Gatorland

Our next big trip was to Gatorland, also in Orlando.  It is a rescue & breeding park for alligators, crocodiles, snakes, exotic birds & turtles.  I'm not sure anyone knows exactly how many alligators they have, but it seemed like 1,000 or more.  They came in all different sizes from the tiny ones to 13 foot long ones.  They even had 4 albino alligators.  Again, the park was not very crowded, & we got to see everything up close.  When we first walked in, Gabe wanted out of the stroller so he could look at the "dinosaurs".  He had a great time going from fence to fence to see the different piles of alligators hanging out in the sun.  We taught him to say "gator" instead, & he was captivated.

After watching an unsuccessful attempt to get the gators to jump (they said it was too cold at 10 am....68 degree weather), we headed to see the giant tortoises.  We went into their pen to feed them sweet potato on a stick, & Gabe wanted to do it all by himself.  There was really only one moment when I thought he might get his finger bitten off, but Grandma was there to help.  I'm sure the tortoise was a little frustrated with us as Gabe tried his hardest to hold his stick steady & shove the potato in his mouth.  We then got them up & walking so we could pet them.

Gabe was also very excited about the snakes.  He likes to make the "SSSSSS" sound & got to look at several of them up close.  He even got to pet a snake (well he tried to pinch it) & a baby gator.  He really wanted to touch a tarantula, but I was worried the tarantula would not survive the experience.  :)  We watched a gator wrestling show & got to sit on the back of the gator together.  Gabe was very excited about this & was not pleased that he had to wait in line to touch the big gator.

After a quick lunch including some gator nuggets, we fed some hotdogs to a few of the big gators & got to ride on the small train around the park.  Gabe had been talking about this train every time he saw or heard it. But, he was tired & within the first 5 minutes he fell asleep on my lap.  We walked around a little after transferring him to his stroller, & he woke up just in time to help me eat my ice cream before heading back to the condo.