In January, Don and I got to spend a week in Florida!! It was really fun...with the exception of freezing cold weather... :( I know, I know, I know. We were in Florida, so I can't complain. But seriously, if there is one thing that I can't stand, it is a COLD beach! The entire week we were there, we only got 1 1/2 beach days. It was mostly in the 50's, and quite chilly!
Despite the cold weather, I would say we made the most of our time there. One of the most fun activities of the week was combing the beach for seashells! Marco Island has some of the best shelling beaches in Florida, and it did not disappoint. We found a huge variety of beautiful shells, including a couple of sand dollars!
This is the beginning of our shell collection.
We stayed at the Hilton, and it was fantastic. No complaints here.
I love love love looking out across the white sandy beaches. Sooo beautiful!
More of our pretty shells.
I took a few too many pictures of the scenery...but in my defense, check out these sunsets. I spared you all the majority them.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was playing tennis. There were clay courts at the hotel, and Don and I played tennis every single day. Personally, I think tennis is one of the most fun sports. If I could do things over, I would have gladly added this to my repertoire of competitive sports growing up.
Good thing we can play together until we are like, 80.
Because of the cold, we spent a lot of time driving around the island, looking at the homes. While on one of our drives, we spotted these gigantic cactus-looking plants. They were unnaturally large in scale, and we had never seen anything like them.
Here is another picture, just to give you an idea of how big these plants were.
We spent one of the days in Naples, wandering through the downtown area. They have a cute little "Old Town" area, and we enjoyed checking out all of the shops. This is a picture of Main Street.
When I mentioned that tennis was one of my favorite parts of the trip, I admit that nothing could top our experience in the Everglades. We spent one of our days exploring, and we got up close and personal with a couple of Florida's alligator friends.
It was out of control. You'll see what I mean when you scroll down.
When we first got to the Everglades in the morning, we took an air boat ride through the swamp lands. Apparently, it's not uncommon to see a bunch of alligators during the tour, but we didn't see anything because it was too cold outside. :( I was really hoping to see an alligator!!!
Despite not seeing an alligator, the boat ride itself was awesome. The driver just zoomed us through all of these enclosed water passages, and it seriously felt like we were in a video game. Apparently, the boat operators are all locals whose families have lived in the everglades for generations. If you have ever seen the show, Swamp People, this is kind of it. Here is a little clip of the boat ride: (I'm not sure why the video is so blurry. Ugh. Sorry)
After the tour, we were just chatting with the locals, and I was expressing my disappointment about not seeing any alligators on the tour.
Well, they kind of laughed at me, and one said to the other, "Well this lady here wants to see some alligators! Will you get out the map and show her where she can see some alligators? Oh, you'll see tons of em' all right. They'll all be out just sunnin' themselves on the rocks right about now. Show them the map. It's just a few miles down the road here."
We followed their directions and turned right off the highway onto a dirt road. Alongside the dirt road ran a little river, where you could see the banks up close. We were just *hoping* to see at least one alligator.
Well, our first stop was this lovely pile o' alligators. Sunnin' themselves, just as the local here told us!
Long story short. They are everywhere. Infested. They run the place. They own the place. They are not endangered. They are hiding. Every few feet. Underwater, on the banks, in the shadows.
All in all, we saw at least 50 alligators as we drove along the dirt road, and then along the highway on our way home.
At one point, we were just watching the pile of alligators (pictured above), and all of the sudden, 3 silent gators slowly surfaced, almost simultaneously from beneath the waters. Don and I just looked at each other and shuddered. Just 30 seconds ago, the water looked calm, cool, and perfectly inviting. All we could think about were the death traps that were lying silently below the surface. So creepy. Who knows how many are in there?!
Peter Pan anyone?!
$10 goes to whoever spots the gator in this picture:
On our way home, we stopped at an animal sanctuary to check out some of the other animals at the park. Of course, as we pulled into the parking lot, there was just an alligator chilling on the grass.
In the picture below, I'm standing in the parking lot with the camera. Sheesh. Don and I were *joking* that there would be an alligator under our car when we came back out to leave. (Um, yeah, I actually scanned the parking lot for gators before braving the walk from the gift shop to our car.)
What an experience. It was awesome, and scary, and like nothing we've ever done before. We highly recommend a trip to the Everglades if you are ever in Florida.
And...keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.
Well Florida, once again, you were just lovely. We will miss you!!!!
Until our next visit.
Stay sunny.
2 comments:
Lovely shells. Creepy gators. Florida is awesome!
I agree with you on the tennis thing...wish I had played more growing up! At least it is a sport you can play forever!! Miss you!
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