“We are here to enhance your experience”

We didn’t want to end our posts about the Everglades without mentioning the great programs that the park offers, and the great people that lead them.  The programs include presentations at the visitor center and in different areas of the park, guided walks on different topics, bicycle tours, canoe trips, slogs and more.

We participated in six of their programs, and would have participated in more had we stayed in the Everglades longer.

Our first experience with the programs was the mobile museum.  We walked in on this one after it had begun.  A ranger had set up some tables with artifacts such as skulls from different animals, different types of woods found in the Everglades, colored renderings of the various snakes found there and other fun stuff and discussed each of these.

We also signed up for the morning canoe trip on Nine Mile Pond.  It’s a beautiful canoe trail that goes through sawgrass marsh and mangroves.  The trip was led by Marv, one of the park volunteers, who provided lots of interesting information about these diverse habitats.

Marv also was in charge of keeping the whole group safe from alligators, croczilla, capsizing, drowning, etc.  Towards the end of the tour we came across this very large alligator with a life vest in its mouth.  Marv later confirmed via email that no visitors were reported missing!

“Look closely …”

We also took part in the Mahogany Hammock Walk, led by Ranger Leon.  Again, Leon provided lots of great information about this tree island and the few remaining wild mahogany trees in the country.

Then we sat in on Ranger Tim’s python presentation, a discussion of how the python population of the park has ballooned, how it began, and efforts to manage it.  This is a tough one.  

And, of course, we participated in the Big Day Birding Adventure led by Ranger Christi.

And the Slough Slog led by Kathy, another great volunteer.

These and the other programs, all free, are extremely interesting and educational.  Both the rangers and volunteers are extremely knowledgeable and helpful.

We heard more than once from the volunteers the refrain that “We are here to enrich your experience”.

Indeed they have!

~ Brenda

Florida Bay and the Coastal Prairie

We took our kayak, the Dolphin, out on Florida Bay one day.   Our destination was Snake Bight – a bight is a smaller bay within a larger bay.  Snake Bight was known for its birdlife at low tide, so we timed it so that we would be approaching the area at low tide.

Unfortunately, there were some pretty high winds, as a cold front (a high of 60+ degrees and low of 45 for one day) was on its way.  Because it was low tide, we were scraping the bottom and had to head out further into the bay to make progress toward the birds.

Ultimately, we chose to cut the trip short, as our return was going to be into the wind, but it was a great to be out on the bay.  And as usual, the bird life was amazing.

Osprey are nesting at this time.  It was interesting to learn that the Osprey (aka Fish Hawk), whose diet consists completely of fish, does not clean it’s catch in the nest.  The bird removes the head and the guts and only then brings the cleaned fish to the nest.

On the land along the shores of Florida Bay in Flamingo, where our campground was located, there is also a habitat called Coastal Prairie.   Low plants on open prairie that offer a good hunting ground for Red Shouldered Hawks and several species of owls and other raptors.  We heard a number of owls and were lucky enough to see one flying about and hunting.  We also saw this osprey on a branch on the ground while hiking and Hector was able to get very close to him.   

There were also about a zillion Great Southern White butterflies in the coastal prairie area.  These butterflies are especially interesting because they have blue tips at the end of their antennae.

For a different view of the Bay, we signed up for a Florida Bay cruise on a pontoon boat. We chose the 4:30 departure, a one and half hour tour that ends after sunset.  A perfect choice.  A pod of dolphins followed us for a very long time and kept us entertained.

Historic 1950’s Flamingo Visitor Center

It was a very pleasant evening and the sunset was quite beautiful.  This was our last evening in the Everglades and a great ending to a great two weeks.

~ Brenda

Birds of the Everglades

Great Blue Heron

Roseate Spoonbill

Black Necked Stilt

The Everglades is truly a mecca for birders.  There are 366 species of birds that have been observed in the park.

Brown Pelican

Everywhere you go in the Everglades, there are birds.  We encountered them on our canoe and boat trips, hiking, cycling and pond hopping.  I’d purchased a great bird book before leaving Denver and was really enjoying identifying different kinds of birds while Hector chased around after them to take their picture.

Lots and lots of pictures … of lots and lots of birds!

