Everglades Alligator Farm

 This was a fun and unexpected day.   We had planned to drive to the northern part of the park and take an airboat ride; however, as we were exiting the park we saw a sign for airboat rides and it would save us miles and time.  The rides were at a place called Everglades Alligator Farm.  They advertise as one of the oldest alligator rescues of alligators in Florida.  We decided to check it out and we are so glad we did.  Not only do they offer airboat rides, but also shows of feeding the alligators and a man "wrestling" an alligator.  The farm also has a small zoo which we enjoyed.

The first thing we did was watch Tyler feed the alligators.  He told us that alligators

 only eat an average of once a week.  He threw chicken into the enclosure and the alligators would not head toward it until the chicken hit the ground and they heard it.

This alligator has a name and it is "Chunky."  He is the biggest one in this pond of over 300 alligators.  He knows his name and is a favorite of Tyler told us that over 75 of the alligators they are are rescued from people who get them as babies or the gators are found in areas where they could cause trouble with people..  

After the feeding, we took the airboat ride.  

The captain of the airboat was "Psycho Paul.  He was a crazy and fun guy.  He loved to do spins and get everyone at the front of the airboat soaked.  Fortunately we were sitting back but we still managed to get a little wet.

This sign explained that airboat are very loud so ear covers are used.

  The ear covers helped but the boat was still very loud.

The airboat.

The last show we saw was Tyler "wrestling" with two different alligators.

Tyler was an interesting young man.  He told us that he started college majoring in biology but he dropped out after one year.  The reason...after graduation, he would have a huge financial debt and still would not be doing what he really liked and that was working with alligators.  He began working for a pizza restaurant in the evening and volunteered at an alligator rescue during the day.  Twelve years ago, he got hired on full-time at the Everglades Alligator Farm and loves every minute of his work.  Honestly, how lucky is he to come to work every day in shorts, tee-shirt and flip flops.  After the show, we each got to hold a baby alligator.  Of course, the alligator had his mouth taped so he could not bite anyone.  I had pictures of Carol and I holding the baby but of course, I can't download them to this blog right now.

After the show we talked to Tyler and told him that we had not yet seen an alligator in the wild.  He told us a secret as to how to find them in the wild.  He told us to drive along the road in the park to Flamingo Campground.  Watch for markers like the one above along the side of the road.  These markers indicate thee is a drainage ditch nearby.  He said to do this when it gets dark and take a flashlight.  Shine the light into the water in the ditch and lots of time you will see an alligator.  He said he like to take photos of wildlife and he gets some good ones using this method.  I am sure it would work but Carol and I are not going to be out after it gets dark do find alligators.

We kept passing this fruit/vegetable store and wondered about the strange name so I looked it up on the internet one day as we drove by.  In the 1950's Robert's family had a fruit/vegetable farm.  Robert's dad set Robert up with a vegetable stand to sell some of their crops.  No one would stop so his father painted a huge sign saying, "Robert is here."  People began to notice the small boy with his vegetable stand by the road once the sign was made and they began to stop and buy vegetables.  The name stuck and has been enlarged to a full-fledged business.  Robert is still at the store.  In fact, we saw him behind the counter.  He sells all kinds of interesting vegetables.   He sells milkshakes that you can get in almost any kind of flavor or combination of flavors so we each had one.  They were delicious.

Although the sign below the Purple Martin Houses can't be read, the sign says "These Purple Martin Houses are located in the southernmost part of the United States."  Everyone here is trying to latch onto the "southernmost" thing.

It was a another very nice and interesting day.  Back at the camp we relaxed.  Since I had no blog to do, we watched a DVD and wee in bed by 9:30.  During the night we got a rain which caused the tree branches to sag and hit against the bedroom slide.  We decided to put the slide in because we didn't want any damage to the finish or roof.

Tomorrow will be our last day here.  When I originally planned this trip, we were going into Miami one day that we were here; however after experiencing the crazy traffic when we went to Key West, we were not too keen on going into Miami.  We decided instead to drive to the northern part of the park and take a tram ride through Shark Valley.  It would be a wise decision.

Boat Tour

 

We took a boat tour from the marina.  

