Happy Belated Valentines Day to Everyone

Okay Everyone...I know this is a bit belated but I've been busy or sick...I wasn't even feeling well to even make Richard a card or screensaver or anything...

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day...and yes this will be short...

Everglades-Air Boat Rides-Village

On February 9, we decided to head out to Gator Park (part of the Florida Everglades), Everglades National Park - Shark Valley, and Miccosukee Indian Village...The ride to these places is about 45 minutes north of the Miami Everglades Campground off of Route 997 & Route 41 (Tamiami Trail)...

The weather for this day was wonderful...

Arriving at Gator Park about 9:30am was a good time...
We had a coupon for Buy One Get One Free ride...The store was

filled with all kinds of souveniors...The only thing that we would be interested in would be a nice magnet...

While waiting for 10am to be our time to get on to an airboat, we watched other airboats to come in with them filled with people...

The seats were bench like seats and were flushed to the floor of the airboats...

There was an airboat with raised seats that we were hoping that we would be able to ride in...and when 10am got there, we among 16 others were lead to the raised seats on the airboat...Yeah! What was neat was that we both were able to have our own seats instead of being crowded

next to one another cause the raised seats were for 2 people per seat...

After being told about the airboat, what to do and not to do on the airboat, we took off slowly through the upper Everglades...While cruising slowly to open areas, we saw a few alligators and some egrets...After going down the main stream of the Everglades, the airboat driver put the boat in drive and off we went...It was really cool...The driver took us through the sawgrasses and stopped at certain spots and pointed out areas along the sawgrasses...There were egrets and great blue herons...There was another type of egret with white/black wings but I do not know what kind of egret it was and I couldn't find it in my book...

Our airboat ride was about 30 minutes long, which just wasn't long enough but it a way to see how it felt to ride in an airboat...We got off of the airboat and went in to the store to buy our magnet (the one on the left side with the gator who has the open mouth) for ourselves as a keepsake...We got our magnet and then got a bite to eat there before heading to Everglades National Park - Shark Valley...

Florida Everglades National Park - Shark Valley is off of Rte. 41, Tamiami Trail in Miami, Florida...We arrived at the gate of the park and paid our $10 to get in to the park and park...

Shark Valley has a loop that is for bikers and walkers along with a few other little paths/bridges to see the wildlife/plants/trees...The wild thing about this part of the park is that as you bike/walk along the asphalt path alligators are resting...sleeping...just looking at you...Nothing to fear the Park Ranger says...During the day the alligators are dormant and do not want to be bothered...All they want to do is sleep so that they can be refreshed when they wake up around dusk and go searching for their dinner...

Besides walking or renting a bike or bringing your own bike, you can also pay to ride a Shark Valley tram for about $18 per person and this tram tour takes you around a loop and points out all the trees/plants/alligators...We thought about taking this tram tour but at the time the tour was all filled and the next tour wasn't for another 2 hours later...so we decided to take a little walk down the asphalt path, in the hot sun...To rent a bike was $7/hour, I think...

So we took our little walk down the path and alligators are everywhere...They were on the banks just sunning and letting their body temperature get to where it needs to be for night time...Some alligators were even laying next to the path...At one point, I was about 5 feet away from one not even realizing that there was an alligator in front of me...Scarey!!! So I took my picture and backed up...There are signs that say to stay away from them about 15 feet...After that close encounter, I made sure I was 15 feet away...There were gators in the water just swimming...Now the egrets and the great blue herons were giving the alligators a fit...It seems that the birds like to antongonize the alligators...We saw green herons and anhingas and cormorants...
The loop at Shark Valley we didn't even begin to go on cause it was too hot, no shaded areas, and we wanted to move on to something else...We did go on the Bobcat Path before heading to the truck but there wasn't much to see on this path...Lots of reeds, grasses and trees...There was a sitting area with benches that we stopped at and rested for a little bit...

After the walk here at Shark Valley, we headed to the Miccosukee Indian Village...