Coots in flight … Coot’s Bay

White Ibis … over Snake Bight

Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal

After all of this bird education I decided to join the “Big Day Birding Adventure”, a six hour program, offered only four times a year.  This program has you follow a park ranger to various areas of the park and take various walks in search for birds.  The ranger who leads the group is actually counting numbers of birds for tracking and reporting purposes.

North American Birders

Anhinga

We showed up Saturday morning and I quickly realized that I was the greenest member of the group (interestingly, Hector was the only one who brought photography gear).  There were intermediate, advanced and very advanced birders in the group.  The leader of the program, Christi, is a longtime ranger and also very experienced birder.

Anhinga nesting

Anhinga with chick

Lunch!

Black Crowned Night Heron

Black Crowned Night Heron

Juvenile

Black Necked Stilt

Great Egret

American Coot

Green Heron

So off we went with the two of us trying to keep up with all the birds that everyone else in the group was spotting.  I have to say that everyone was very generous, helping me to spot birds by moving aside to give me better vantage points and by patiently repeating descriptions of the locations of birds that I had a tough time finding.

Roseate Spoonbills

Rosie

White Ibis

White Ibis

Tri Colored Heron

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Eastern Phoebe

Great Blue Heron

Blue Heron … Lift off

White Ibis

Wood Stork

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Hector thought six hours might be too long, but Christi mentioned at the outset that we were free to break away from the group whenever we liked so this made us more comfortable about joining the group.

Coots Chatting

To the left of the crooked branch … no the other one …

Purple Gallinule

Purple Gallinule avoids being lunch …

Tri Colored Heron

Tri Colored Heron Fishing

Tri Colored Heron

Tri Colored Heron

Snowy Egret

Great Egret

Look closely … you can see the water rumbling from the deep growl!

As a bonus, on our walks, we got to see and hear more alligators bellowing – their rumbling  mating call, which is pretty entertaining.

Caspian Tern

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Wood Stork

Wood Stork

Wood Stork

American White Pelicans

Swallow Tailed Kite

Red Shouldered Hawk

Red Shouldered Hawk

Osprey

Osprey

Osprey with fish

Osprey

American Kestrel

American White Pelican, Florida Bay

Larry, Curly, and Mo

Black Necked Stilt

Black Vulture

Double Crested Cormorants

And part of the group spotted two very rare birds, a white-crowned pigeon and a short tailed hawk.  Unfortunately, I saw both of those only as they were flying away.

Roseate Spoonbills

Great Egret

We wound up staying for the whole six hours, and the once skeptical Hector had a fun day taking photos of the amazing birds and alligators.

~ Brenda

For any avid birders who can help, we also saw this hawk like bird in the coastal prairie habitat, but we don’t know what he is.  Thoughts?  Thanks to our friend from Cape May for the answer … it is a juvenile Red Shouldered Hawk!

We are the One Percent

The most unique program that we participated in was the “Slough Slog”.  The description of this program reads:

Wade through the river of grass into the shadows of a ‘gator hole’ or a cypress dome.  Wear lace-up shoes, socks and long pants that can get wet or muddy.

The museum at the Visitor Center has an exhibit called “Making a Hole a Home” which describes gator holes and slogging as follows:

Cold-blooded creatures, alligators require water year-round to regulate their body temperature.  They stay submerged on cold days to stay warm, and on warm days to stay cool.  Their dependence on water drives them to dig their own pools, assuring themselves a place to plunge for protection from the heat of the searing sun.  A gator excavates its hole by thrashing its tail, digging with hind legs, pushing with its snout, and otherwise moving soft peat and vegetation out of pockets in the limestone bedrock.  This active clearing creates a small oasis that attracts some of the gator’s favorite prey – a self-catered feast of fish, turtles, and an occasional bird.

Slogging is off-trail hiking that brings you into closer contact with the park’s more elusive species.  Some of the most beautiful settings, such as the interior of a cypress dome, can only be seen in this way.  Watch your footing – mucky soil, sharp rocks, and sink holes make walking tricky.  Though gators and snakes tend to avoid humans, if you’re timid about forging your own path, look into a ranger-led slog.

