It has been a while since I participated in my favorite photo challenge…it seems it would be good if there were about 50 hours in a day!

While I have nothing even remotely close to Snow’s adventure, my share of drama, for this post, happened about six years ago during our trip to Florida. One of my very dear friends, who I have known since elementary school days, lived in Miami at that point and we were visiting her. Towards the end of our trip, we went camping at the Everglades National Park. The designated area for camping was beautiful with the waters lapping at the shore, a stretch of which was lined with coconut trees. It was a full moon-ish night and the weather was perfect, the month being February. Happy campers were all around, making merry and we joined in with our guitars and voices and the overall cheeriness that comes with spending time with ones closest friends.

The campgrounds- If you look closely, you can see the tents.

After we had laughed to our hearts contents and drowned in the laughter of others, reminisced about classrooms long forgotten that had seen us through so much, made grand plans for the days ahead and noticed that the lapping of the water was gradually drowning away voices of campers, did we realize that the sun would rise soon and we should probably get some shut- eye.

There were five of us and the tent was a big one that could comfortably sleep six and after we had chosen our spots, it was time to fall asleep. It was probably as ideal as it could get – the brilliant moon lit sky, the gentle waves almost in harmony with the occasional chirps that could be heard and a faint guitar music from a group nearby- I was going to sleep a happy camper. Or so I thought.

A little after getting into a somewhat comfortable sleeping position, we started hearing noises that were new that night and were not very soothing. They also did not sound ‘friendly’ (as if I had the expertise on that!).  No one else seemed to be bothered by that but me and I could not keep from asking what could the source of that noise be. A very calm voice, that of my friend’s husband’s, from the other end of the tent mentioned that it was probably that of the crocodiles or alligators calling out. What followed was exactly as was expected…everyone went to sleep soon after, while my over active imagination and I kept each other company, playing out all kinds of scenarios- from the reptiles attacking to us being trapped in our tent surrounded by a thousand of them. I was sleeping at one end of the tent and was convinced that I would definitely get bitten or licked (??) that night.  And those noises continued through the rest of the night while I stayed as alert as possible, noticing for any unusual movement outside the tent, paying attention to check if those noises got louder (which would mean they were getting closer…hah!). My husband who had guessed how my over active imagination was probably driving me crazy assured me it would be morning soon.

I don’t know if those were really alligators or crocodiles as it wouldn’t be surprising since they are both locals. Whatever it was, was enough to create a good amount of drama for an otherwise splendid outing. Well…I also credit my highly creative mind for a significant contribution!

The waters which may or may not have had the reptiles- we’ll never know!

Thanks for stopping by! Posted for the Friendly Friday Photo Challenge.