We pulled in to the parking lot at Miccosukee Indian Village and could park anywhere...There was hardly anyone there but we decided to go in anyways...The admission fee was $8/person...We walked around in the store a little bit and saw all the souveniors and the blouses, jackets, skirts, and shirts that the Miccosukee Indian women make...The prices for these items were very high...We paid our fee and walked through the doors to the "village"...

As you walk through the doors out to the outside and in to the village all we saw were empty booths where there should be vendors and I am sure that at times there are lots of vendors who fill these stands...We saw carved out canoes, a mock set up of a bed, baby swing bed and how their clothes were hung up...As you walk the path, we came across 2 indian ladies sewing...They were making the skirts or shirts or jackets that we saw in the store...There is a path to a covered area but all you see are reeds...The path leads back to the middle of the village or to the museum...Richard and I walked in to the museum and saw a mock up of how the Miccosukee Village use to look like and an area made up of how wild life would be around them...The walls had all kinds of pictures and a movie room...It really wasn't much, at least it wasn't for me...

About 3pm, there was going to be Alligator Wrestling...So we headed to the stands where this was going to take place...But on the way, there was a solid wall pen and in this pen were little alligators...As we got close to the grandstand there were already people seated and a Miccosukee Indian already in the pit with the alligators...There were 3 alligators and I'm sure they ranged in age...The show was beginning to start earlier than what we were told...

The indian wrestler did his thing with the gator and after the show we finished our picture taking and left the village...We will not go back there again...To us it was a rip off...

Bayside Marketplace in Miami, FL

On February 6 Richard and I decided to head to a new exploring sight called Bayside...Bayside is an outside strip mall with all kinds of ethnic shops, music and restaurants...Also there are boat slips where people with yacht type boats, small and large, can come in to Miami and park their boat at a dock...

Do you think this is a small boat or a large boat? This was something to see coming in from the Atlantic Ocean in to the Port of Miami...

If only CSI: Miami was filmed in Miami...The beginning shots of all the shows are shot on Miami but the rest of the show is filmed in California...I thought of getting a CSI tee but I couldn't rationalize me needing another tee...Buy one, get rid of one...That's how it is in an RV...

On our walk around the shops, I came across several tees for kids...I saw this one and thought it was so cute...and true! *L*

You've heard of Crocs, right! Well, have you heard of Geckos...In this Bayside Marketplace, there is a kiosk where you can buy Geckos and the little jibbitzes...and the best part is that the jibbitzes are only $1 each so I bought 6 of them for future use...

Among all the kiosks, there were tee shirts, knick knacks of all sorts, shoes, mp3 accessories, fedora hats...along with magnets, cups, mugs, keychains, postcards, pens and other stuff...There was an Oriental kiosk, food kiosks, even a beauty parlor to get your hair done...The shops in the Bayside Marketplace had ugly clothes, or none that I liked...More like the rich would wear...

While at Bayside Richard and I were deciding on where we were going to eat...We already knew that we wanted to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company but we wanted to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe too...So we ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and a little bit of an appetizer at Bubba Gump...We were not impressed with the Miami version of the Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) like we have at other HRC's that we have been at...Richard got his normal buffalo wings with his hot sauce and french fries and I got chicken tenders and got to eat a few of his french fries...The inside of the HRC wasn't all that either, at least not to us...but the food was good...After we were done eating, we had to go in the Merchandise Shop...I needed to buy a pin with 2009 on it for our collection so I picked out a guitar...It was a good choice cause I have a few other HRC pins that are guitars too...Bubba Gump was awesome...We got the appetizers of popcorn shrimp which is breaded differently than any other type of popcorn shrimp...and the steamed shrimp was delicious...We really enjoyed all of it...It was the end of a great day...The other thing that we saw was a huge Banyan tree that was about 100 years old...