We signed up for the guided “Slough Slog” on Valentine’s Day, very romantic.

The person leading the slog was one of the park’s volunteers, Kathy.  She handed each of us a walking stick that we were to use to locate branches, roots and holes directly in front of us.

Kathy explained that the cypress dome that she’d just visited was kind of dry, and she’d decided to take our group to a different area.  There were two Cypress Domes we could hike to in this area and Kathy mentioned that the one further out was the more beautiful of the two, she called it a “cathedral”.  She asked if we were all willing to walk a little further to this second cypress dome, and we were.

Once we began our hike, I figured out why this outing is rated “strenuous”, even though it’s really not that long.  Walking in the muck is really tough.  Kathy was very thoughtful and stopped for several breaks along the way to point out some of the smaller, less noticeable plants and animals along the way; a green frog, lichen, Cypress knees and periphyton, algae that are the primary producers in the Everglades food web and produce food and oxygen for small aquatic organisms.

We arrived at the Cypress Dome and all agreed with Kathy that this was a magical place and well worth the longer walk.  Once inside the dome, walking was actually easier because the ground there (under the water) was peat and not as mucky as that outside the dome, but there were lot of roots, branches and holes.  We spent a good amount of time exploring the dome and spotted spiders, orchids, more lichen, bromeliads and a hawk in its nest.  The water in the dome was a strangely beautiful clear color with interesting plants.

Kathy then located the gator hole in the middle of the Cypress Dome.  The gator hole was vacant, which gave me some pause as I stood in knee deep water.  But it was such a lovely place that I quickly forgot to worry.

Before we left, Kathy informed us that only one percent of the visitors to the Everglades, an aquatic paradise, ever actually get their feet wet!   And that’s how we became members of the one percent.

~ Brenda

Angel Goes Boating

Hector’s brother Gus joined us one day and we went out on a flats boat for a half day.

It was a breezy morning, and not as hot as previous days, so we decided to take Angel along.  This was her first experience on a boat and we were really looking forward to it.

Angel walked onto the dock confidently, but when she realized that she was going into the boat, she did not look like a happy camper.  She got very low and tried to clutch on to the dock, but Hector was able to soothe her, pick her up and place her gently inside the boat.

Once in the boat, she calmed down and performed her customary olfactory inspection of the perimeter.  We stayed by the dock a little while to get her used to the motion of the boat.

We slowly left the dock initially going through a no wake zone (there are manatees here).  Once we left the no wake zone, the boat could only go a maximum speed of 15 knots so we weren’t exactly speed boating.  In this environment, that was just fine.

We started out in an area called Coots’ Bay after the zillions of Coots that constantly swim in this area.  These little guys are fun to watch as they run across the water, dive to get fish and generally frolic around.  Angel was not really tuning in to the ducks, as she was low in the boat and unable to see them, but she was enjoying the breeze and all of the smells.

We then explored various mangrove islands in an area called Whitewater Bay.  What was most surprising was that we found ourselves totally alone on the water – no other boats as far as the eye could see.  It was fabulous.

There were tons of fish jumping around us and Gus spotted some tarpon in the water.  This is one of the world’s premiere fishing hotspots with Redfish, Mangrove Snapper, Snook, and other gamefish species like Tarpon.  Angel was oblivious to the fish, the wind was making her sleepy so she took a nap.

When we returned to the dock, we spotted one of the crocodiles that spends most of his time in the marina area.  South Florida is the northernmost range of the crocodile and the only place you can see one in the United States.

American Crocodile

So, what’s the difference between a crocodile and an alligator?

American crocodiles are olive gray, have long, narrow snouts, and frequent only salt and brackish water habitats.  Another way to recognize them is that both their upper and lower teeth are visible when their mouths are closed.

Alligator

Alligators are black, have wide snouts, and are found mainly in freshwater locales, though they might occasionally venture into brackish water and saltwater.  In contrast to the crocodile, only their upper teeth are visible when their mouths are closed.

The Everglades National Park is the only spot in the world where alligators live close by saltwater crocodiles.

Fortunately, Angel was clueless about the crocodile, protected as she was in the boat.  Back at the dock, she posed for some photographs and let Hector lift her out of the boat.  Then she headed home for another nap.

