Summer Trip 2 - Key Largo, FL

Day 1 - Heading to Key Largo, FL
Car 1 - Tom, Cara, Madison, Mark, Teddy, Darcy
Car 2 - Beth & Grandma Mary Anne

The consensus the night before was that we would leave our house at 6:30 AM and head down the road. This meant that Beth and Grandma Mary Anne would need to be on the road at 6:00 AM to make it to our house on time. At 6:30 AM Tom and the boys and Darcy were sitting in the van. At 6:30 AM Beth and Grandma Mary Anne were just waking up. This had Tom a tad grouchy and he wandered around the house muttering under his breath.

After agreeing to meet up with Car 2 at a local bakery, we loaded up in the van and set off to get gas, money, and ice. We met up with the others and loaded up on a dozen donuts and coffee for the driver of Car 1. By the time we actually got on the road it was almost 8:00 AM.

The day was clear and sunny. The kids occupied their time with movies, books and mostly with hooking up Nintendo DS's and playing different games. I read one of Ted's library books and became instantly hooked. Tom drove and listened to various radio personalities on AM stations. By the time we stopped for a break it was a little before noon and we were in the Everglades.

We stopped at Gator Park in the Everglades National Park which featured alligator wrestling and air boat trips into the Everglades. We signed up for both, slathered on sunscreen and bug spray, put ear buds in our ears to block out the noise, and climbed aboard Capt Rick's air boat.

Grandma & Teddy trying to block out the air boat noise

The canal as we headed out

Captain Rick was a hoot. His voice was a gravely-I-scream-over-this-noise-daily cigarette smoking tone that had us all straining to catch what he was saying. He gave us the warnings about hanging limbs over the side and sticking out hands in the water. A big no-no in the swamps of the Everglades as everything from alligators and American crocodiles to anacondas live quite happily there. He told us that the gators are jumpers so those of us on the sides needed to make sure we weren't eating or drinking anything the gators might be interested in. I scooted a little closer to Darcy and away from the edge where I had eagerly sat thinking I would get great photos.

We started down the swamp with Rick giving us information. The Everglades was given the name "The River of Grass" by Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 1969 because the water travels very slowly from north to south and isn't stagnant like in swamps. It has miles of prairies of sawgrass that rise 3 to 10 feet above the surface. The water is only about 8 to 12 inches depending on the rainfall and is about 85 to 90 degrees in the summer. As we moved along the canal Rick suddenly stops and begins yelling, "Lily! Lily, Daddy is here. Come to Daddy." He then explains that Lily is an alligator that births several of the "finger biters" that roam the canal daily. She knows his voice and usually will come out when she hears him. He begins his shouting to her again. "Lily! Come on girl. Come to Daddy." And sure enough up ahead of the boat comes Lily, her snout showing above the water as she slowly makes her way to Captain Rick.

Lily checking out the boat

Saying Hi to "Daddy Rick" and getting some food

One of Lily's offspring

a little "finger biter"

Eventually we left the canal and took off down the Everglades enjoying the tall saw grass. There is no dry land out here, just miles and miles of water and animals. The view was beautiful. We learned that the Everglades was formed over thousands of years of heavy rainfall and overflow from Lake Okeechobee. It extends southwest from Lake Okeechobee and the Gulf of Mexico, covering 5,000 square miles and lying in a shallow basin of limestone.

As we got out into the Everglades, Capt Rick cut the engine and stopped our boat. He got out and stood in the water and encouraged all of us to follow suit. He promised that out here there were no alligators or crocodiles, but because I had on my good tennis shoes I passed on the offer.

Capt Rick giving us the go ahead to muck around in the glades.

The kids, however, took him up on the offer. Mark went first and Teddy and Madison soon followed. Darcy opted to stay in the safety of the boat.

The cousins in the Everglades

Capt Rick then had everyone climb back on board and off we went back to the start of our trip. We saw Lily once more and a few birds that ate from Capt Rick's hands. We had a couple of finger biters peer up at us as they swam around and we spied another gator who ignored us altogether.

Once back on land we were ushered into a thatched hut and seated closely to a fenced in alligator that appeared unreal...until he opened his mouth.

Our host arrived and encouraged all of us to take pictures of the various animals that he pulled out for our viewing. He explained the difference between a turtle and a tortoise. He educated us on skunks. He brought out a scorpion and brought her around for all of us to touch. Eventually he got around to "wrestling" the alligator. He explained that the Indians use to do this back in the day when they gator hunted for food.

He hopped on his back, closed the gator's eyes, closed his mouth, put his own chin under the gator's snout and let his hands off the gator. After hopping back off he showed us how to put your hand into the gator's mouth without him snapping it off. I've decided not to try it if I ever do meet up with an alligator.

Next up was the smaller alligator whose mouth was safely taped up. Darcy decided she would handle this one since she didn't stick her feet into the Everglades.

Darcy with the gator

Mark taking his turn with the gator

After checking out the un-air-conditioned gift shop, we all hopped back into the van and began our caravan once more down the strip toward our hotel in Key Largo. A nice way to break up the traveling.