We arrived late in the afternoon in the Florida Everglades. Now, if you know about one of the park's famous inhabitants you will know that this is not the time of day to arrive in the park. Fortunately, we were checking in to cottages (not into the campground).
From the front gate it is about 38 miles (60 kilometres for Canadians) to the water. We were staying down at the water, at the Flamingo lodge and resort in a cottage that sleeps six. The trip in was fairly uneventful for the first 20 miles and then the vehicle in front of us slowed down as a six or seven foot alligator ran across the road in front of us (they can travel up to 30 miles per hour on land .. in straight lines). We stopped and looked at it along the side of the road (those things can hide really well).
At the cottage we ran from the car and trailer as we unpacked and moved our things inside. Those mosquitoes love to hover at the doorway and follow people inside. We had a lot of fun smacking them once we were all inside.
The evening (as has a number of other days and evenings) was full of Yahtzee and other games we could do together. We even got to get on to the computer for a while (that's when we were able to do the computer web site update to Chapter 7 - the Florida Keys).
We had planned two nights at the cottage and one full day in the Everglades. Our full free day was interesting as we headed in to the Everglades by inload boat. Strangely, we did not see a single mosquito on the way in and out. We did see a number of interesting birds and a couple of crocodiles (by the ocean, where the salt water concentration is highest - since crocodiles are a salt water reptile .. alligators are fresh water). One of those crocodiles looked precisely like this:
Later in the afternoon we decided to visit the local swimming pool. Now one thing you really need in much of Florida (they even has this a lot in places like Orlando) is a totally enclosed, screened in room for your pool. In the Everglades this is essential, as can be seen here:
We had thought of spending some time on the second day to do more sightseeing (which is really the best way to view the Everglades), but because we had a long trip ahead of us to Sarasota, we decided to just stop at the Visitor Center on the way out.
Now, on to visit David's Aunt Margaret and Uncle George in Sarasota.