~ Brenda

Just what is there to do in the Everglades?

View of Florida Bay from Christian Point

We began our exploration on bicycles, which is a great a way to cover some ground around the campsite and beyond without having to get into a car.   Several of the trails allow bicycles as well.

We also hiked on a number of the trails, many of which are between ½ mile and 3 ½ miles (which is nice when it’s hot and humid) but incredibly varied, offering a glimpse into multiple habitats and wildlife.  Our friends Al and Bonnie joined us for a few hikes one weekend.

We also went canoeing and kayaking and rented a flats boat for half a day.   Being on the water gives you a very different view of the different habitats and wildlife.  We discovered one of our favorite canoe trails on a ranger-guided program on Nine Mile Pond, which had some very technical and fun areas to paddle in.

I’m too sexy …

On this particular trip, we heard alligators bellowing – a mating call – for the first time.  Their mating season usually starts in March, but they apparently are starting early this year.  The sound is a scary and very deep rumble you can hear for a great distance and is accompanied by a mating display of arched backs and inflating their throats.

CROCZILLA!

On that same trip, we were supposed to see “Croczilla” the largest known crocodile in the park (14 feet long or so!), who makes this pond his home.  But he wasn’t around that day.  So we went “Croczilla” hunting on Nine Mile Pond on another day and found him there in all his splendor.

Another favorite activity was “pond hopping”.  On our way to and from other activities we’d stop at various ponds to check out the wildlife and add to Hector’s massive number of photographs of the park.   We even got to know certain birds and alligators that always hung out in the same places.  But we also saw that on different days, and even at different times in the same day, the amount and type of birds in each pond would change.

We participated in some other ranger-led programs, more on this later.

And we signed up for a group boat tour of Florida Bay.

Two weeks at the Everglades was clearly not going to be enough.

~ Brenda

The River of Grass

“There are no other Everglades in the World.  They are, they have always been, never wholly known.  Nothing anywhere else is like them: their vast glittering openness, wider than the enormous visible round of the horizon, the racing free saltness and sweetness of their massive winds, under the dazzling blue height of space.  They are unique also in the simplicity, the diversity, the related harmony of the forms of life they enclose…It is a river of grass.”

Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Conservationist

It’s telling that the first piece of information that you turn to when you open the Everglades National Park brochure is titled “Saving the Glades”.   There are many sources of additional information about the history of and threats to the park, but I’ll include some excerpts from their published literature in this post to give a sense of the extent of the work that is needed and in process and the importance of supporting efforts to “Save the Glades”.

“The park was created in 1947 to save part of the Glades, but its future depends on a healthier, more naturally functioning ecosystem in the entire region, where burgeoning human population thirsts for the same water that wood storks, currently an endangered species, need to survive.  We must create a balance among the competing demands of urban, industrial and agricultural development, with a restored Everglades as its centerpiece.

Everglades alone of U.S. national parks holds three world designations; International Biosphere Reserve, World Heritage Site, and Wetland of International Importance.  After years of drainage and alterations, efforts to save the remaining Everglades and to restore a semblance of their original function are underway.  In 1989 Congress extended the eastern park boundary to protect the eastern Shark River Slough, which is historically important to sustain the Park’s biological abundance and diversity.  Then, in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, Congress authorized the world’s largest environmental restoration project.  Requiring 30 years to accomplish, the plan seeks to return water to more natural patterns of quantity, timing and distribution throughout the South Florida ecosystem.”

And indeed there is “biological abundance and diversity.”  The habitats in the park are largely dependent on very small elevation changes and include:

• Pinelands – occur on the highest elevations in the park, along a limestone ridge that runs along the east coast of Florida.  Pines root in very little soil in rock cracks.  There used to be over 200,000 acres of pines along the ridge; now only 11,000 acres are preserved in the park, it is the last remaining large stand of the once extensive Dade County slash pine forest of southeastern Florida.
• Hardwood Hammocks – are elevations of drier land on which hardwood trees and other vegetation grow profusely.  They generally form as teardrop-shaped islands in the “river of grass” or among the pinelands.

