Let me lead with the biggest first.... NO MELTDOWNS TODAY!
We got breakfast at the hotel. (Sam informed us he prefers room service.) We got to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park just in time to catch most of the 11 o'clock Realm of the Alligator show. Then we started down the Land of Crocodiles exhibit when Auggie decided that he couldn't survive in his pants, so he and I went back to the van to change into shorts. Lyle had the van key. Back to the Land of Crocodiles. Back to the van. Shorts, yay! By now, Sam and Lyle were having dippin' dots and lemonade. I traded Auggie for Sam and we went to the 12pm feeding. The difference between this place and Gatorland is stark. This is an accredited zoo, and it shows in the way the staff talks, the way the exhibits are kept, the enrichment opportunities provided and so on and so on. This place has the most species of crocodilians at one facility anywhere in the world (they used to have all of them, but 2 new species have been discovered). We had a 12:30 behind the scenes tour that was great. Auggie had my phone (remember, NO MELTDOWNS!) but it was fine. We got to see hatching and we got very close (but behind fences) to some crocodilians that are off exhibit. After the tour we saw the rest of the exhibits (and Auggie FINALLY saw caimans!).
We realized that we'd left Lyle's ballcap at the restaurant last night, so we made a quick detour to retrieve that and then headed south.
The rest of the day was basically driving. We got Chick Fil A, we got more ice, Auggie and Lyle got naps, and Sam and I listened to our bad book (the latest installment of The Wandering Inn series).
We got to Miami about 9. I did hotel laundry (note to future me: pack rolls of quarters, laundry doesn't cost a dollar a load anymore).
Tomorrow we head into the Everglades finally!
Croc Encounters
Okefenokee
St. Augustine
Gatorworld
Sam's rankings are heavily influenced by his assessment of the guides' knowledge and entertainment value.
Auggie's rankings
Gatorland - b/c they have a baby albino alligator
St. Augustine - b/c they had caimans
Okefenokee
Croc Encounters - b/c it smelled terrible and was too hot
Lyle's rankings:
Swimming in the ocean w/ the boys
[Redacted]
The rainbow over the lazy river in Orlando
Okefenokee
My rankings:
I refuse to rate them because they've been really different experiences and not comparable apples to apples, but if you forced me to choose then Okefenokee.
Enjoy the photos!
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