Prairie Gator!

I am willing to bet that the only prairie in the entire world where you will find alligators is Payne’s Prairie.  As you can see, there’s a lot of water in these grasses.  I’m pretty sure that’s not a common feature of prairies out in the middle of the country where you expect prairies to be.  As far as I recall, Laura Ingalls never said a word about having wet skirts at the end of a day of walking through the prairie.

Of course, Payne’s Prairie is a rather unusual place.  You may remember me writing about it a few times in the past, because I find it absolutely amazing.  Driving down 441 or I-75, all of a sudden, most of what looks like Florida is gone, and there’s just grassland, with a few palm trees sticking up here and there.  I’ve heard that there are buffalo out there, and I’ve seen the wild horses.  Who knew there were buffalo in Florida?

Something you don’t see every day is a blimp flying over the prairie.  I’m pretty sure that means that there’s a home game, and I’m a bad Gator to not be more aware of it.  It’s a good bet that tomorrow is more likely to find this Gator on the prairie than on campus, though.

And I apologize for the spots in the sky.  Obviously, I missed a little when I cleaned my lens today.

Tags: 441, alligators, blimp, boardwalk, clouds, Florida, Florida Parks, Gainesville FL, gator, gators, nature, palm trees, Paynes Prairie, photography, photos, postaday, prairie

• August 24, 2012
• Alligators, Nature
• 6 Comments