• Sawgrass Marsh – a wide, shallow, slow-moving “river of grass”, the predominate ecosystem of the park.  Within this river, the two major drainage systems are a wide flow called Shark Valley Slough, and a smaller one called Taylor Slough.  A slough (pronounced “slew”) is the name given to the deeper areas at the center of freshwater flow.

• Cypress – Bald cypress trees grow in standing water and are usually found wherever there’s a dip in elevation.  Dwarf cypress trees grow in the open sawgrass and, despite their small size, can be quite old.  Circular-shaped groupings of cypress, called cypress domes, form in low areas in the limestone bedrock.  The tallest trees are found in the deep water at the center creating a dome shape.

• Mangrove Forest/Estuaries – Mangroves take root in brackish zones where fresh water and salt water intermingle.  Everglades National Park is home to the largest continuous mangrove forest in the United States.  Mangrove islands, known as keys, provide important nesting sites for colonies of wading birds.  Salt Marsh Mosquitoes supply wintering and migrating birds with an abundant food source.  The dense mangroves also provide a summer breeding ground for many birds.

• Florida Bay – is the largest body of water in the Everglades, filling a triangle between the southern shore of the mainland and the upper keys.

The Everglades offers endless opportunities for adventure and exploration.

“Nothing is yet saved for good; the Everglades’ fate remains our mandate.”

~ Brenda

Back to Nature

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”
- Martin Buber

Leaving Sunrise meant leaving behind family and friends and many fun times.  And we were headed to a remote area of the Everglades National Park.

Hector first visited the Everglades with his dad when he was about thirteen years old.  And, when he and I first started dating, this was a place that was very special to us.  But, other than one New Year’s Eve that we spent out on a canoe camping trip on a “chickee” on the water, we usually drove over on day trips from Miami.  Which means that we spent most of our time near the entrance to the park.

But this time we planned to spend two weeks at the campground which is located at the very end of the park, Flamingo, on the shores of Florida Bay.  We were really excited about exploring the Everglades more thoroughly.  However, we were a little concerned that there might not be enough to do here for two full weeks.  How wrong we were!

The rangers here compare the Everglades to the great National Parks of the West by saying that the Western landscapes “scream” at you while the Everglades landscapes “whispers”.  The beauty of this park is very subtle and it takes time and patience to fully appreciate it.

We arrived at our campsite just before sunset and were greeted by some hungry mosquitoes.  It’s been unseasonably warm this winter, and the mosquito situation, though nowhere near as bad as it can be in the summer, is worse than usual for winter.

But there was a beautiful sunset that evening.  And once it got dark we were reminded of one of the things we love about the Everglades; we are so far from civilization that the starlit sky is dazzling.  And so are the Everglades when you give them a chance.

~ Brenda

The No-Fi Zone

During the last two weeks, which we spent in Everglades National Park, we had no access to the Internet.  Not only was there no Wi-Fi, but also our Verizon iPad, which is the hotspot we use for Internet access when we have no Wi-Fi, had no signal.

We did have one connection to the world – telephone access on our iPhones (we intentionally have a different provider, AT&T, so when one provider is not available we may have a chance on another).  Unfortunately, the signal was weak and not enough to do much on the Internet.  Hector calls this the No-Fi Zone.    

So we found ourselves way behind on our blog posts.  We’re now back in civilization, in the Conch Republic no less (check out the photo on the home page on Where is Camp Lopez Today) and, in the next few days, we’ll be uploading quite a few posts about the amazing Everglades, so stay tuned.  The blog continues to be a learning experience.

Please let us know if you have any suggestions on how we may improve the blog, we’re definitely open to new ideas and continue to have fun sharing our travels.

~ Brenda

Butterflies and Flamingoes

We visited two interesting tourist attractions while in Sunrise.

The first one, and my favorite of the two, was Butterfly World.  The brochure describes Butterfly World as “the only park of its kind in the Western Hemisphere and the largest one in the world.”  There are more than 3,000 butterflies in their “Jewels of the Sky” aviary at any given time.  The aviary contains many beautiful flowering plants, hummingbirds and other exotic birds.  Other features of the park include a second aviary “Wings of the World”,  a butterfly and bug museum and other gardens.

