My kids jumped out of the car eager to throw rocks in the water. They tried their hardest to skip a rock across the lake but decided it was more fun to launch tiny pebbles in the air and watch the rainfall of splashes left behind. My kids edged closer and closer to the murky lake water full of plant life and twisted tree branches protruding from the darkness.
My first instinct was to tell them to back up. "Watch out for gators!" played on repeat in my mind. But there are no alligators in New York. While this may not seem like a big deal, coming from a place where seeing an alligator is a daily occurrence, this is life changing. I'm not exaggerating.
Growing up in the south, you're always on alert for gators. They're everywhere -on golf courses, in retention ponds, sometimes just wandering down a neighborhood sidewalk. True story -I once saw an alligator in a neighbor's yard, three feet from their front door, still as can be with his mouth wide open.
You never get to close to ponds in South Carolina. You just don't. Especially if you are a small human or with a dog.
Alligators are in lakes, too. And yes, people will still swim in them. But I guarantee the person swimming is always scanning to see if they spot a gator snout floating by.
So when my kids ran up and down the water's edge at Bond Lake, I sighed a big ole sigh of relief. Nothing was going to jump out of the water to grab them.
If you haven't been to Bond Lake on Lower Mountain Road, you should. We've been several times in the evening to walk around. It's a beautiful, relaxing spot to take a moment and enjoy the sunset.
No comments:
Post a Comment