We had our alarm clocks set this morning for 7:00 a.m.! That is a first since we retired!
The reason... we were off for the Florida Everglades! In all the years that we have come to Florida, which are many, we have never made it to the Everglades.
The Everglades include 1.5 Million Acres of Land, (Swamp?) in the very southern section of Florida. It is very wet, and is full of different animal life! What a great way to spend the day!
It was a 2 1/2 hour drive for us to get there, and we ended up at Shark Valley, in time to get on the 12:00 tram ride! This is a great 2 hour drive out into the Everglades aboard a tram with a guide to tell you all about it!
Above is our tram driver and guide as we head out! It was a perfect blue sky warm Florida Day! Can't get enough of it!
This is typical of what you see along the ride... and a bit of wildlife!
How many purses could be made out of these guys??????
There is lots of green, as you make your way around the 15 mile loop road with the tram...
My favourite bird pic of the night!
When you reach the 1/2 way mark on this tour, they stop so you can climb up the Ranger Tower! Years ago this site was manned by Rangers looking out for fires... they do it electronically now of course, and actually like when fire burns off the grasses.
Here comes Tom and Cheryl and Judy, climbing the ramp up to the tower...
I thought Judy looked pretty calm in this photo, about 5 feet away from that alligator!
After we finished up with the tram, we drove about 5 miles up the highway, and took a 24 mile loop Jeep Road, back into the Everglades... very cool...Jeep was very happy getting all dirty again! We found these Cypres Trees with a lot of reflections going on there...
Every time we turned around there was another picture today...
Judy got this shot, and said the alligator was smilling at us! Maybe... We must have seen at least 100 gators today!
Check out this sign above on the highway leading into the Everglades... there are Panthers living in this part of Florida! I just about choked when I saw this sign!
No... we didn't see this Panter with her baby, but this is what they look like!
What a fantastic day we had, and the only way to finish it off was to stop in Naples on the way home and pick up a Papa Murphy's Take N Bake Pizza for dinner...awesome!
Till tomorrow...
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What a wonderful experience. Many years ago, I visited the Everglades. I took a swamp boat tour. If you get a chance, do that one. It was awesome.
ReplyDeleteTalk about kicking it up in 2013. No slowing down for you guys. But then again, life is about living and you guys are true models of that.
ReplyDeleteNice tour of the everglades. We've had the pleasure of touring the area and it is quite something to see.
Thanks for a great tour of the Everglades, John, along with all the wonderful pics!
ReplyDeleteSure glad you survived all those gators to enjoy your Papa John's pizza.
Looks like you had a fu day, ending with a yummy pizza , baked right at home.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, definitely adding the Everglades to my list! Those gators!
ReplyDeleteI also used to love Papa Murphys pizzas and thought they had delicious cookies too. =]