David Codrea is a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
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One thought on “A New York State of Mind”
True story:
One of the primary “touristy” sites in Everglades National Park is the Royal Palm Ranger Station. One of the attractions there is the “Anhinga Trail”, named after s common water bird that looks a lot like a cormorant.
One of the web articles about the Anhinga Trails says:
‘For most visitors, the Anhinga Trail is their first glimpse into Everglades National Park. It’s short, and the alligators are right there: hard to miss .”
And boy, are they ever, if you’re there on a warm sunny day in springtime when they’ve come out of their hibernation holes.
Next to the ranger station building and visitor parking is a slough (pronounced “slew”). it’s a big round pond, maybe 100 to 200 feet across, dry land (the visitor center and a road out to the trail proper) on two sides, cattail and sawgrass marsh on the other two. There’s a low brick wall, maybe 24″ tall, on the ranger station side, but on the side with the road there’s no barrier between the road, a grassy slope down to the water, the tourists, and the gators.
On warm sunny spring days, they like to crawl up on the grass and catch some sun and a nap. They’re apparently used to and tolerate the tourists which is a good thing. Gators are grab, drag, submerge, feeders. That spot has all of what they need to snack on tourists but I’ve never heard of that happening at that spot.
Nevertheless, when I saw a touristy looking lady pick up her maybe 4 year old son, stand him next to a 4′ or so gator, and back off to take a snapshot I yelled “Lady, get your kid away from that gator!” The gator popped one eye open as if to say “WTF!” as the lady said, “Don’t worry, this is a tame alligator. The government would never let dangerous animals get this close to tourists.”
True story:
One of the primary “touristy” sites in Everglades National Park is the Royal Palm Ranger Station. One of the attractions there is the “Anhinga Trail”, named after s common water bird that looks a lot like a cormorant.
One of the web articles about the Anhinga Trails says:
‘For most visitors, the Anhinga Trail is their first glimpse into Everglades National Park. It’s short, and the alligators are right there: hard to miss .”
https://floridahikes.com/anhingatrail
And boy, are they ever, if you’re there on a warm sunny day in springtime when they’ve come out of their hibernation holes.
Next to the ranger station building and visitor parking is a slough (pronounced “slew”). it’s a big round pond, maybe 100 to 200 feet across, dry land (the visitor center and a road out to the trail proper) on two sides, cattail and sawgrass marsh on the other two. There’s a low brick wall, maybe 24″ tall, on the ranger station side, but on the side with the road there’s no barrier between the road, a grassy slope down to the water, the tourists, and the gators.
On warm sunny spring days, they like to crawl up on the grass and catch some sun and a nap. They’re apparently used to and tolerate the tourists which is a good thing. Gators are grab, drag, submerge, feeders. That spot has all of what they need to snack on tourists but I’ve never heard of that happening at that spot.
Nevertheless, when I saw a touristy looking lady pick up her maybe 4 year old son, stand him next to a 4′ or so gator, and back off to take a snapshot I yelled “Lady, get your kid away from that gator!” The gator popped one eye open as if to say “WTF!” as the lady said, “Don’t worry, this is a tame alligator. The government would never let dangerous animals get this close to tourists.”
I had to agree with the gator. WTF, indeed!