Who is the Insta-gator?

We ventured out today to see an alligator farm. That's right Insta-gator Alligator Ranch. Apparently 50 years or so ago, the Louisiana alligator was almost extinct -- like only 150,000 left or so. Today according to our guide, there are over 3 million due to a LA Wildlife and Fisheries initiative to begin farming them like cows, pigs or chickens, except releasing them back into the wild when they are 4 foot long. Why 4 foot long you ask? Well that is apparently when they go from the bottom of the food chain to the top in the wild. So they are tagged and released. There is more than you wanted to know about alligators in LA.

I wish I could say all the kids had a great time, Trey and Timothy sure thought the gators were cool. But Emily was terrified for about the first 30 minutes or so and I am sure she thought we were going to dump her in a cage with them jut swarming on her. Luckily our "guide" turned alligator farming into an almost 2 hour adventure including feeding (Emily wanted no part of that), and petting the gators (suprisingly before it was over, Emily did pet the alligator). Here are some of pics to enjoy from today:

All in all, it was a pretty fun day!