ellie

My family and I walked along one of the waterways (not sure which) and saw a ton of alligators. Most of them were on the other bank. My brother and his family live in Gainesville and have been here several times. We saw about six gators sunbathing on the opposite bank. At least two of them were overlapping each other, tail over torso of the other.

We walked to a lookout tower, which gives a nice overview of the immediate area. At the bottom of the tower, were two gators. One headed back into the water. The other one, facing the water, was about 10 feet or so from us. We felt safe, because it was facing away from us. We also were close to a “baby” alligator, who was about 3 feet long.

Along the walk we also saw variety of birds and a most docile, non-poisonous snake. I petted its backside.

in the past few years, my husband and i spent some time in Boulder City, mainly to avoid the chaos, meanness, glitz, fakeness of Las Vegas.

we were in Las Vegas taking care of my mother who became ill and we eventually moved her near us in Michigan.

i grew up in Las Vegas, and always found it to be too much … of everything.

Discovering Boulder City, we found a down-to-earth, no thrills place where we stayed during those visits to help my mother. It was the respite we needed.

It’s a quiet, sleepy town. The complete opposite of Las Vegas.

We’ve even considered moving there … but now it looks like Boulder City may not exist if that developer buys out the city and that wilderness preserve.

... a couple of months ago.

D Marie’s was replaced by a less than excellent juice bar.

France is one place where my paternal ancesters are from.

I’ve been to practically every country surrounding France (not Spain). It almost seems like I’ve been avoiding the country.

But that was before I knew my ancestors came from there.

I’m so ambivalent to go to France … part of it is because the language is soooo diffcult to learn (and I always want to know a bit of communicating the language of the country I visit), yet the country holds a mystique and culture I long to be a part of.

This is the land of my maternal ancestral background.

Thus I must see where my family came from … and I have that wanderlust thing going.