TJ and I spent the afternoon at Brazos Bend State Park, which is about a 50 minute drive away. The grand total of gators we saw in the wild
was 11 and we had a really enjoyable time observing nature. It was about 68 degrees and a little overcast so it was a nice day for a 5 mile hike around two of the little lakes there.
The general mood of the place was rather muted and hushed, despite all the wildlife. The birds, while very vocal, seemed like all their quacks and squawks were dampened. They often sounded like they were quietly laughing or harrumphing, which cracked me up. The trees had a greyish hue, especially with all the hanging moss. The water was stagnant and the air was a muggy and still. The turtles and gators always seemed like they were waiting for something.
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| I love how this one is parked right under the sign. |
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| View from the observation tower. |
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| I just started saying "Let me go over here and take a picture of it from behind...," and it got up and started moving so I finished my sentence with "...NOPE, I think I'll take the picture from far away." Gators have the right of way around here. |
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| There were lots of cranes, herons, and ducks. |
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| This guy was probably four feet tall and let me get pretty close before it flew away. |
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| After the hike we spent a little time in the nature center. This guide was telling us all about the snakes in the area and we got to pet this rat snake. |
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| We saw some turtles. There were the cutest little 2 inchers in the nature center. |
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| We touched this baby alligator! We saw a mama gator and her baby on the hike, but the baby was really hard to see so I didn't get a picture. It was only about 6 inches long; they grow a foot a year until about 8 feet, then the growth slows way down. |
If you are in Houston you should definitely go to Brazos if you have the chance. They have camping there too, and dozens of miles of hiking and biking trails.
