Tonight At The Park. WARNING: Animal Photos.

[Virgo10]

Tonight we took a ride to Saddle Creek State Park. It's located in Lakeland, about 30 minutes from my house. I have to confess, I thought all this chatter about alligators was wildly overstated. Here I've visited Florida many times and have lived here nearly 18 months and I've never once seen a gator. You can see where this is going so I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Just one small part of this large and tropical park.

Pretty things are everywhere.

We had stopped at several of the many lakes and then... there it was!!

He got closer!

And even CLOSER!!!!!

But that was it. He was probably within 15 feet of me before he took off. Close enough, thank you very much.

Just before we left 50 or so wood storks came in to roost in the trees for the night. Most impressive!

Pretty place but leave the bathing suits at home.

 

[diznygirl]

I can't believe that with all the Florida wild-life that you HAVE seen, that you haven't seen a gator yet. We've seen plenty of gators, but no snakes, so I guess that evens things out!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Very cool!

 

[SadieDog]

Thanks for sharing your pictures. I really enjoyed them. Being from Maine it seems really odd to me to go out on the lake and see gators. I was in a canoe tonight and we had a bald eagle land in a nearby tree. We were also very close to a pair of loons. I could see their red eyes. Then on the way home we saw a young deer in a field. Hey and you are a fellow Red Sox fan!

 

[momx3boys]

Wow, that is cool!! Great pictures!!

 

[dustysky]

why does it say warning, are animal pics a no-no??

 

[Feralpeg]

why does it say warning, are animal pics a no-no??

Some folks don't like looking at animals like gators.

Very neat picture. I've lived in Florida two years and I've only seen one alligator. It was crawling out of a ditch filled with water along CR535 just after hurricane Frances. That's fine by me!

 

[redshoes]

It looks so pretty in that spot.

 

[momrek06]

Those photos are awesome. Thanks for sharing. DH & I did the "airboat ride" in the Everglades last year and the alligators came right up to the boat...that was so wicked cool!!!

 

[Virgo10]

I can't believe that with all the Florida wild-life that you HAVE seen, that you haven't seen a gator yet. We've seen plenty of gators, but no snakes, so I guess that evens things out!!

I have never, ever seen a live Armadillo. Quite a few road kill ones but a live one? Nope.

 

[AMClvsMKY]

I have never, ever seen a live Armadillo. Quite a few road kill ones but a live one? Nope.

I haven't either!! Do they only come out at night? They aren't out then when I am driving back to work the next morning they are there along the side of the road. We have lived in Florida now for 4 years.

 

[MsDisney23]

I would have been sneaking away very softly......

 

[golfgal]

We were in Marco Island a few years ago and were golfing one day. One of the guys in our group hit a shot that went a little off target, but not bad. From a distance it looked like it ended up in some rocks but when we got to the ball, it was in the middle of about 100 small alligators sunning themselves . We gave him a free drop!

Same trip, different day, different golf course, we were watching this bird swim in the lake waiting to hit our next shot and all of the sudden a very large head sticks up out of the water and, bye, bye bird!

Last year when we went to Disney we spent several days in Cocoa Beach/Kennedy Space center. The kids got a huge kick out of seeing all the 'gators' there.

 

[bettyann29]

Just curious with all the gators in Florida, do you ever hear of any of them hurting people??

 

[Virgo10]

Just curious with all the gators in Florida, do you ever hear of any of them hurting people??

Holy Cow... YES! Several people got eaten in the past few months.

Death by Alligator

It was a bad Spring in Florida for gator encounters. Needless to say I was keeping a very close eye on the gator in those photos.

 

[lillygator]

I can't believe you've never seen one!!

Up in Gainesville - Lake Alice, we used to go at night - there is a small bridge by the edge of the water....gators used to "swarm" right under that bridge - I'm not talking one or two but it seemed the whole lake of gators would have a party there.....it was scary and wildy neat at the same time....

 

[3princesses4us]

That is neat! I got a picture like that while visiting a Myrtle Beach shopping area once.

 

[bettyann29]

Holy Cow... YES! Several people got eaten in the past few months.

Death by Alligator

It was a bad Spring in Florida for gator encounters. Needless to say I was keeping a very close eye on the gator in those photos.

Yikes.. I guess being here in Texas we dont hear of those things happening.. at least I havent..

 

[momrek06]

Holy Cow... YES! Several people got eaten in the past few months.

Death by Alligator

It was a bad Spring in Florida for gator encounters. Needless to say I was keeping a very close eye on the gator in those photos.

YIKES is right!!! No thanks. After seeing those fellows in the Everglades...would not want to come anywhere in contact with them unless I was able to run a million miles per hour