Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Land Of The Trembling Earth IV

I've been able to drag the story of the wife's visit to the Okefenokee Swamp out for a while now. And, with such a long, drawn out story, you're expecting a big pay-off in the final episode.

This is the final episode.

Sorry, there's no big pay-off. But here's the last installment, anyway.

First, a quick review. In part one, I told you the Okefenokee Swamp is in Southeast Georgia and why it's swampy. Part two covered a little about the Okefenokee's most famous citizen, Pogo Possum. Part three covered my first (and second) visit to the Okefenokee.

The wife had never been to that part of Georgia. And I decided to remedy that. So, we headed to Waycross. Or near there.

My son was with us, so it was just the three of us. I told her some of the stories of my first visit, and my second visit (my son's first), and some of the history of the area. We also talked about other places we had been, either together or separately. One of the places we talked about was Walt Disney World.

Remember the line in Jurassic Park where Jeff Goldblum's character talks about the difference between Jurassic Park and Disneyland: "If the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists."

Well, our visit to the Okefenokee was around the time that "The Lost World," the Jurassic Park sequel, was playing. So, Jurassic Park, the book and the movies, were on my mind.

As we drove past Waycross and continued down the road to the entrance to the Swamp, I was excited about the visit. We drove into the lot and parked. As we got out, the wife was fascinated with some plants near the sidewalk. Next to the sidewalk was a small section of grass. Next to that was some water. Black water. But the bushes planted on the grass up against the sidewalk were what caught her eye.

I said to her, "Keep in mind, this place isn't like anywhere you've been before. It's more like Jurassic Park than Disney World."

She laughed. Then, while looking at the tall flowering plants, she walked out onto the grass, then walked around a tall plant ... and almost stepped on top of an alligator!

A live alligator. Just sitting on the grass, sunning himself.

She saw the gator just before stepping on it. She moved quickly -- very quickly -- away from the gator and back onto the sidewalk where she should have been the whole time.

The rest of the day there, she was quite nervous. She couldn't really enjoy herself.

But I was having a good time.

6 comments:

  1. Hey! Having an alligator in the climax is both a big pay-off and a good idea for an amateur pronographer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bless her heart. And you were having a good time, huh? Having a good time laughing at mrs. basil is what you were doing. I am amazed mrs. basil is still married to you. Next time y'all have a disagreement of any kind...I'm on HER side.
    Unless of course I want to be on your side.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tom:
    Thanks. And glad I can be part of advancing the arts.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Big Sister:
    "on HER side"? Hmmm. I'm used to that. Got real used to it in '94-'95. Almost did a post on that one day. I can think of one or two readers I would have lost with that one.

    But I don't want to infringe on Acidman's prime blogging area.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My toes weren't stepped on today. I just wanted anyone who is reading that did the stepping those years ago to know that I ain't forgot.

    And I'm not about to.

    ReplyDelete

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