Thanksgiving: Part 2

My sister had a great idea on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving for everyone to head over to Payne's Prairie, a local wildlife preserve state park, for a little hike. A storm was brewing all morning, so the sky was a little gray, but it was nice and warm with plenty of breeze, and the rain held off for most of our visit.

The area is basically a series of boardwalks and trails through a swampy prairie, which might even be compared to a savanna (from what I understand a savanna to be from Jacks's pop up book of natural wildlife....). Seeing alligators everywhere is practically guaranteed, and we saw at least 20 of them. Joe and I were amazed. We thought maybe we'd see 3 or 4. We had no idea there would be so many so close.

We also saw some deer, herons, a HUGE snake (which I would have preferred to NOT see), some turtles, and some more super cool water birds.
It was great fun to spend some time enjoying what Gainesville has to offer, aside from the comfort of my sister's house and neighborhood. It's good to get everyone up off their butts and out of the house for a little while. Our visit to the prairie came to an abrupt end when Nealy decided that it was nap time and she had enough of all this nature mess. I had to carry her all the way back to the car, which was at least a mile long walk. And if you've seen the pudding rolls on that baby, you know I got my workout in for the day.