Crocigators

Have you ever watched a youtube video of an alligator or crocodile attacking a large mammal?  It's... chilling.  On a completely unrelated note, we took our four small children on a day trip to the everglades.

Brian was almost drunk with anticipation of finding a wild crocodile.  Or alligator.  He wasn't picky.  Did you know that southern Florida is the only place where alligators and crocodiles live in the same ecosystem?

We were just about ready to hop on an air-boat to go traveling through the mosquito-ridden swamplands in search of one of the reptiles when TK protested his hunger.  Deciding I'd much rather feed him in the comfort of our car vs. on an air-boat traveling through the mosquito-ridden swamplands, we found a small, seemingly deserted dirt road off the beaten path and started driving down it while TK filled his belly. 

Not three minutes into our detoured excursion, we found this guy sitting on the side of the swamps.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!" Brian screamed as he screeched the car to a halt and threw it into park in the middle of the road.  He grabbed the camera and jumped out the driver's door to snap some proof of our find.  This next picture is not zoomed... he got this close...

The children wanted desperately to follow Brian, but I quenched that hope before the full sentence was even expressed and told them that being fifteen feet away inside the car was close enough.  And then I let them roll down their windows as a compromise.  The crocigator (?) seemed quite uninterested in his audience and eventually sauntered away.

"Did you SEE that?!" Brian said as he slid back into his seat.  I love seeing him excited like that...

Within a few minutes, dark clouds started rolling in and added a creepyness to our fun little jaunt through the everglades.  Soon, the rain started pelting down on our car.  And then the rain started sheeting down in buckets.  And then the lightning started flashing right on top of us and made us clench our muscles in nervous excitement.

"You should send a text of that picture we got of the crocodile!" Brian requested. (Though, after some later research, I'm pretty sure it was an alligator because it's snout was more U shaped and less V shaped.)
I pulled out my phone and tried... "No reception."
We drove for a little while longer, eyes wide with excitement and car filled with anxious silence (but for the pounding of the rain on the rental car we were driving (turns out two cars cannot merge into the same lane at the same time (which is a whole nother story that you should ask Brian about sometime))), watching the wipers fail time and time again to create a clear view of the dirt road ahead.
"You know what this feels like?" I asked Brian as I took in the eerie atmosphere, smelled the new car smell, and after I had turned around to see the kids faces pressed up against the windows, searching for man-eating reptiles.  "What?"
"Jurassic Park."

He threw his head back in agreeing laughter.  I love seeing him laugh like that...

For the next couple of hours the rains slowed and poured and slowed and poured, but when they seemed to be gone completely we decided we had had an amazing, perfect day in the everglades and didn't want to finish it off with an air-boat ride that would probably just let us down, with how much fun we had already had. So we finished driving the deserted dirt road, taking in more of the surroundings.

Everglades, we will be back.  Please show us just as good a time next time...