See You Later, Alligator!

After a dreary and rainy Wednesday morning, the sun came out and the skies turned blue yesterday afternoon, and my husband and I decided to get out and enjoy the pretty weather. We headed north from Vicksburg, up Highway 61, then detoured onto Highway 465, toward Eagle Lake, Lake Chotard (pronounced Sho-tard), and Albemarle Lake.

Of course, I was taking pictures along the way and captured a few interesting ones, I think.

For instance, this is a sight you don't see everyday ... at least not these days. It's a ferry crossing Lake Chotard, carrying a pickup truck, trailer, and about a dozen guys to the other side of the lake (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them, if you'd like).

I love any kind of windmill, and this one caught my eye at the boat landing where the ferry was ...

For a while, we drove on top of one of the levees surrounding the lakes, and saw several borrow pits covered with a thick green seed called duckweed.

As we crossed over a bridge at the borrow pit pictured above, I said, "I wish we could see an alligator," to which my husband replied, "There's one on that log ... and two more on those logs by the bank!" I was so excited and hastily grabbed my camera and jumped out of the truck.

I was born and raised in Louisiana, and have spent most of my life in Mississippi, and I think these were the first alligators I've actually seen in the wild. Now, bear in mind, I was standing on a raised dirt bridge several yards away when I shot these pictures with a telephoto lens, so I was never in any danger. But you can be sure I checked out the banks along the road where I was standing before I started taking pictures.

This guy was about six feet long and looked like he was enjoying sunning himself, even though he was covered with duckweed.

These two were larger and a little more intimidating, but were too far away to get a good picture.

I don't think I would want to get any closer to an alligator, no matter how good a picture I could get of it, but it was fun seeing those and I'm glad I was able to get some pictures of them.

If you would like to see some amazing photos of alligators, up close and personal, visit my friend Marty Kittrell's photography blog. Marty is one of those rare people who is blessed with the God-given gift of "seeing pictures" in his mind wherever he goes, and his awe-inspiring photographs capture God's Glory all around us. I hope you will visit Marty and spend some time browsing through his beautiful photo gallery (not just the alligators!).

Here is just a preview of what you'll find there:

See what I mean -- Marty's GOT TALENT!

After we finished our levee ride, we decided to get back on Highway 61, and head farther north into the heart of the Mississippi Delta. I will share that adventure tomorrow.

Thank you for coming by to visit today.