Feb 9, 2013 - Big Cypress National Preserve

Stayed one night at Collier Seminole State Park and then moved to Monument lake in Big Cypres Preserve. This was a nice dry camping place for $16 night. Fun fishing there and had a great time on the LOOP Road nearby. LOTS of gators and birds!!! A creek called Sweetwater Strand was awesome!!

Feb 7, 2013 - Everglade City, FL - 2013

On our way to Everglade City we stopped at the Clyde Butcher Art Gallery right in the middle of Big Cypress. He is an amazing photographer. His story is truly an inspiration for anyone interested in photography. Really glad we made this visit. Everglade City is a small town to explore. We visited the Everglade National Park Gulf Coast Center and decided we had to come back and canoe out into the gulf and some of the small islands. More about that in another post. We visited the local museum which told in grim details of Hurricane Donna in...

Feb 7, 2013 - Everglades National Park Canoe Trip, FL - 2013

We were not going to be available for the ranger led canoe tour to a few of the gulf islands at the Everglades Gulf Coast Center so we are heading out on our own. The rangers assured us we could do it ourselves. For $24, we rented a canoe and set off for some nearby islands. It is exciting to think about navigating a few of the 10,000 islands of the Gulf Coast. We were given a map, the do's and don'ts speech and we set off. The tide was in our favor heading out. Returning, the tide was going to be against us, but the wind would be at our...

Mar 15, 2012 - Everglades NP - North

Shark Valley is on the northern perimeter of Everglades NP, a day's drive (about 100 miles up Rte 997 and east on Rte 41) from Flamingo Visitor Center. The baby alligators hatched in Feb/Mar but already were learning to lie on the hot rocks in the sun. Turtles, gar fish and wading birds all share the same water canals in what appeared to us to be a harmonious balance. Contrary to the name, no sharks live in these waters. The Everglades is actually a slow-flowing river, the Shark River, making its way from this valley to Florida Bay in the...

Feb 25, 2011 - Smallwood Store

Smallwood Store Starting in 1896 Ted Smallwood carried the mail by sailboat between Chokoloskee and Marco via Everglades [City]. In 1897 he married and settled down on Chokoloskee Island. He hunted alligators, cut buttonwood (for charcoal), fished and raised tomatoes. In 1906 he became postmaster for Chokoloskee and opened a general store which housed the postoffice. He remained postmaster until he retired in 1941. His daughter succeeded him as postmaster. Ted Smallwood died in 1951, but his daughters kept the store open until 1982.Ted...

Feb 25, 2011 - Chokoloskee Island - Everglades National Park

February 14 - 25 Chokoloskee Island - Everglades National Park We left Greg's and headed west, across "Alligator Alley" toward Everglades City and our next campground, Outdoor Resorts - Chokoloskee. This is the third year we have stayed here and each year we seem to extend our enjoyment - this year for almost two weeks! We first became aware of the tiny (0.3 sq miles, population 404) Chokoloskee Island back in 2004 when we went on a guided kayaking adventure that departed from Everglades City. Chokoloskee Island is essentially a very large...

Jun 2, 2010 - Everglades Air Boat

Today we took an Air Boat ride in the Everglades south of Naples out of Everglade City. It was amazing and fun. Our captain was very informative and entertaining. We saw many birds and lots of alligators. The Everglades is extraordinary because of its unique and diverse plants and animals. Over 2,000 different kinds of plants make up the everglades, including the pinelands and the mangroves. In areas near the coast where the salt water of the gulf and Florida Bay meets the fresh water traveling from Lake Okechobee is realm of the mangrove...

May 7, 2010 - Travel Day

Friday was the travel day. We stopped in at Robbie's and payed #3.00 to feed some huge Tarpon. The kids didn't get the hang of it very well. Then we had a nice lunch and drove about 4 hrs away to Everglades City and stayed at a really nice place. Outdoor Resorts of America for a couple of nights. We all had a great trip!

Feb 25, 2010 - Chokoloskee Island

We left Greg's around 11 in the morning on Monday and headed to Rt 41 where we checked out Midway Campground (National Park Service). It is much like Flamingo, but has electric! However, there are no reservations and you take a chance on the "first come, first served" policy. The Outdoor Resorts RV Park is on the opposite end of the camping spectrum from Flamingo. Located at the very first left on Chokoloskee Island after the causeway from Everglades City, this is a miniature town with well paved roads, beautiful landscaping, and complete...

Dec 31, 2009 - Happy New Year, from Fort Myers, Florida

On the 31st we drove over to Pine Island, outside of Fort Myers, to spend a couple of nights with full hook-upss and relax. We knew nothing would be open for business on the 1st, so I've been finally catching up with this journal. Tomorrow we carry on, and in a couple of days we'll be out of Florida and on around the Gulf of Mexico. Today has been a stormy day, so a good one for staying indoors. Tonight we tried rock lobster for part of our New Year's dinner - they have no claws so you just eat the tail, but they tasted pretty good anyway!

Nov 12, 2009 - Airboat ride

Thursday morning we drove over and looked at the canoe rental spot at Black River, in the park. Thought about doing that for the morning, but opted instead to drive the twenty or so miles to Everglades city and go out in an airboat. That was fun, and informative, but no alligators. Seems the waters of the Everglades start getting salty as soon as the rainy season is over, here in FL. And gators really dislike salty water, so they head for the less briny stuff. I got some fun photos though. We wandered thru some VERY tight canals, with some...

Feb 10, 2009 - Everglades Nat'l Park - Day 1

Today we visited Everglades City, location of the Gulf Coast Visitor Center at Everglades Nat'l Park's western saltwater gateway. We took two boat tours to view the sights in this corner of the park ... the Ten Thousands Island tour of the pristine gulf coast islands ... and a coastal mangrove tour into the fresh water interior portion of the park. Not a surprise, this is a beautiful park ... much different than any we've seen so far ... but beautiful in its own way, as so many parks in the country are. Hope you enjoy seeing some of what we...