We started today at an old favorite — the Cotton Exchange in Wilmington, where Courtney went to the bead shop to load up on her beading supplies while I checked out the pottery store and then walked along the waterfront to take some pictures. After lunch, we were on our way to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher when we drove past what seemed like a small lake on the side of the road where people were paddling boats around. On a whim, we decided to scrap the trip to the aquarium — which we’ve been to several times before anyway — and take a boat out on the lake.

Moments after we parked and started walking along the lake shore toward the boat rental shack, we noticed a couple people stopping on the side of the trail and snapping pictures. As we got closer, we saw the source of the excitement — an alligator lurking in the algae and pollen-covered waters just off the shore. As few more steps up the path, and we spotted another gator swimming into the shallows. When we got to the boat shack, there was a long line waiting for available boats, so we decided to walk around the lake instead, which was just as well, since I wasn’t too excited at the idea of getting into the water with the alligators swimming around.

The day was sunny and breezy, and the lake offered up plenty of interesting sights — ducks, geese, and several other types of waterfowls gathered in flocks close to shore, while turtles congregated in large colonies here and there, basking in the sun and feeding on bread crumbs from passing visitors. At one spot on the trail, we came across a couple of tiny, newly hatched turtles trying to make their way across the trail and to the lake. In a gazebo standing over shallow water, we heard a raucous chorus of frogs and spotted many of them lounging amid the plants and algae nearby, including a couple that was in the act of ensuring the continuing survival of the species. The frogs, in fact, weren’t the only frisky creatures on the lake, as we caught a couple of large waterfowls in the act as well.

After the first quarter of the trail, the path veered off from the lake shore, and we found ourselves walking through some relatively quiet neighborhoods lined with cypress and magnolia trees. The trail just seemed to keep going and going, and the lake turned out to be deceptively large, as it took us more than two hours to walk around it. By the time we got back to the car, we were quite ready to be off our feet.