One of the first things we saw was an osprey nest.  We were told that ospreys mate for life and return to the same nest each year so each year the nest gets bigger and bigger.  There is one nest three times the size of this one.

This is an osprey we spotted taking a quick bath in a puddle along the road after we had see the nest.

The trees along the canals the boat tour went through were very interesting.

  A lot of the trees with the roots growing into the water are called mangroves.  Manatee also live in the Everglades but we did not see any.

This red trunked tree is called a gumbo limbo tree

.  The trunk is red so the locals call it a "tourist tree" because the skins of tourists are red after they visit the Everglades.

.  

This is a Tri-colored Herrin.  It is blue, white and grey.

We saw this crocodile. This is the only place in the world where American Crocodiles and American Alligators live together.  The crocodile prefers salt water and the alligator prefers fresh water and both salt and fresh water are present at the Everglades.  There are some places in the Everglades where both fresh and salt water are present and that is called an estuary.

Another crocodile.

Crocodile.

Crocodile.

Tri-colored Herrin

This is a green iguana.  We were leaving a trail we had taken to see alligators.  We did not see any alligators but as we were getting into our car, this iguana lumbered out of the woods onto the curb.

The same iguana.

After the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the United States built four Nike Missile Sites in Southern Florida as a way to protect Miami from missile attacks from Cuba.  They have all been deactivated now but during the winter months, tours are available at this site.  We think that would be a neat tour to take but we are here at the wrong time.

We stopped in the Flamingo Visitor's Center and talked to a man who told us he was Cuban and had come to the country with his family when he was only 10 years old.  He was very anxious to tell us that he was conservative and loved this country.  He knew a lot of history about the Everglades.  One thing is told us was that Key West likes to brag that  they are the southernmost point in the United States but he says there is a road in the Flamingo area that is the southernmost road in the continental United States.   He was a very interesting man to talk to and we could tell he was proud to be an American.

Silence in Everglades National Park

Packed up and on the road by 8:30.  Not in too much of a hurry since it is only 275 miles to Everglades National Park.  There wasn't a lot of traffic.  We drove south on US 27 through the orange groves and sugar cane.  There was some road construction which caused traffic to slow and be bottlenecked.  I snapped a quick picture of an animal warning sign that surprised us.

Yes, that is a "bear crossing" warning sign.  Who knew there were enough bears in Florida to warrant a warning sign along the highway.  This is the third time we have traveled on this road and we still have yet to see a bear crossing this highway!

We had previously scouted out a gas station in Homestead where we could get into and get gas in the motorhome so we really confused the GPS when we didn't follow it's directions to the park.  It had to keep recalibrating.  We were pleasantly surprised that gas was only $3.29 a gallon.

We finally made it to the park entrance.  The drive to the park was very pretty.

We found site #24 at Flamingo Campground T-Loop.  T-Loop is the only one that has 50 amp hookups.  It does not have water or sewer hookups but we can manage without those as long as we have power.  The campground is beautiful.  All roads  and sites are paved.  The sites are very well space and level.  There are approximately 70 sites in T-Loop.  It looks like we may be the only other camper in this loop tonight.

After we got set up, we were able to sit outside for awhile because there was a cool breeze blowing and the mosquitoes were not bothering us.  The ranger who checked us in said that the mosquitoes in this camp were "intense."  So far no intense mosquitoes.  It began to rain and we put the chairs up and went inside to have supper and relax.  There is no cell service at this camp.  It is located at the very southern tip of Florida, really off the grid, so I will not be blogging while we are staying here.  It will be very quiet which is very different from other campgrounds.  It will also be dark although the power outlets have red lights on them which gives off a little light.  T-loop has cold showers but we braved them so we could wash off all the bug repellent we had sprayed on.  I did get one mosquito bite from one in the restroom.

I am posting this blog on Friday.  We are set up in St. Augustine and have internet service.  I had hoped to post more pictures but again, there is a problem which I am not able to figure out right on my own.  I need to "unzip" my compressed pictures from the cloud and make them Jpeg pictures which I have been able to do until tonight.  What happened between Sunday when I last did it and tonight, who knows!  I guess it is the Everglades effect!!

Final Day in Winter Haven

Today is our last day in Winter Haven.   It was good to have time with John and Family.  I think we got to know the Florida Grandkids a little better and enjoyed being able to spend time with them.  I was up early because I needed to catch up on my laundry.  I was rewarded with this beautiful sunrise.

