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East Texas Gator and Wildlife Farm

August 22nd, 2010

My family and I set out to do something fun this Saturday and so we settled on going to “Wit’s End Ranch” together. My wife and son had been before and loved it but I had never been. I called them up to see if they were open this Saturday but they now only do private parties.

The lady at Wit’s End Ranch was very nice and referred us to try East Texas Gator and Wildlife Farm. I had never heard of this place before. This sounded very exciting and something my 2 year old son would love so we did it.

We were nothing short of extremely impressed with this place! It has all the East Texas Charm you could expect. Besides watching an alligator wilderness guy feed live several hundred pound alligators you can also pet and see baby alligators and snakes, jump in the bouncy house, rock around in a beached boat, swing on a rope swing, and pet pot bellied pigs, goats, and chicks in the petting zoo.

They also have a restaurant that has a special offer to allow you free admission with the purchase of certain dinner menu meals. The East Texas Gator Farm is located in Grand Saline Texas and is very close to Canton Texas. We drove here from Tyler/Lindale area and found it to be a very nice scenic drive through Lindale and Van Texas.

You will see a sign next to the road to turn on to continue on to to East Texas Gator Farm. This is not a hard place to find and I now consider it one of the East Texas areas best attractions. Some of the adult alligators are over 700 lbs.

These gators are not necessarily tame friendly beasts as we saw evidence of missing fingers from one of the employees here. All the employees seem to truly love their jobs and the alligator tamer/feeder initiated allowing my son to pet some snakes and baby alligators.

This is one of those natural attractions in East Texas that is just real and beautiful and a place you rarely find among the many cookie cutter venues. Of course every attraction has it’s time and place even if it’s the typical amusement but this simply isn’t the norm and definitely worth bringing the whole fam.

Things To Do In Tyler Texas

December 16th, 2009

This will be a reoccurring topic in the Tyler TX Directory as one of the most common things you hear in any non-metropolitan city is that there is nothing to do in this town. I usually hear this from those obviously too cool to be living in Tyler with their facial piercings and angry Mohawk syndrome. Let’s face it there are some cool people in Tyler and I see them hanging out all the time over at Starbucks. From what I hear they all want to go to New York to experience life because this town is just not that cool and never was.

Well I like Tyler Texas and have found some interesting things to do here quite frequently. About half of making this town fun and enjoyable is to get yourself connected with some local friends. These friends will make things more fun in general regardless of what you do and will be able to hook you up with some places you would not normally have access to. For instance, I get to fish at this private lake from time to time with my father n’ law that I never knew about before. I won’t say where exactly but there are about 7 different camps, Christian camps, and retreats in the Tyler area that have everything from ziplines, pools, private lakes, to mountain bike trails. These little areas represent some extras that most Tyler people do not have access to but with a few connections you could very easily be able to have a little fun at one of these places. You may already have access to one of these places but have taken it for granted.

A List of Some of These Remote Fun Areas Of Tyler and More

1.) Pinecove
2.) The Villages Resort on Lake Palestine
3.) East Texas Gator Farm
4.) YWAM Ranch or TeenMania campus
5.) Wits End Ranch
6.) The Zoo, Caldwell Zoo (Santa’s Workshop December 12, 13 and 19)
7.) The Tyler State Park
8.) The Lion and Tiger Refuge
9.) Canton Trade Days
10.) Edom Texas Restaurants and Arts and Crafts
11. ) South Tyler First Baptist Church Pond and Park
12. ) South Tyler Green Acres Baptist Church Pond and Park
13. ) Kiepersol Restaurant and Winery Horse Coach Ride
14. ) The Christmas Store (Around Christmas Time)
15. ) Mineola Train Ride to Dallas or Fort Worth
16. ) SFA, UT Tyler, or TJC Basketball Games (SFA made it to the tournament last year)
17. ) Faulkner Park Stocked Fishing Pond
18. ) Water Splash Park at Faulkner Park, South Tyler
19. ) Splash Kingdom Water Park
20. ) Be Normal, Stay Home and Play a Game With Your Family
21. ) Join a Rugby Club
22. ) Frisbee Golf at Lindsey Park
23. ) Sacred Spur Ranch in East Mountain. A true ranch style east texas restaurant experience.
24.) SkyRanch

These are 24 fun things I like to do in Tyler and this was just off the top of my head. I am sure you can think of 20 other things. In fact why don’t you comment on what you think is fun to do in Tyler Texas to add to this list. I think everyone could use some fresh ideas for what they can do in Tyler that is fun and entertaining. It’s nice getting to change things up a little and do something different.