The “Wings of the World” aviary was my favorite.  When you enter, there are butterflies flying all over.  The aviary contains many beautiful flowering plants, water features and exotic birds.  There is soft, soothing music playing and lots of benches for quiet contemplation.  I have never seen so many and so many different types of butterflies.  I’ll let Hector’s photos tell the rest of the story.

The second tourist attraction we visited was Flamingo Gardens.  They feature “Florida’s largest collection of champion trees set amidst the beauty of 200 year old live oaks.”  Flamingo Gardens also has an Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary that provides a safe refuge for permanently injured, non-releasable animals.  Of course, there’s a big flamingo pond, and an aviary for wading birds from Florida.  Other non-releasable animals include alligators, otters, turtles and birds of prey.  Sadly, a couple of their non-releasable animals are two beautiful Florida panthers – stunning creatures.  Again, I’ll let Hector’s photos tell the rest of the story.

~ Brenda

Moonlight Serenade

Several state and county parks are offering full moon and evening adventures.  We chose a moonlight canoe tour offered by the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, the last northernmost portion of the Everglades, which was just slightly north of our campground in Sunrise, Florida.  Unbelievably, for $10 per person they provided a canoe and a guide to lead you down their five mile canoe trail.   So of course we couldn’t pass that up.

This month, the tour was scheduled on the day before the full moon, which was a Saturday.  It was a beautiful night, and we set out in a two man canoe.

There seemed to be a fair amount of inexperienced paddlers in the group so we had kind of a slow start.  Fortunately, the trail wasn’t technical so people could get away with less than perfect coordination.

Hector and I went ahead of the group and just behind the leader, who was in a kayak.  He really wasn’t offering much information, he was just there to make sure that the group didn’t go the wrong way and that they got back, but he did point out a few things along the way.

The canoe trail went through a sawgrass prairie and a few mangroves.  The light was good enough to see the trail and the prairie but not really good enough to spot a lot of wildlife.  And although we had headlamps it was kind of cool to just paddle without them.   We did spot a few alligators, really you can only see their eyes (glowing red), and because it was a somewhat narrow trail they usually submerged as the canoes approached.  We also managed to spook some birds as we came near them and saw them fly away.

But the most fascinating thing about the moonlight canoe is the sounds that you hear throughout the trail.  It was a constant concert of bugs, frogs, birds and other critters.  It’s definitely a unique experience.  We’ll certainly look for other opportunities to paddle in the moonlight in the future.

~ Brenda

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki

In the Seminole language, Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki means a place to learn.  And that is the name of the Seminole Indian museum at the Seminole Indian reservation in Big Cypress Community, which was directly west of our campground in Sunrise, Florida.  The mission of the museum is “To collect, preserve, protect and interpret Seminole culture and history – inspiring an appreciation and understanding of the Seminole language. “

The members of the Tequesta and the Calusa tribes, the original residents of South Florida and the Everglades, had no resistance to the diseases brought by European explorers.  Entire civilizations throughout Florida died of measles, fevers and influenzas.

The Seminole people are the descendants of the Creek people. The ancestral lands of the Creek culture encompassed parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee.

The early history of the Creek people into Florida is not well understood.  By the 18^th century, Creeks began moving south into Florida.  They banded with any remaining aboriginals and were joined by escaped slaves to become the Seminoles, a word that means runaways.  They continually escaped from the white man, survived three Seminole Indian Wars and are the only native American tribe that never signed a peace treaty with the government.

“After the wars, the few remaining Seminoles retreated deeper south into the Everglades and made their living as hunters, guides and sometimes, curiosities for the tourists. They were also able to make a living while maintaining a distance from the influences that tried so hard to change them.

The 1950’s were a turning point in the history of the Florida Seminole people.  Tribal leaders moved forward and by 1957 had drafted a Tribal constitution. They attained self government through the formation of a governing body, the Tribal Council.

