Leapin' lizards! Gators in Texas!

Today we took advantage of sunny, brisk conditions and headed for the great outdoors at Brazos Bend State Park, about an hour south of us in Needville. We were attracted to the park's description in our Houston hiking book, which described its numerous alligator habitants. Alligators in Texas? Really? RE-ally? Driving there along "farm-to-market" roads, past ranches and longhorn cattle, I was dubious. But, soon after arriving, a brief walk (down a short pier -- phew!) led us to 8 alligators!



Numerous signs implored us to be on our best, most cautious behavior. I was alarmed at the number of people who brought along their dogs and/or small children. But according to the visitor's center, there have yet to be any alligator-related fatalities in the state of Texas.



"Wild alligators are smart. They did better than you on the SAT!"

We began a running tally of the number of gators we saw as we walked the 1-mile-long trail around this lake. Almost 2 dozen by the time we reached that observation tower in the distance!

Here is a view of the lake from the observation tower...

Garrett has a great eye for gators. He always sees them first! I think it's a sixth sense he has. We suspect that the alligator is his "spirit animal." Maybe my spirit animal and I need to get our eyes checked.



I named this fella (on the left) "Bubba." He was at least 8 feet long and very, very close to us!





All in all, after spending a couple hours at the park, we spotted THIRTY-SEVEN alligators! This is a personal record. I think if the two of us added up all of the gators we have seen in our lifetimes, we might get this number... but outside of our trip to Gatorland, this was the greatest density of gators we've experienced! Sorry, Florida! Maybe we'll have to make a special trip to the Everglades this summer to make things right.