The Amazing Florida Everglades

We were excited to see the sun shining when we woke up and our goal today was to experience the Florida Everglades. We left early and asked Emily (our GPS) to take us to the Everglades National Boat Tour departure site inside the National Everglades Park. This was something I was especially excited about and we were able to go out on a small boat with four other people to see the amazing mangrove forests and the swampy areas of the Everglades. This particular tour also stopped on one of the islands where we were met by a ranger who he took us on a short hike and told us a little about the native people, the Calusa Indians, who populated this whole area from 200 to 1100 AD. He told us how they would build huge mounds using shells and dirt and then build their homes, etc., on them. It was fascinating and Craig and I learned so much about this area. We also saw an alligator that had somehow found himself in an abandoned cistern. We took a picture of him. We had lunch at a cute restaurant on Chocolatakoa Island named the Havana Cafe, which was just a couple of miles from the park's visitors center. We then headed for Key Largo driving along the Tamiani Trail, the first highway through the everglades. We then moved on to Key Largo (easternmost of the keys). It was fun once again to see the old boat, the African Queen, from the old Bogart and Hepburn movie. We had a great dinner to live music and are enjoying the balmy Florida evening by typing this on the deck overlooking the docks.