Everglades National Park enroute to the Keys.

After a grueling drive through Miami, we stopped for a few nights in Florida City to relax.  Then started our trip through the "EVERGLADES" to the Keys.

This is an ANHINGA bird, fairly common in the glades.  Really beautiful

in flight with lots of white in the wings.  Even tho I asked him nicely to spread his wings...he just turned away as if to say..."bloody tourists!!"  I would have gone over and smacked it but there were lots of gators between me and the bird:o)))

A typical look at the everglades.....lots of gators, everywhere...

Thank goodness for my new zoom lens!!  No way I was getting this close to one of these prehistoric nasty beasts!!!!!

Notice, he had an eye ball on me!

We took a walk on one of the many boardwalks for an overview of the area.  I let Alistair go first.......just in case........

 
Especially after seeing this sign!!  Many cougars in the glades.

The Everglades is in fact just a huge flowing river, shallow and varying in depth by inches, so some places are grassy while others grow Mangrove Forests.

Stopped at a pond to see some birds and the noise was deafening!!  There were hundreds of birds, various kinds and all over the place.  These two look like jet fighters in flight.

 Pelicans.........all kinds and colours.

 Some type of hawk.

     Stork after making a baby delivery......
       We stopped along the road to help this leather back turtle get safely across........hopefully that is where he wanted to go.......(dumb tourists...can't they just leave a guy alone to sun tan on the road!!)                      

   Notice his "pig like" snout!  Really unattractive turtle.  Bet his friends call him names like PIG FACE and HORN SNOUT....         

This shows how the water level changes in dry season.

 Saw this gator sunning himself at the side of the road on our way out of the park.

Beautiful spot.  But now we are on to see the Keys.

Enroute to Miami

 

We left the RV Park called "MOUSE MOUNTAIN" where we stayed a few nights and headed toward Miami

 We drove down highway A1A along the Atlantic and saw some beautiful (and no doubt way out our price range) homes/mansions.  Reminded me of Galveston on the Gulf in Texas.

Passed by the landing site of explorer "Ponce de Leon".  But he was not around.  Must still be searching for the fountain of youth.  Alistair says he founded "Disney World" instead.. We had fun locating "unique" mail boxes.  A lot of homes had been creative and turned their boxes into local sea and bird creatures......      

                                                      

                                                                              

DISNEY WORLD

As we both had been to the usual places before, we decided on somewhere new so we went to Hollywood Studios. We were not disappointed.

 

Mary got her ride fix with the "Rock n Roller Coaster" and the "Tower of Terror".

I sat around and compared lies with Pinocchio. He doesn't need a pill to make it grow..

 There was a great Indiana Jones stage from Raiders which showed how many of the stunts were done.

As good as all the staged shows are there.. Our favourite was the Star Wars 3D flight simulator trip to the Death Star. A must see but after you shop at the Tatooine Traders, you must fight Darth Vader on exit.

 
Other than getting lost on the freeway on the scooter that night, it was a good day...... Time to head to Miami and the Everglades.
 May the Fourth be with you !!

HEADING SOUTH 2013

Ok, We have been negligent this year. Due to some unforseen happenings, we did not make it south this last winter. Well not in the RV but we did manage 3 trips to Cuba and my daughter Lindsay's wedding.
   About the middle of April, we finally said, why are we here ?? And so we left.... Just headed straight south and....

 Found that spring sure had hit Tennessee. The roadsides were purple with ??? 

 Finally found Spanish moss, palm trees & oranges.

Off to Orlando to see "The Mouse"..