My Daughter Held a Snake

Hello all.  My family has been busy of late.  We have been doing a lot of traveling since Fire Beard started law school.  A few weeks ago we stayed at his new studio on the way to visit my parents.  He has done a really good job with his place, and I hope he will let me show it to you all soon.  In the meantime, I would like to show you what we did with my parents.

Here in Florida we have a nature themed theme park called Silver Springs.  It is centered around the gorgeous natural spring flowing onto it's grounds.  The park have glass bottom boat rides, animal exhibits, and animal shows.  It was the animal shows my kids liked the best.

Years ago, when I was about my daughter's age, I volunteered to hold the ball python at the reptile show.  After hearing that story my daughter was determined to hold the giant snake too.  They no longer allow audience members to hold the animals during the show because the animals can be hurt by careless, or even aggressive audience members, but the nice young man running the show allowed my daughter to hold the snake after everyone else had left.  She loved it!

I was allowed to hold a corn snake which my son consented to pet (he wouldn't touch the big snake), and the bird in the above pic got so close it actually pecked my camera.

Have you ever been to a great american park that wasn't as famous as Disney World?  I want to know about it.