Everglades NP to Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL:  Left the Everglades at around 10:30.  This is our sixth year coming to the Everglades and we’ve never seen a snake in the park.  But at the kiosk on our way out there was a picture of two eastern diamondback rattlesnakes in the road just off the nature trail, which we’ve been on a few times.  They were huge!  They’re all around, but we’ve never seen them.  I started driving, taking the Florida Turnpike north out of Homestead.  We stopped at the West Palm Beach service area after two hours, had lunch, and Mike took over driving.  Arrived at Jonathan Dickinson and were set up by 3:00.  We now have full hook-ups.  After getting set up we drove to Hobe Sound to do the laundry and grocery shopping.  Spent most of the evening getting caught up on e-mail and other computer stuff. 

Greater Miami--looks pretty good from the water.

Rush hour traffic we encountered on our way out of Miami.

Wed, 3/9/11:
Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL, to Everglades NP:  Pulled out this morning at 10:15. A beautiful day.  We haven’t been east of the 7-mile bridge since New Year’s Eve.  Our last drive up through the Keys was beautiful—the water in myriad shades of greens and turquoise.  At Ann’s Beach there were a bunch of guys wind surfing.  Would have been fun to stop and just watch them for a while.  This week is bike week in Key West and we’ve seen lots of bikes in and around Key West and saw a lot of them heading down on our way out.  As we got closer to the mainland we started seeing lots of clouds to the north.  Got in the park and were set up by 2:00.  The kitchen slide didn’t want to go out.  Think we snapped another bolt which Mike should be able to fix.  Sat outside just relaxing and enjoying the quiet and serenity of this place.  I don’t know why we enjoy coming here after the Keys so much.  Maybe it’s because the sites aren’t crowded all together and you have a feeling of spaciousness and there’s no one really near you.  And the only sound is the susurration of the wind in the pines and the joyful chattering of the birds.  After a beautiful sunset we started hearing the owls.  At 7:30 one of the rangers was giving a presentation on the history of the Everglades at the amphitheater.  We got our flashlights and walked down there.  One thing he said at the end was very provocative.  He said the Everglades is very subtle—like a whisper-- unlike the landscapes out west that scream at you with their grandiosity.  Walked back to our site under a sky full of stars and a crescent moon with a gentle breeze blowing.  Life is good!  Mid-80s today and more humid.

View out our back window

Beautiful Everglades sunset

Thu, 3/10/11:
Everglades NP:  A beautiful morning, and the solar panels are doing their job.  The batteries were just about fully charged at 9:00 a.m.  After our morning ablutions we filled the fresh water tank.  Then the sky darkened and it started pouring.  Decided to drive into Homestead since the inverter we use to power our computer is not working right.  It’s either the inverter or the power cord for the laptop.  Drove into Homestead in the pouring rain and the temperature dropped to the low 60s.  Bought a new inverter and headed back to see if that works, and it did. Hooray!  Back in business now.  A chilly, grey day.  We just hung out inside reading and relaxing.  Mid-60s after the front came through.  Yesterday during the ranger’s talk a couple of helicopters flew over.  He said a guy went missing down in Flamingo a few days ago and they’re still searching for him.  Poor thing.  I wouldn’t want to be out there at night in the dark and cold with slithery things creeping around.  It’s going to be pretty cold tonight too—40s.  Hope they find him.

Fri, 3/11/11:
Everglades NP:  Was really cold last night.  Got up at about 5:30 and put the quilt on the bed.  Neither one of us wanted to get out from under the covers this morning.  Mike finally did and I followed shortly after.  A beautiful, sunny morning—but cool and breezy.  Feel bad for the guy that went missing down in Flamingo.  Doubt he’s dressed warmly. Found out he’s 67 years old and he’s been out there 7 days.  They’re winding down the search (sigh).  After lunch we drove down to mahogany hammock and walked around.  Didn’t see any baby owls, but the ranger said he was told there were two—same as the last two years.  Left there and drove a little further and stopped at Pourotis Pond.  No one is allowed on the pond because the wood storks and roseate spoon bills are nesting right now.  Got the binoculars out of the truck and sat and watched them for a while.  This pond is really pretty and you could smell the water—fresh water for a change.  Saw two gators in there and a bunch of ducks.  The wood storks were busy picking up nesting material—some of the sticks were bigger than they were.  Went a little further down to nine-mile pond.  Nothing much going on there.  There’s supposedly a large crock in there.  This is the only place in the world where alligators and crocks cohabitate. Most of the crocks are seen down at Flamingo in the canal.  Back home and started dinner. Sliced up a baked potato and a sweet potato real thin  and sautéed them in butter with some onions.  Had that along with baked pork chops, sugar snap peas and ciabata bread.  Tasted pretty good.  We were really hungry.

