November 19, 2010 Day 22 Miami, FL
Today we went to the Everglades, the highlight of this whole trip. We set off early to get to Gator City's airboat ride before it opened at 10:00. We got there about 45 minutes late because of the tremendous congestion on the roads. In Miami there are just too many people and cars in too small of a space. There were several busloads of tourists at Gator City when we arrived. I had called ahead, a lady told me it would not be a problem for me to get into or out of the boat. When we got there, the man said many people were able to get in, but unable to get out, and we should go out and look at the boats. I did not see any corpses in the boats, so I assume that they got out somehow. However, the two steps into the boat were very steep. I talked to the guide, and he assured me we could do it together, so Dean went to buy the ticket. Then we were told we had to wait for a few boats. So the guide who assured me was not going to be our guide! When they called our boat number, it turned out to be a piece of cake. The boat entry on our boat was even with the dock, just like walking across my kitchen floor. We had downloaded a coupon, and the RV park had given us a coupon ($2), so it cost $20 apiece. Words can't describe how awesome this trip was.
We idled away from the dock, and a great blue heron was right next to us. A great egret entered his territory, and the blue egret put on quite a show of chasing him away--squawking and flapping. We passed an alligator who watched us carefully, and he was only about 3' away. We saw so many great egrets in Texas, but they flew away if we got close. Here, all the birds were unbothered--Picture 1 is not enlarged. We were really that close! A great egret flew parallel to our boat for a couple minutes. We saw a baby alligator sunning himself, and then 2 young ones got a little nervous and climbed on big brother's back. (Picture 2). The little ones are from this year's eggs; big brother is 1-2 years old. They grow 6 inches to 1 foot per year. The smartest baby climbed up on mom's back (Picture 3). You can see from the other airboat how close we were to wildlife (Picture 4).
I thought it couldn't get better, but it did. We came to a large red-bellied slider laying eggs! (Picture 5) She was so large I think I might have had trouble lifting her, and she just watched us as we watched her.
Alligators open their mouths to get rid of hot air when their head heats up before their body does. Their head is just bone and skin. Doesn't he look threatening? (Picture 6)
The anhingas had a beautiful pattern on their wings, and they are known for how they dive into the water. It seemed that for about 5 minutes every tree we passed had at least one anhinga in it. (Picture 7)
The trip lasted about 40 minutes, and there was so much wildlife we kept pointing it to each other. The birds flew by so close, as if our airboat was invisible. Next time, we will plan to spend 3 days in the Everglades. We were like kids who had just discovered candy.
After the airboat ride, they had a little show. This skunk still has his scent glands. They got him as a baby and hand-raised him, and he doesn't squirt at all because he's happy. All skunks have two stripes. One is in the center of his fact, and the other one on his back splits as it comes down his back. (Picture 8)
The man explained that alligators can't see right in front of them, so he wasn't afraid to put his hand in his mouth. It isn't until he touches the jaw that it snaps shut with 90,000 pounds of pressure per square inch. (Picture 9) Then he showed us how he can approach it from the rear and climb on his back. I got to hold a juvenile alligator, and he was heavy. (Picture 10)
We drove 12 miles on the same road to the Shark Valley entrance to the Everglades National Park. We spotted a Miccosuckee (Native American) restaurant and had our first meal of the day--alligator bites and a Cuban sandwich. I learned that ham is the favorite meat of Cubans, and their bread is dry and kind of hard.
We got into the park for free because of our Golden Age Pass, and we paid to go on the 2-hour tram-ride at 3:00. We had another wonderful guide. They have built up a road from the limestone under the water, and in doing so, they have created several small lakes. We saw a flock of wood storks, who are endangered. In Picture 11, the wood stork is calling out--probably telling us to go away. Last year, there were 1000 nesting wood storks, and it's rare to see them this close (Picture 12--enlarged). We learned about the 6 different types of ecosystems and what composed them. Nature is amazing! We saw so many great blue herons, little blue herons, great egrets, snowy egrets, alligators, black vultures, 1 turtle, and a red-headed woodpecker. Birds constantly flew by, ignoring us. Dean took almost 200 pictures today.
I was on such a high when we got off the tram that I wasn't willing to call it a day. I knew we had to leave Miami the next day, and I wanted to know more about the Seminoles. I knew they had a store with things they made, a village, a museum, and a casino. I thought we would get good (possibly Seminole) food at the casino for dinner, and maybe their store might be open. I thought I was being smart when I discovered that the casino was 38 miles away, and the first 26 were down the same road we had come out on. Hence, I thought we would only be going 12 miles at most out of our way. Well, I figure we drove about 70 miles before we got to it, and I have never seen such congestion. The parking structure was the tallest I've ever seen at a casino--I'd guess it was 8 stories high, and each floor was big. People were lined up for 2 blocks in each direction to get into the driveway. I was ready to go home, but Dean said we'd come so far, let's see it. There were many upscale store names in the mall in the casino, and we saw a hotel as well as the shopping mall. We drove around and around without finding a parking place, so we came home and ate leftovers (at 10:00). We took off the "Minimize Toll Roads" on our GPS, so we were home about half an hour later.
Staying at the Larry & Penny Thompson Campground (operated by Miami-Dade County Park & Rec.), $135.60/4 nights, 50 amps, FHU, nice trees with great satellite signal, nice camp.
Florida was one of our big toll expenses last summer, so I can sympathize.
