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 :)