You can take the GRITS out of Florida, but you can't take Florida out of the GRITS!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

A Day in the 'Glades

I felt the urge to head south to the Everglades yesterday and made Sam and Aidan come along for the ride. I didn't realize it'd been so long since we'd been down there...the Flamingo lodge is still closed because of old hurricane damage and the cabins are gone. All this time and they haven't done anything to repair them...the gift shop and restaurant are closed too. Sad. I hope they plan on rebuilding eventually.

The ride down to Flamingo was pretty uneventful. We never even saw a single gator. The first time I've ever been in the 'Glades and not seen at least one! Crazy...I wonder what all the tourists must think!

We walked a couple trails and looked for good things to take pictures of like this pretty flower ( I think it's a Climbing Aster)...


And my kids...


Some black and red mangroves...

We were in a panther area and someone got a little concerned.



The muddy colored water of Florida Bay.


This is usually a good place to see lots of birds, but today it was empty. We did see a Snail Kite soaring around, but I wasn't quick enough with my camera.

We laughed when we saw a bunch of tourists taking pictures of the Spanish Moss. Does this stuff only grow in Florida? I think not...anyway, I decided to play tourist and take a picture, too.
Well, that was about it. Hardly any birds (except buzzards), no snakes, no gators, no deer, no turtles, no rabbits, no nuttin'! Regardless, a day in the Everglades is better than a day in the city :)

5 comments:

Pamela said...

I've been missing my usual birds --- my feeders have been empty.

Where are the birds.

Well, we don't have moss hanging on anything around here. If I came to visit, I'd probably be ecstatic and taking photos, too (:

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing these...One of these days I'll get my butt down there...All these years in Florida and I still haven't explored the Everglades...I am a slacker

Sandcastle Momma said...

You have beautiful boys!
I love the look on the little guy's face LOL
It sure is pretty down there. That's one of the few things I miss about living there - time spent in the 'glades.
I love Spanish Moss. My mother has a couple of trees in her yard that are covered with it. I learned as a child that red bugs live in it and you don't roll around in it when you're playing LOL

Anonymous said...

Great photo tour, thanks!
SCG

marcandeliana said...

Wonder where all the critters were hiding. Or maybe the Burmese pythons got 'em all? How were the skeeters out there? Snail Kite is a great bird sighting!

The muddy Florida bay water creeps me out ... Eliana and I did a 3-day backcountry canoe trip to Cape Sable in '06 and the waters were seriously shark infested! Only you can't see 'em in the mud except for their dorsal fin or when they hit your boat. THUD!
http://web.mac.com/exoticdvm/kramer/Day_1.html