I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and is so far having a Happy New Year. I am finally getting things back to normal after the holidays and looking forward to school starting next week. Before then, however, I think it's time for another blog entry and this one is about my Christmas in Florida where I not only saw family and friends but also got to go to two Florida attractions I had never seen: Everglades National Park and Lion Country Safari.
I drove down to Orlando on Monday Dec. 20th and was prepared for warm weather. I spent that night at my parents in Orlando where we decorated the family Christmas tree. It had been about three years since we had put up the big tree, so it was nice to get the decorations out of the box and enjoy the time together. I especially enjoyed being able to lie on the living couch and stare at the colorful tree when we finished.
Tuesday afternoon, I drove down to Fort Lauderdale where I stayed a few days with my friend Robert Merrill. That night while at dinner at a local Italian Restaurant we talked about what I wanted to do and the Everglades came up in conversation. While I had been to Sawgrass Recreation Park outside of Fort Lauderdale the year before, I had never been to the National Park or the tip of Florida. Robert said it was only about an hour away and that he was up for it if I was. I was delighted he said that because I had always wanted to go but thought it was too far.
We left Wednesday morning about 9:00 and it took a little over an hour to get there. The east entrance to the park is just west of Florida City which is at the end of the Turnpike extension. There's not much to say about Florida City except that it is a small farming town that appears to be out in the middle of nowhere but is actually on the edge of suburban Miami. We bought sandwiches there and headed to the park.
Our first stop was the Royal Palm visitors center where we took the Anhinga Trail over boardwalks out into the Taylor Slough and adjacent swamp. The trail is named for a local bird but we saw Egrets, Pelicans, Great Blue Heron, and Buzzards as well. And while there were numerous turtles and fish, the main attractions in this area were the Alligators. I don't think I have ever seen so many. At one overlook point we counted 20 laying around on little islands in the swamp. In one location, one was just laying on the grass at the side of the trail with no barrier between us. I got a good close up shot and then later saw a sign saying to stay 15 feet away from alligators. Oh well, he seemed harmless.
We then continued along the main road of the park and stopped at the Pa-hay-okee overlook where we got a good view of the Shark Slough. Slough is pronounced like Slew and is a large body of water which moves slowly, draining an area. In this case, it is an 8 mile wide river of grass slowly emptying into Florida Bay. There were signs in that area showing how the Everglades had changed over the years. The glades used to begin at Lake Okeechobee much further north and moved slowly through the entire area south of the lake; however, today, because of development, the slough is a much smaller body of water at the very lower part of the peninsula. Efforts are underway to "restore" the Everglades by expanding the area in the slough through artificial means. The view of the Shark Slough reminded me of pictures I have seen of the African Savannah. Because it was the dry season, I couldn't see the water below all the grass, unless I looked straight down. As far as I could see there was grass and a smattering of bald cypress saplings. I could not see a single sign of civilization. No roads, no power lines, and no cell phone towers. The only noise was the wind and an occasional bird. We stood there for quite some time just absorbing the peacefulness of the whole scene.
We then continued on down the road all the way to the end at the small village and marina of Flamingo at the tip of the peninsula with a great view of Florida Bay. The bay is a shallow water bay formed by the mainland on the north and the Florida Keys on the South. We could just make out Key Largo from the waterfront. We were told this was the only area in Florida where we might see an American Crocodile, as they live mainly in salt water. As we wandered around the docks of the marina, we saw a tour boat go by announcing there was a crocodile on the opposite bank but hard as we tried we couldn't see it. After walking around for several minutes scoping out all possible viewing angles, we gave up. Oh well. In case you are wondering, alligators are black and have wide fat mouths and live in primarily fresh water environments whereas crocodiles are grey with narrow skinny mouths and prefer salt water. Unfortunately, I am not telling you this based on my observations but on what I have read.
We had seen most of what we wanted to but did stop at one point on the way back to take a bit of a trail into the Mangrove Swamp. We saw another alligator here and probably would have stayed longer but the mosquitoes were getting pretty fierce. In fact, this was the only area where we encountered them as they are not very active in the winter. We were told that in the summer it can be unbearable.
For pictures of my Everglades trip, CLICK HERE. This is an album I have made on Facebook but you don't have to be a member to see it.
For more information on the Everglades, you can visit the National Park website at www.nps.gov/ever
The next day we mainly just hung out and went to the beach. On Christmas Eve, I drove back to Orlando and stopped at Lion Country Safari near West Palm Beach. This is an old Florida attraction that I had heard of since childhood but had never experienced. The park is a wild animal preserve that one drives through on a four mile road. There are large open areas based on regions of Africa where animals simply roam free, including in front of and alongside the cars. The cost was $26 and I could take as long as I wanted. I pulled over numerous times and took over 100 pictures. The only problem I had was that you are not suppose to lower your windows and in some places it was hard to get a good picture through the glass. I have to admit that I lowered the window a few times just to get a good shot, but only when the animals were not near.
For pictures from Lion Country Safari, CLICK HERE. Once again this is a Facebook album that you can view without being a member.
For more information, visit their website at http://www.lioncountrysafari.com/
Finally, I had a nice Christmas with my family in Orlando, despite the below average temperatures and not having a heavy coat. We weren't sick this year like we all were last Christmas and we had a pleasant visit. Plus Santa Claus was good to me this year. I got a new TV from my parents and a Kindle from my brother. We also saw three movies while I was home: The King's Speech, Black Swan, and Secretariat. They were all good but I don't recommend seeing Black Swan with one's mother. Additionally, I got to spend some time with my friends Curt Barnes and Joe Sandillo who I know from UF.
For a few more Christmas pictures, CLICK HERE.
Thanks for reading and Happy New Year everyone!
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