Heading For Key West

There are 42 bridges from Miami to Key West.

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The longest bridge is 7 miles long and was built after the railroad bridge had considerable damage from the Labor Day Hurricane in 1937. The current bridge was built from 1978 to 1982.

Setting up camp at  Geiger Key Marina RV Park near Key West, Florida

View behind our RV

If we had a boat, we could pull it up right behind the RV.

 

 

For more pictures, click here.

To be continued...

Everglades Outpost A Wildlife Rescue

Today we visited the Everglades Outpost Wildlife Rescue Center here in Homestead, Florida.

Founded in 1994, the center provides a place to live for more than 200 animals.

Welcome to my world!

Do you have any lettuce or melons?

Rocky the tiger belonged to an exotic dancer.

This grizzly bear was being kept as a pet in a backyard on Miami Beach.

Fill my food dish...please.

Robert Is Here was established in 1959 when six year old Robert was sitting on a corner selling cucumbers and no one saw him. The next day his dad put two large signs that said Robert Is Here and he sold all of his cucumbers . Robert Is Here was born.

Gotta try one of Robert's mango shakes.

For more pictures, click here.  To be continued...

Flamingo Visitor Center Everglades National Park



America's Everglades is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States.

The Everglades span over 1.5 million acres.

There are a lot of walkways that let you get up close and personal with nature.

Even if it is a grasshopper.

Alligators everywhere.  I think we will stay on the walkway.

Doug gets his picture with the waiting vultures.

Home of the Nike missile site.  Tours are offered December to April.

It's slow traveling for this Everglades creature.

You never know just what you might see in the Everglades.

Remains of the Flamingo Visitor center after two hurricanes came through the area.

Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma hit The Flamingo Visitor Center in 2005.

The walkways go from wooded areas to

waterways filled with alligators.

Which way do we go?

Let's see?  Did they run into any bugs on the way down here that we can eat?

Big hill coming up!

Overview of the road cutting across the Everglades.

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To be continued...

Gator Park, Shark Valley, Everglades National Park

Our first stop today was at Gator Park for an airboat ride through Everglades National Park.

We were early-birds today, arriving before the first boat had departed.

Early departures usually see more wildlife.

As we left the dock, everyone was searching for gators.

And we found them in the water.

We found them in the grass.

Another airboat prepares to pass us going in the opposite direction.

After the airboat ride, guests were treated to a wildlife show featuring snakes, scorpions and a little alligator wrestling.

Marlon has the knack for captaining a boat...

as a resident chicken looks on.

Next we officially entered Everglades National Park for a tram tour through Shark Valley.

Sawgrass is a unique type of grass with very sharp edges (like a saw) which can be felt when running your hand up the stalk. In the Everglades, it is a favorite food of the white tailed deer.

The sawgrass marshes of Everglades National Park will be flooded during the wet season and will be covered with brownish green algae mats, called periphyton, which will float on the water surface.

We didn't find any sharks in Shark Valley, but we did find a bunch of baby alligators just off the tram path.

Another type of habitat in Everglades National Park are these high, dry tree islands known as hammocks.

Hammocks are often surrounded by moats formed when acids from decaying plants dissolved away the limestone. These moats provide the hammock a fire barrier.

We ventured into this hammock and found the temperature inside the hammock much more pleasant than the temperature outside the hammock. With the park currently in a drought, the dreaded mosquitoes were virtually non-existent.

Happy tram tourists continue through Shark Valley.

At the mid-point of our tour, we arrived at the 50 foot-high Shark Valley Observation Tower.

Expansive views of the Everglades, alligators, turtles and birds awaited us all at the top of the tower.

We were lucky enough to meet a couple of new friends visiting the States from Israel.

Here's a video of our tours today.

On our way home, we could see a large fire which had started nearby the previous day.

For more pictures, click here .

To be continued...