The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Indian Museum officially opened its doors to the public August 21, 1997 helping to commemorate the 40th anniversary of federal recognition of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. It is home to over 30,000 unique artifacts and archival items.  The Museum also boasts one and a half miles of elevated boardwalk through a 66 acre cypress dome. The boardwalk offers educational placards in English, as well as the two languages of the Seminole (Mikasuki and Creek), identifying 67 different plant species and their traditional Tribal uses. The boardwalk leads to a recreated Living Village wherein Tribal artisans demonstrate the traditional arts and crafts of woodcarving, beadwork, basketry and the distinctive Seminole patchwork.

In April of 2009, the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Indian Museum was awarded full accreditation from the American Association of Museums (AAM). This designation is largely significant in that the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki is the first tribally-governed museum to have received accreditation.”

http://www.ahtahthiki.com

The museum was only four years old when we left Florida in 2001 to live in Denver, and we’d not been aware of it previously.   There is obviously still much that we have to learn about the history of Florida, and I’m more fascinated by it now than I’ve ever been.  We thoroughly enjoyed the museum and the boardwalk and learning the history of this very resilient tribe “the unconquered Seminole Indians”.

~ Brenda

Bikes, Boats and Gators

We returned to the northern part of the Everglades to go cycling on the 15 mile trail at Shark Valley, have some more stone crabs at Everglades City and go for an airboat ride.  It was an ambitious plan given the one and a half hour drive each way, but sounded like a fun day.

As we reached the parking lot to the visitor center, we spotted two alligators by the edge of the water, a hint of things to come.

My niece had told me about a  “Tamiami Trail Triathlon” that she was planning on completing and I headed to the visitor center to find out more about it.  The Triathlon encourages individuals and families to get out of their cars and explore areas of the Everglades within easy access of the Tamiami Trail (U.S. Highway 41 which runs east west from Miami to Everglades City).   Participants bike the 15 mile loop road from the Shark Valley Visitor Center, hike a 3 mile loop road from the Oasis Visitor Center, and canoe or kayak a 3.5 mile route from the Gulf Coast Visitor Center in Everglades City.

We picked up the a triathlon brochure, which includes information on the location of all three.  After completing each activity, you must answer the question for that leg of the triathlon found in the brochure and present at the visitor center where the ranger will add their initials and the date as proof that you’ve completed that leg.  Once all three events have been finished and the questions answered, you present the brochure at one of the three visitor centers and receive a beautiful Tamiami Trail Triathlon decal with the Everglades as background.  What a great idea to engage people to experience the Everglades closer up.

We got on the trail and immediately saw more alligators by the side of the road.  All of these creatures were sleeping and seemingly not bothered by people walking and cycling next to them.   The trail goes through a sawgrass prairie with many birds along the way.  At the mid-point there is an observation tower that gives you a 360 degree view of the Park (and many alligators).

We then drove to Everglades City for a lunch of conch fritters and stone crab claws followed by an airboat ride, with a quick stop at  the smallest U.S. Post Office in the country in Ochopee, Fl.

By the time we got to the airboat operator it was late afternoon, and the light was beautiful.  We chose a small airboat which accommodates a maximum of six persons, as we figured these would be more enjoyable than the larger airboats.  The airboat ride was really wonderful; we spotted alligators, more birds and also had a nice encounter with some raccoons.  Even the drive back was to our campground was enjoyable. 

Another great South Florida day!

~ Brenda

Mas Familia

My family, unlike Hector’s, is spread out throughout the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico.  So I don’t get to see many of them at one time.  But in January I had a surprise when I found out that my half sister would be traveling to Fort Lauderdale from Puerto Rico to visit her daughter and her family.  They drove down to Miami and we all had a nice visit on New Year’s Day.

Now that we’re Fort Lauderdale, we got to spend a little more time with my niece and her family.  We also got to spend some quality time with Hector’s sister and her husband (the only immediate family that doesn’t live in Miami).  One particularly fun time was an outing in the evening for an event featuring some of the best food trucks in the area, a DJ and some great music, an event that takes places every first Friday evening at Flamingo Gardens.

Then we drove back to the west coast of Florida to visit my aunt and uncle and four of my favorite cousins, all of whom I’d not seen in a very long time.  There is a very cute story about my aunt Myriam and my uncle Bob, who got married the same day I was born.  In the morning, my dad was at the hospital for my birth, and that same afternoon, he gave my aunt away at her wedding.

