Sunday, June 10, we did more driving, headed south. We drove through Sarasota and found Trader Joe’s. Good thing – Albert was out of Chocolate Cats! (Then we took a quick stroll to work off those Chocolate Cats)
We ended up staying for the night behind the SDA church in Naples (Thank you, Pastor Bill!).
Before turning in, we took a walk with Melbee and saw several wild bunnies in peoples’ yards.
Monday, the 11th, it was Everglades NP time!
It’s not a trip to FL if you don’t get your head caught in a shark’s mouth at least once!
We took an airboat ride and saw two alligators.
This is a female. She was about 6 ft long.
This guy is the ruler of the roost around these parts. To measure the approximate length, you measure the length from their eyes to the bump on the tip of their snout. Whatever that is in inches, that translates to feet. So, he had about 12 inches from bump to eyes, making him about 12 ft long.
That’s s the female again. The boys wanted a closer look.
After airboating and screaming with glee like a bunch of little girls, we did a mile loop on a boardwalk, out into the “wild”. It felt wild.
These guys were everywhere. And HUGE. Like 3 inches long. And as slow as a sloth, so sadly, there were lots of dead ones, too.
Ean with an alligator skull.
Dayne, holding a croc skull.
Brodee is holding a manatee rib. They’re actually quite heavy.
After everglading, we headed out to do some errands before heading south again toward the Keys.
This isn’t a sign you see every day….unless you’re in the EVERGLADES!!
There are so many mango orchards south of Miami. And you can smell them while driving by. Did you know there are over 1700 varieties? Neither did we. Robert told us.
This is Robert. He owns a fruit stand. It’s called ROBERT IS HERE. So is Albert. He told us about the mango varieties. We bought a “Donny” avocado from him. Never had one of those before.
A Malo Walkabout 