Getting to Downtown Miami wasn't to bad...We left the campground and headed towards Dolphin Expressway, north...then we took Palmetto Expressway and it turned in to

I-395...After passing over I-95, we took the exit for Downtown Miami...Whew! Talk about crowded...It was just like Downtown Baltimore, around the Inner Harbor...We were able to find a parking lot where we could take 2 spaces for our truck and the fee was $10 which we thought wasn't that bad...However, leaving Downtown Miami was a different story...At first we didn't realize why Downtown Miami didn't look so busy...Then we got on to Palmetto Expressway and found out why...Traffic back up...Plus it didn't help that we had to go by Miami International Airport, once again...Miami International Airport is a HUGE airport...Richard tried to get pictures and I hope that they turned out...After almost 2 hours, we arrived safely home...We had a great day at Bayside Marketplace, Downtown Miami...

Upper Key - Islamorada - Theater of the Sea

On Feb. 2, Richard and I decided to head down to the Upper Keys, Islamorada...We wanted to go to The Theater of the Sea...a small version of Seaworld, kinda...

On our way down to Islamorada, we stopped off at McD's for breakfast so that we didn't have to buy lunch at The Theater of the Sea...Which was good cause they really didn't have anything good there...Well, they did have a good strawberry type dacquiri with no rum...."But where's the rum!"...

Iguanas? What Iguanas? There were some colorful iguanas in the trees...We saw some brightly orange iguanas and with the spikes that they had on their backs, I don't think any one would want to touch them...

Can you spot the orange iguana?

We got on a bottomless boat and got a small ride on the lagoon to see "flipper"...By the time that I could see where the porpoise was going to jump, I may have been a little late...Later on we got to watch the 2 porpoises perform...After riding the boat for about 15 minutes, everyone got off and started exploring...We headed off to the left and followed a path to where there were colorful fishes, old tortoises, exotic birds and The Beach...

On a path, we found little ponds where different tortoises were being kept so that they stay well and out of harm...One tortoise has to have a life vest around it so that it can float...We were told that the back end of this tortoise was too heavy and that the front end was too light and that without the life vest, the poor thing would drown and not be able to come up for air...There was tarpon in a pond and a redfish...It was a bit difficult to get the pictures of these fish but we tried our best...

Along the path are the parrots...All kinds of parrots...Red Macaw...Blue Macaw...and other parrots that I can not remember the kind of what they are...and I should cause my mom had a parrot just like the one shown below...She also had a Red Macaw and a Yellow Nap Amazon and a Grey Amazon parrot...Almost all of the parrots were preening...Cleaning their feathers or cleaning their buddies' feathers...

Then we went in to Parrot Show...

That was really wild...There were about 10 or 11 parrots who where show-offs...It was a pretty neat show...One parrot put a plastic bottle in a trash can to help recycle...One parrot raised the American flag...One parrot put a quarter in a slot machine...We could stay and get to hold one of them but we were heading over to the porpoise show...

The porpoise show was cool...Nothing really spectacular...Nothing that we haven't seen before...Flipping and waving and splashing water...but I did get to go down to the platform and get a kiss from one of them...There are 2 porpoises in Theater of the Sea...They have names but i do not remember their names...But what I remember was how their little noses were all skinned up and how their breath smelled like fish...*dah!* That's all they get as a reward for doing their performances...but I got to kneel down and have the nose touch my cheek for a kiss...It was pretty wild...and the closest that I have ever gotten to a porpoise...

After the porpoise show, we went to the Sea Lion show starring Walter...A pretty big sea lion...He did his tricks, balancing a ball on his nose, catching some rings around his neck, jumping through a hoop, sliding down a sliding board and clapping...

Then we finished up by walking down to the Beach...Not much there...Just some chairs and a little tiki hut where you can get a snorkel mask, fins, etc. for rent...There really wasn't much there...At least not to us...

We ended our day with a little more walking around to get pictures of the pretty flowers and plants...Plants that we do not see anywhere else...and Orchids...

John Pennekamp State Park

On January 28 Richard and I headed to Key Largo, John Pennekamp State Park. We have many pamphlets on what do around the Miami and The Florida Keys and we are taking one thing at a time to do on our days off.