And once again, re-connecting with people after many years of not seeing them felt very easy and comfortable and brought back lots of wonderful memories.

~ Brenda

Hector Goes to the Gun Range (Really?!)

As it happens, my old friend and former co worker Wayne regularly pursues his gun hobby  by visiting the large and beautiful target shooting range located right here in Markham Park where we are camping.  Even though I know nothing at all about firearms, Wayne generously offered to teach me how to shoot trap and skeet.  It was great fun, quite difficult, and very interesting indeed.

Both trap and skeet shooting are games where you keep score against your fellow players of how many of the clay targets you hit with a shotgun.  But both these games also simulate the rapid movement conditions you encounter when bird hunting.

In trap, the launcher shoots the “bird” (a small clay disk) away from you and you try to shoot it.  The launcher oscillates left and right so you can’t guess which direction the bird will go, other than the fact that it will be going away when launched.

When it is your turn, your gun is loaded, and you are ready, you say “PULL” and the range safety officer fires the launcher.  The players each take 5 shots from each of 5 shooting positions.  Best score out of 25 wins.  This also explains why shotgun shells come in boxes of 25, how bout that!

I was predictably terrible although much better than I had hoped.  Despite fearing that I wouldn’t hit a single one of the little buggers, I actually scored 7, 7, and 9 out of 25 in three games.  I’m told that was pretty good for a first outing.  Wayne and all the more experienced shooters tended to average in the high teens or even low 20’s most often.

Skeet is generally the same … but MUCH harder.  You still shoot 25 rounds per game from various shooting positions, but the “birds” are launched from 2 launchers on either side of you (one high, one low) and fly across your line of sight … FAST.  Damn near impossible … only 2 out of 25 and I’m shocked I even hit those!

Lastly, with all the news of gun violence and gun policy, I should say how impressed and somewhat surprised I was at the extreme care taken by the range safety officers and my fellow shooters to assure a safe environment.   Procedures were VERY strictly scrutinized and enforced.

It was great to catch to catch up with Wayne, and I so appreciate his providing me a glimpse of a sport I had very little awareness of.  And my shoulder is almost fully recovered from the soreness of firing 100 rounds with a shotgun!

~Hector

The Fort Lauderdale Flu

Hector somehow caught the flu on our first week in Fort Lauderdale.  We took Angel to a very special veterinarian to continue administering laser and acupuncture treatments that we’d begun in Denver for her back legs and hips.  Everyone there was talking about the flu epidemic in the U.S.., which seemed like a faraway thing at the time.

But one fever, headache, a few body aches and lots of coughs and chest congestion later Hector became part of the epidemic.   He was laid out for six days and in partial recovery for a few more days.  Luckily, I only suffered from a mild 48-hour version of it, consisting of just a slight fever and a couple of minor body aches.

Some of this downtime turned out to be slightly productive.  I was able to catch up on laundry, get the car washed, re-organize the “stuff” in the car and on the roof box (Hector “rallied” and helped out on this one), take Angel back to the veterinarian, and take care of some other household chores and errands.

But we also took time to rest and do nothing.  Hector has fully recuperated and we’ve been able to do some fun things in the latter half of the month.  Stay tuned for some updates.

~ Brenda

Canoes and Crabs

We went on an outing to Everglades City, a small village on the west coast of Florida which is the NW access point to the Everglades National Park and the “ten thousand islands”.  We met our friends Al and Bonnie at Clyde Butcher’s Gallery – the Big Cypress Gallery in Ochopee to see some fabulous local photography.  Al and Bonnie brought two of their kids, Natalie and Olivia, and some good friends of theirs along.

We continued on to Everglades City, where we had a pre-paddling snack of conch fritters and Al and Bonnie’s famous Bloody Marys (for the adults).  Then we launched the Dolphin and the rest of the group rented some canoes.

Our timing for going out on the water wasn’t great as we wound up paddling out against the tide and the wind and a couple of canoes capsized.  But everyone survived, some of us got a good workout and all of us managed to have a good time.

Afterwards, we had a delicious lunch of fresh stone crabs at the picnic area by the west entrance to the Everglades National Park.  

Definitely an iconic South Florida day!

~ Brenda