Sand Dunes camping: Gator Farm and last day

The third day is always the hardest for me. By this time we are so dirty and tired that I just want to pack up and go home. Everyone in the group was going home that day so it was especially tempting to leave with them. We spent the morning cleaning up the campsite and cooking a tasty breakfast in the dutch oven. 

The kids were filthy head to toe

After a late breakfast, we headed out to the Gator farm. We stopped to get ice cream just outside the Sand Dunes

The gator farm was in the middle of nowhere. At first we were a little nervous that it would be a waste of time


The signs were pretty hilarious


But it turned out to be the highlight of the trip for most of the kids! First, they got to hold all sorts of snakes and other reptiles






Then they all took turns holding an alligator

They each even got a certificate "stamped" by a gator for their bravery

Josie loved the big tortoises that were walking around

The kids got a kick out of this life lesson

There was also a playground with random cats and chickens running around

And tons of gators. Everywhere!

There was an indoor aquaponics area

You are also able to fish on the property and if you catch anything you are able to feed it to the alligators. Jack was thrilled when he caught this big guy!

After feeding the fish to the gator, Luke and Jack got to watch them feed sausage to other gators

That night everyone left and we had the big campsite to ourselves. We packed up our tent and all slept in the truck. It was the best night of sleep I had on the trip!

The next morning we finished cleaning and packing up, then we headed to the visitor center and to the Sand Dunes for a few hours

The drive home was much longer than the drive there since we hit a good amount of traffic. We passed the time by taking funny pictures with the phone

Coming home reminded me how much I hate camping. It took a few days to finally clean all the camping stuff and get it all put away again. All in all it was probably 1 month of work (planning, packing & cleaning) for four days of camping. But we did make some good memories.