, some really HUGE alligators. We've seen big ones before, but others there were just massive. Then some teenage ones that were hanging out with some turtles. We watched a jumping contest between the alligators. They were feeding the alligators from above the water, it was impressive to see how far they would jump up to reach the food.
We saw a porcupine, a lot of turtles and a lot of snakes. It was a HOT day. There was a boardwalk which stretched all along a lake. At one point on the boardwalk, there was a tower. Very similiar to Okeefenokee Swamp. Okeefenokee is a National Wildlife Refuge. This is a feeding area for the allligators, you had the opportunity to see more here at Gatorland.
There were also an amazing amount of birds - all different types in the trees in the trees all along the lake. Some had new additions to their families and you could spot the Moms feeding the new babies. Fortunately I actually had our binoculars with us. I never remember to bring them with us on any of our cool nature adventures! This time, they were actually with us accidently and I remembered! So we pulled out both sets of binoculars.
Sometime later, we were walking along one of the paths and 2 employees of the park came by to feed the alligators. You can actually pay and feed the alligators 3 chickens. Now we were pretty darn close, we watched a couple feed the alligators. It was amazing to watch. Unbelievable how close the employees and the trusting people got to the alligators!
We finished up our afternoon at the splash area located inside the park. The kids had a blast and we all cooled down. We noted a pizza place when pulling out of the parking lot to leave. We pulled in and were treated to some delicious pizza right across the street from Gatorland.
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