Jul, Martha, and I headed down (and over) to the Everglades today. We had never seen them and given they are the third biggest national park and all it seemed like we should check them out. Also after 13 years of coming here it seemed like I could find a way to take time out of my busy sit on the beach or eat activities to see something different.

The Everglades (or “the glades” to those in the know…ok I lied, nobody calls them that but I would if I had to refer to them a lot) are about 2 hours from Bonita across the state towards the East coast. We dragged our vacation asses out of bed at 6am and headed out on the road. We missed the turn off to the park and almost hit Miami before realizing we had overshot. This resulted in missing the 9am tour but giving us some time to walk around. We weren’t but 3 minutes down a trail when Martha noticed some “tire rubber” by the side of the road that turned out to be one of thousands of alligators we would see that day.

Interesting tidbits and thoughts:

• We are going to be in big trouble if we loose this area. I believe biodiversity is the word they used but regardless of what you call it the park is teeming with an endless number of plants and animals. Thank god for the national park system.
• Long necks are all the rage for birds in the Everglades. I imagine if I had to eat out of a swamp I might appreciate a long neck.
• The female alligator only mates with a male if he can hold her underwater for a certain amount of time. I would like to draw parallels to human mating rituals but will resist the temptation.
• Watching an Egret take a fish he has speared, flipping it in the air, and swallowing it whole is a pretty impressive sight

I posted some of the better photos over on flickr.