Gators and Goodbyes

Happy Earth Day! Today we woke up in our lovely glamping tent, having survived the night and the very long walk to the bathroom. No critters got into our tent and we only had a few mosquito bites. We packed up our stuff and headed towards the main road out of the Everglades. We planned to stop at various trails along the way out. The first stop was at a pond to see alligators possibly and lots of birds (a rookery). We saw vultures (turkey and black), wood storks, and a roseate spoonbill. While there, we ran into two people who live in Grand Rapids! They saw mom’s Calvin shirt and started talking to us. They are both photographers and one is trying to start a business. They gave us lots of tips and facts about the birds we were seeing and where to see more! It was such a fun coincidence.

After this stop, we continued up the road and stopped at a trail called the “Mahogany Hammock”. Hammocks occur with the change in elevation; in this case a gain of 4 feet! With this new height, more trees are able to grow and it creates a denser forest of varying trees, including the largest mahogany tree! There are also lots of air plants and big fan-like leaves. Our next stop included an unsuccessful attempt to find baby owls. The two Grand Rapids women that we met told us they had seen them at this certain spot, but apparently we are not very good birders or listeners.

Finally, we arrived at the Anhinga trail. It was much busier than our other stops and did not disappoint! We saw several alligators and turtles in the lily pad covered water along with a lot of fish. We also saw the Anhinga bird which is a fairly large black bird which likes to dive in deep water to catch fish. It is often seen with its wings spread out to dry them.

After leaving Everglades National Park we stoped at Gator grill and tried some gator bites. Not bad, but not our new favorite. Next we headed to Biscayne National Park (our 3rd National park in 3 days!). We stopped at the visitors center and then walked the convoy point jetty trail all along the coast. It was beautiful! We didn’t spend too much time because we know we will back to Biscayne in the next few days.

We checked into our AirBnB in Palmetto Bay (and got back online) where we could take showers before bringing Denise to the airport for her flight home. We will miss her and her mad skills playing the Mind. :-)Baca lagi