Relaxing on Mahogany Hammock
picture by Mike

Part of the rookery

Wood stork with some nesting material

Sat, 3/12/11:
Everglades NP:  A beautiful day in the upper 70s.  Mike was able to fix the kitchen slide so it now goes in and out like it should.  The bolt was snapped off again.  And he washed all the windows on the outside.  Wow!  After lunch we drove down to Flamingo.  Driving the road to Flamingo you go through about 3 eco systems.  Where we are at long pine key is higher and is basically a pine forest which is surrounded by fresh water marl prairie (you don’t really see much water for the saw grass, except from the air).  Vast areas of saw grass dotted with hammocks of various sizes.  Walking through this stuff is hazardous since the limestone gets washed away in areas which leave big holes and you can’t see them until you step in one.  Could break a leg or cut yourself up pretty badly.  A few miles down the road you come to Rocky Reef Pass (3 ft).  After the pass you go through a dwarf cypress forest for a few miles.  It’s like someone flipped a switch.  Then the closer you get to Flamingo it gets more tropical and lush and you see a lot more water—canoe trails and lakes—and no saw grass.  The restaurant at Flamingo is now open.  We drove through the campground.  They have several electric sites, but we prefer where we’re at.  The wind was whipping off Florida Bay which made it feel really chilly.  There are a bunch of pictures of the guy that went missing posted around the area.  He was in a sleeveless tee shirt and shorts.  And he looked a lot older than 67.  Still no sign of him.

Florida Bay at Flamingo
picture by Mike

Sun, 3/13/11:
Everglades NP:  Started out really cloudy this morning but cleared off beautifully to reveal a deep blue sky.  After lunch we biked over to the Anhinga Trail.  Saw a pair of Swallow Tailed Kites building a nest.  Beautiful birds.  But I couldn’t get a very good picture of them.  Walked the Anhinga Trail and then biked back.  Going back we took the old Ingraham Road which has overgrown and doesn’t resemble a road anymore, but is a good hiking trail.  Hard biking though because it was mostly grass.  Got back and I took another shower and washed my hair again.  Really surprised we biked as far as we did because neither one of us felt too energetic.  Warmed up some left-overs for dinner and relaxed.

The old Ingraham Road

Mon, 3/14/11:
Everglades NP:  Driving up to Bill Baggs SP just south of Miami today.  Stopped at Crackerbarrel for breakfast.  Didn’t realize we’d changed to daylight savings time.  Crackerbarrel was packed.  Doesn’t anyone work any more?  Left there around noon and headed up Rt. 1 which turned out to be pretty slow.  But we saw a lot we hadn’t seen before.  One thing we found out is that the bus-way in Homestead, which is a road that parallels Rt. 1 and is dedicated to busses only.  There’s also a bike path along it.  We discovered that this bus-way goes all the way to the southern terminus of the rapid rail system in south Miami.  So, theoretically we could board a bus in Homestead and ride all the way to the rapid rail and then take that in to Miami and beyond.  Finally got to the causeway that goes over to Key Biscayne, which is a very nice residential area.  The park is at the southern end of Key Biscayne and is really lovely.  There are bike paths, nature trails, beaches, and the Cape Florida lighthouse.  This is the only area where you can easily see Stiltsville, which was a little community built on stilts out on Biscayne Bay.  There were originally 27 structures—several homes and a few clubs.  Lots of the rich and famous used to go out there to party at some of these clubs.  Tony Roma owned one of the houses out there.  There are now only 6 structures left—owned by the park.  Had an early dinner in the park at Boater’s Grill on this pretty little harbor.  Mike had a seafood soup and crab cakes, and I had pasta with a creamy tomato sauce. Left to come back and took 95N to 836W, intending to meet up with Florida’s Turnpike.  We forgot about rush hour traffic.  836 was bumper-to-bumper.  And we didn’t get off at the right place and ended up on 41. . Stopped at a produce stand and bought some tomatoes, lettuce, and watermelon.  Going to have BLTs tomorrow.  A beautiful day today—77 degrees.

Three of the Stiltsville houses

Close-up of one of the houses

Cape Florida light--originally built in 1828

Light keeper's house on right and cook house on the left.  This would have been a really nice home in 1828--since most homes back then were a one-room log cabin.  Cistern in the foreground.

Pretty little harbor where we had dinner

Tue, 3/15/11:
Everglades NP:  Had a lazy day today, relaxing, sunning, and reading.  Later in the afternoon we drove back to Mahogany Hammock to see if we could spot the owlets one last time.  Sure enough, we found one of them.  Met a couple from Holland who have been traveling the world for the last 8 years.  They’re traveling in their Land Rover type vehicle they brought over from Holland.  When they go from one continent to another, they ship the vehicle on a container ship and they fly.  On the way back we stopped at Pine Land and walked the trail.  Saw a few tree snails  Back home and had our BLTs for dinner.  Delicious!  Low 80s today.  

Cute little fluffy owlet who really wanted to take a nap.

Looking back at me--its head turns all the way around.

These tree snails are found on most of the hammocks.  They go into a sort of hibernation during the winter.  If you take them off the tree they die.  Each hammock's snail has a distinct pattern.