May 11, 2013 - Everglades

Well, we are on the move again. Key West was OK. Now we have gone on the airboat ride in the Everglades, and had alligator tail to eat. It's OK but it doesn't taste like chicken. We took a tour into the Everglades and it was wonderful. The guide knew what she was talking about. The weather has been great. Next we will be moving up the gulf coast to Marco and Sanibel Islands so Cindy can beach comb. Stay with us, life is a journey. And God has blessed us.

Feb 7, 2013 - Everglades Shark Valley Visitor Center, FL - 2013

The Shark Valley Visitor Center is located in the north area of the Everglades National Park. There is a 2 hour tram tour into the heart of the sawgrass region of the park. Well worth the cost of $20. There is also a $10 Everglades National Park Entrance fee. Still worth the money. The concessionaire also offers bicycles for rent. The tour is 15 miles of flat paved road. Easy to hike, bike or ride the tram. The narrated tour is especially meaningful to the first time visitor. There is so much to learn if you are interested. Although this...

Dec 18, 2012 - Everglades National Park, FL

The morning of Dec 18 we left Miami for an 80 mile drive to Flamingo Campground in Everglades National Park for a three night stay. Flamingo Campground is located near the Flamingo Visitor Center which is at the southern most tip of Florida, not counting the Florida Keys. We took a two hour guided boat tour of the Everglades during which we saw crocodiles, alligators, numerous bird species, Mangrove trees and the poisonous Manchineel tree. Watch the attached video of the Manchineel Tree, the guide gives a very interesting narration about...

Apr 20, 2012 - Seventeen

Yup, 17 National Parks on our trip now (26 in our life time). We notched another as we made it to Everglades National Park. The Everglades is a very interesting place. We saw more alligators in the wild than ever before. We took a ranger guided walk, went into both visitor centers and camped for half price at the Flamingo campground. We were totally out of cell and Internet service in this very remote location. We stopped into a McDonald's for breakfast in Florida City and I'm using their wi-fi. On our way to the west coast of Florida with...

Apr 2, 2012 - Events in the Everglades

We left the Florida Keys on November 1 and travelled about 130 miles to Midway Campground, a campground we stayed in last year that is located on the Tamiami Canal which runs between Miami and Fort Myers. We weren’t here long enough last year to do much of anything, so we planned this stop for four days so we could explore the Everglades. On Tuesday we drove about 50 miles south to the Everglades National Park. At this time of year it wasn’t crowded, so we spent a leisurely morning driving through the park, stopping at overlooks, boardwalks...

Mar 12, 2012 - Trails near Flamingo campground

The Everglades hiking trails are very interesting at a microscopic level but not too photogenic. There are plenty of small insects, fish, habitat variations, etc. if you are willing to sit in one place for a long time and look for them. The birds and other animals are most active very early in the morning and very late at night. We were glad to not encounter any of the invasive Burmese Pythons, although there were sightings that week. Without a canoe or kayak we felt like we only experienced half of the Everglades NP. There are several...

Mar 10, 2012 - Flamingo Campground

Wow! Besides being very hot it sure is FLAT here! We chose a wonderful sheltered and shady spot under a mahogany tree rather than the very windy sites near the beach. This was our home for a week. Many campers came in with boats to fish in Florida Bay. Despite the name, flamingos can only be seen by hiking to the end of the Coastal Prairie Trail (11 miles) and craning to look around the point.

Mar 7, 2012 - Everglades NP - South

To experience the rest of our trip as realistically as possible, find a hot, humid, windy room with mosquitoes in it before viewing the remaining photos. Many birds started migrating early this March because of the unseasonable heat but there were still plenty of birds to see.

Feb 13, 2012 - Shark Valley

From Ortona Lock COE Campground near La Belle, FL … Monday, February 13, 2012 We didn’t get a real early start this morning. As we were getting into the car to leave the campground, a lady walked up and introduced herself as being from Bedford, Va, which is very close to where we live. We ended up having a nice conversation with she and her husband. She also told us that her brother and his wife were camping here as well, and they live right off of the same highway we do. What small world this is. We stopped in La Belle and had a very,...

Feb 8, 2012 - to Flamigo FL; 15/152

120208-Wed-We started at 58670 miles and ended at 58824, for a total of 154 miles today. We went to Shark Valley and took the tram tour, then on to Flamingo Visitors Center in the Everglades Nat’l Park. We spent the night there with no services and the no see ums that got thru our screens. It was a bad night. Shark Valley is the best.

Dec 12, 2011 - Everglades

Tonight we are at a Federal Campground near Ochopee, FL. It is a pretty little place, but the bugs are driving us crazy. They are the knat-type little ones that come right through the screen. I'll be glad to leave here tomorrow and will be cleaning bugs for some time. (I guess I should be glad it is warm enough to have bugs?) We are camped beside a small pond which has alligators, but I haven't seen any in there. However, we did see them beside the canal which runs alongside the highway. Dad and I walked back to the highway and got a closer...

Mar 12, 2011 - Members of Jojoba Hills

The most exciting news of the past week was that we were offered a site at Jojoba Hills, Aguanga, CA, 17 miles southeast of Temecula. We were on our way back to Silver Lakes from Corkscrew Wildlife Sanctuary when we received the call, several weeks earlier than expected. Lynda answered the phone but did not fully comprehend the message offering us a membership. She did not hear Jojoba Hills; so she thought it was about something different, perhaps, Silver Lakes. Consequently her response was, “We’re not interested. We’ve made a deposit on...