Before we arrived at the State Park, we stopped by this little place called Harriets. It is a little place off of US Rt. 1 around Mile Marker (MM) 96. If you weren't looking for it, you would miss it. We were told about this place by a couple who goes there a lot. The omelets were big and delicious and the biscuits that came with the omelet was huge and very good.

This is how the park is outlined. As you come in to the park you stop and pay the fee of $6 for 2 people. Follow the road to the first parking lot and turn left. Park anywhere you can find a spot. The Visitor Center is to the right of the parking lot and the John Pennekamp Store and Tours is to the right of the Visitor Center. In the store is where you buy the Tours tickets for snorkeling, scuba diving and the glassbottom boat tours. We purchased the Glassbottom Boat Tour at $24 each for the 12:15pm tour. We had a little bit of time to kill so we went in to the Visitor Center.

In the Visitor Center is various information, shells of all sorts and fish tanks. There is a slide show in a room that tells you about the reef fish and corals. In the Visitor Center we signed our names to the Guest Book and then proceeded to take some pictures of the corals, shells and fish in the tanks.

Care to see some crab shells.

This fish (don't know the type) is pretty cool.

There was a spiney lobster in one tank. A moray eel in another tank which is to the right. Other fishes that I could not get a picture of cause of the glare of the tanks.

After visiting the Visitor Center for about 10 minutes, it was time to head over to the line for the Tour. The boat was being boarded about 12:10pm. All rules were told to us and on the boat we went. There were places that we couldn't go yet until we have been on the water for about 20 minutes. It took about 30 minutes to get to the Atlantic Ocean and then more time to get to the area, which I thought was called Molasses Reef. The channel that we were traveling was very pretty. The trees along the channel are called Mangrove Trees. When we told that we could go to the front or back of the boat, we headed to the front. It felt so good to stand there and feel the breeze and take pictures. Richard headed up to the top deck to take his pictures.

This is the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean.

When we arrived out to the Atlantic Ocean, and was on our way to the reef, some of us got to see a stingray come out of the water and go back in the water. That was so cool to see and none of us had time to take a picture of it.

When we arrived at Molasses Reef, everyone was asked to come indoors and find a spot at the railing to the glassbottom sections, of which there were 2 areas. Richard and I found our spot and then while waiting to be told that we could go down the next level and sit with our feet dangling took off my shoes. They said that no loose shoes could be worn where the glassbottoms where. Richard and I sat down and after about 5 minutes, we both felt sweaty, warm, and sick. At this point, the speaker was saying how if anyone felt sweaty, warm, or sick to please go to the top of the boat and get a mint. To sit and watch the horizon and suck on the mint to feel better. Both of us got up and headed upstairs. As time was going by, more and more people were coming up to the top deck. I think that if the area was more air conditioned than it might have been better but I think they turned off the air cause most of the people who came upstairs to the top deck said that it was very warm in the area where we could see the reefs. But I did get a few pictures on my camera before leaving. The pictures you may see are "others" pictures to show you what we could have taken pictures of.

The picture to the right is where the Glassbottom Boat was moving around at Molasses Reef. By this time I was sitting on the top deck with Richard having a mint to help with the seasickness.

After about 30 minutes of being out at the reef, the Captain said that we were heading back to the marina. The ride back wasn't too bad but we both were still feeling pretty bad. So bad that no pictures were taken until we arrived near the marina. Then I took a few pictures of the marina area.

We got off the boat and Richard went to the Visitor Center to go to the dark slide show room to be in the coolness and the darkness. He was really feeling bad. I was slowly feeling better. I went in to the store and walked around and took pictures of some of the merchandise that said Key Largo or other stuff. I got a sprite to sip on and got some magnets since we collect magnets of places that we go. Then I went to get Richard and we sat outside on a bench to enjoy the fresh air. After a little bit, I walked over to the beach area and took pictures of coral and people in the water snorkeling. When I felt better to drive, we headed home. It took Richard a while to feel a lot better. It was a shame that we could not enjoy the reef and all the fish and coral that are out there.