For three days we slept about 80 feet from this Rattlesnake

We went camping for the Fathers Day weekend. Lots of good food, fun with the family, no sleep (groan)… It was over all a good weekend. The kids all got really good nature lessons. They got to see many types of bugs, tadpoles, a green snake, many birds and at night, bats flying around. Very interesting and lots of fun.

We found a Rattlesnake near the camp, which was a little unnerving at first. After awhile we were going out regularly to check and see if he was still there. It was all pretty foolish in retrospect. We started the weekend warning the kids to be extra special careful looking for snakes and to run away and tell us right away if they were to see one. Then what do we do? Take the kids out to see it (from a distance of course). But in the grand scheme it was good learning for the kids for what they are and what they look like. Of course we were very careful to make sure the kids were a good distance from him and the adults were between him and the kids.

This snake was sleeping under a large log at the campground we were at. It was less than 100 feet from where we were camping. This shot is taken from about 5 feet. His body was about 5 feet long and as thick as my wrist.

Good stuff.