Another reward was having a lizard keep me company in the shower room.  He seemed unfazed by the fact that I was invading  his space.  Lizards are plentiful here in this part of Florida.  Yesterday at John's House, his cat escaped to the outside and caught a lizard.  One of the kids let her back in and, of course, she brought the lizard in with her.  It was a little chaotic for awhile as John and the kids chased the cat who was holding tightly to the lizard.  John finally caught her, took her back outside, and managed to convince her to drop the lizard. Lizards in the house are common place in Florida.

John and Family came to the motorhome for lunch today.  It was a pleasant day temperature-wise so we were able to eat outside.  After visiting and saying our goodbyes, Linda snapped this picture with of our Florida Grandkids, Aidan and Katie.   Katie graduates from high school in May and we plan to be at the graduation.   That will mean two of our four grandkid will be out of high school.  Where has the time gone?  

After they left, Carol and I relaxed and then began the task of pack-up preparation.   We only have 275 miles to drive to Everglade National Park and we can't check in until 3:00 p.m. so there is no big hurry. Information from the park says that the campground we are staying in only has AT&T  cell service and we have Verizon so no internet for us and possibly no telephone service. This may be the last blog I write until Friday when we will have moved to St. Augustine.  I don't know what I will do with all my evening time!!  It would be nice to sit outside and observe nature, the stars and the moon but the literature also says mosquitoes are very, very plentiful, so I don't think we will be sitting outside in the evenings.  All our observations will have to take place during the daytime so we can hopefully avoid the mosquitoes.

International Market World Flea and Farmers Market

Our plans for the day were to go with John and Family to a flea marked located near their home.  When we leave the campground, a medium in the highway won't allow us turn west so we turn east and go to the first stoplight to make a U-turn. Everyone make U-turns in Florida because they are legal.  Nearly everyday, there is a panhandler standing at the stoplight in the medium.  He has a very unique way to draw attention to himself and hopefully make some money.  I know it is hard to tell from this fuzzy picture but he dresses in a way that draws attention.  He wears a fluorescent green shirt, bright red hat, and uses a bright yellow sign to print his message. This man and the other I posted about are very creative in how they present themselves in order to attract attention and hopefully, donations.  Decatur panhandlers need to become more creative instead of their common, boring cardboard signs.

We walked through the flea market.  Anything you could want or need was here.  We saw refrigerators for $350.00, washers and dryers, t-shirts, DVDs, jewelry, huge tomatoes, just to name a few things.  Of course, they had food to eat so we sat by a cool lake at picnic tables to eat.  Aidan and Carol enjoyed sitting at the table together.  Carol had a Cuban Sandwich and Aidan a cheeseburger.  They said both were good.

The lake was not only pretty to look at but gave off a cool breeze.

We saw 7-8 large turtles and lots of fish near where we ate.  They were hoping for a crumb or two to be tossed their way.  Linda said there was even a alligator ore two that live in the lake.

We watched the circus.  It was no Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Bailey Circus but it was very entertaining and we enjoyed it.

This lady had three poodles who do tricks.

In addition to the poodles, she had a cat that did things like jump through a hoop.  I am amazed that she could teach a cat to do tricks.

There was a clown.

A pony performed tricks.

This man was a magician and he also did fire-eating tricks.

This man did a balancing act.

After the show Linda talked to one of her former students.  This picture shows Linda taking a picture of Katie, the former student, and his father who was the clown.

  This picture show Aidan, Linda, the former student and his father, the clown.  He liked the picture.

Following the circus, we hoped to see a traditional Florida show of alligator wrestling.  The man who did the show was a Seminole Indian and John and Linda had seen the show before.  We found out that they no longer have the show.  We were disappointed but the alligators were still there so we looked at them.

A sunset to end the day.

After shopping and eating, we went back do their house to relax.  Linda made a delicious super of pulled pork and Mexican street corn.  A co-worker of John's had baked a blackberry cobbler, so we had cobbler for dessert.  All was good.  Back to camp around 7:00.  Tomorrow, John and Family will be coming to the moetorhome for lunch.  It will be another good day of family time.