I held an alligator yesterday!

He’s 4.5 years old and his name is Sergio. The man said to hold his tail firmly, but apparently my grip on Sergio’s torso was a little too much, because then the man said, “If you hold him too tightly there, he’ll pass out and then you’ll have to give him mouth to mouth.”

I opted to just give Sergio pretend kisses. I miss him.

Where did I hold this alligator, you might ask? Wild Willy’s Airboat Tours! We had never been on an airboat before, so my mom and uncle found this company with stellar reviews on Yelp. It was truly an amazing experience! They took us on a laid-back yet informative tour through Lake Tohopekaliga to view the wildlife, which was abundant.

“She’s going to put this on moves and grooves!”

A COW (they wander into the shallow parts of the lake from the neighboring pastures)

A terrible, mega-zoomed-in photo, but do you see the two bald eagles on top!?

Wild Willy is the one with the sunglasses and camo pants!

Ugh, it was such a beautiful day. I was totally awestruck by the beauty of nature as we sped through the waters on the airboat. I kinda wanted to cry tears of joy, but luckily, the wind blasting in my face kept my eyes dry and my embarrassment to a minimum.

If you’re ever in the St. Cloud, FL area, definitely check out Wild Willy’s Airboat Tours. We all give it five stars, two thumbs up, and three cheers!

Preceding our afternoon adventure, we had a slow start to the morning. I slept in and did my moves before breakfast, which is a rarity for me! I almost always need to eat something before I feel like a functioning human in the morning. I guess all that sushi the night before stuck pretty well.

I missed you, burpees! This was a quick yet heart-pounding workout that made my shoulders burn. Those inchworm pushups are deceptively difficult after double unders!

[Super late] breakfast was an ol’ classic: Gina’s cookie dough cereal made with sunflower seed butter and a whole sliced banana. It will never stop being delicious.

I also ate some random snacks with my fingers including pineapple, broccoli, and mango. I’m like a wild animal hunting for food or something, what the heck?

Before leaving for the airboat tours, I made myself a sandwich with a two-egg scramble with a boatload [ 😀 ] of spinach and feta cheese. I ate it at around 3PM in the car on our way to the airboats.

Part two of lunch came after the airboat tours when we decided to try some of their gator bites, aka gator nuggets, served with sweet & sour sauce and a creamy southwestern sauce. They tasted just like chicken nuggets except more chewy and a little less flavorful.

Looks like mostly fries, but you can spot some of the nuggets in there!

Oh I had a bite of this smoked alligator jerky…”with pork.”

The gator bites combo came with an ice cream “samich” that I happily ate. I will forever love these things, which are essentially jumbo ice cream Oreos.

A late lunch called for a late dinner at 9PM again. Last night we dined at a local Latin/Caribbean restaurant, and everything was tasty!

The world’s smallest house salad

Grilled shrimp with white rice for me!

Plus a few bites of my mom’s seafood mofongo (think Latin version of stuffing— made with fried green plantains, pork cracklings, and garlic)

Mofongo— the food you love to say and love to eat even more.

‘Twas a lovely and relaxing day indeed! Today I need to do work, which includes tour guide studying, blogging, letter-writing, bathroom cleaning, reading, and grocery shopping (there are no more bananas in our house and that makes me sad).

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

So tell me:

Have you ever held an alligator or other wild animal?

What was something fun you did yesterday?

Would you eat alligator?