Sun, Mar 19, Everglades National Park:  We both slept late this morning. I didn’t get up until 9:00 and Mike slept until 11:00! After lunch we drove to Paurotis Pond to check out the nesting birds. We could see the wood storks, but the roseate spoonbills were on the other side of an island and not visible to us. Saw a couple flying around, but that was it. Back in the day when they were hunted for their feathers, one roseate spoonbill feather was worth more than gold! All the birds were hunted to near extinction because of ladies hats…until people started making fun of ladies with these birds on their heads. Continued out of the park and made a fuel run and a Walgreens run. Tomorrow if we go see our Canadian friends, we’ll take the fifth wheel and stay in their overflow area. A beautiful day today but quite windy. 83 degrees and clear.

The guy across from us brought this huge telescope in that trailer. A clear night last night, so he must have been star gazing. He needed a ladder to reach the eye piece. Would have liked to take a peek.

Wood storks nesting at Pourotis Pond.

Wood stork taking a stick for his nest.

Looking for nesting materials.

This crow was hanging around Pourotis. He has a broken wing. I felt sorry for him and fed him. But he had a buddy who stayed with him all the time. So, I guess he was being taken care of.

Here he is with his buddy.

Mahogany Hammock

Sat, Mar 18, Everglades National Park:  Decided to take care of some maintenance chores today. So, after lunch we filled up our two six-gallon jugs and brought them back to the fifth wheel to pump into the water tank. This fifth wheel has a setting for that, but it didn’t work well at all. So, Mike got out his transfer pump thingy he put together and tried that which worked for a while and then quit. He thinks maybe he needs a new pump. At any rate, after much angst, a cut on his head and a cut on his hand later, the water tank is full. Sat outside reading for a while after slathering myself up. A nice day today. Low 80s probably. Think I’ll go fix a cocktail.

Our two, six-gallon jugs we use to fill the water tank.

Then we change the settings on the control panel.

Then we insert one end of the hose into the jug and the other into the water input in the fifth wheel. Should pump the water in lickety split. Takes forever, which it shouldn't. Another thing that needs to be fixed.

Fri, Mar 17, Everglades National Park:  Mike’s son, James, showed up around noon today and we went over to the little café here in Flamingo after checking out the resident crocodiles. After lunch we drove back to Mahogany Hammock. James followed in his car. The mosquitoes were horrendous there. We didn’t see any owlets, but we went through in a hurry. Then we drove on to Anhinga Trail and walked around that area for a while. At this point we’re only about 11 miles from the FL turnpike, so James didn’t have that far to go to get back home. He showed us pictures of his apartment in Miami—a beautiful space on the 25^th floor of a high rise condominium complex. What a view they have! Drove back to our site and relaxed the rest of the evening. Going to play rummy again tonight. I won both games last night—YES!  77 today and mostly sunny. Really cold this morning though. Didn’t want to get out of bed. We miss our daily visits from Ellie Mae and Bradon.

Mike and his son, James.

Florida Bay from Flamingo.

Gators basking in the sun--Anhinga Trail.
Everglades National Park

This beautiful bird was walking around on the lily pads.

Turtle

Anhinga drying his feathers.

Thu, Mar 16, Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL, to Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park:  Left Lazy Lakes at 10:15 but didn’t pull into Flamingo until  2:30 or so. There was a lot of traffic in the Keys, and we had to drive an extra 40 miles or so to get to Flamingo, so it took a little longer. We were set up by 3:00 and forced inside because of the mosquitos. We have never had issues with mosquitos at Long Pine Key campground, but they’re terrible here. Sprayed ourselves down pretty good. We're here until the 21^st. Long Pine is a much prettier campground than Flamingo. But we needed the electric this time, so we’ll make the best of it. 72 here and sunny. And, alas! We have cell service down here, so our wi-fi works as well. Life is good!

The Everglades

Wed, Mar 15, Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  Seven of us went out to Little Palm Island today for lunch. We had reservations on the 11:30 boat. Got there early because I wanted to check out the gift shop. Bought a book and a little top. A short boat ride to the island and we all settled down for lunch. A little chilly today, but really nice. After our lunch we checked out the gift shop on the island and then boarded the 2:00 boat for our return trip. A few of us wanted to explore the island, but it is highly frowned upon since people pay a lot of money to stay out there and value their privacy. Back to our site and put away the outside mat, disconnected the TVs and put the bikes on the rack on the back of the fifth wheel. So, tomorrow all we have to do is disconnect and put the slides in. We hope to be on our way by 10:00. 72 today. 

The waiting area for the boat.

Cindy and Paul

Mike and I

The group

Our ride out to the island.

On the way.

The lounge area at Little Palm.

The dining room. We opted for inside dining.

A rum drink--the grouchy slumber they called it I think.

Pathway around the island.

On our way back.

Tue, Mar 14, Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  At around 1:00 this morning we had to put the awnings in because a little front came through with wind and rain. Rained pretty hard for a while. Did the grocery shopping and took care of some other errands late morning and then had lunch at Boondocks. Back home and relaxed. A little cloudy today and 79.

We used to have concerts here. Haven't had one in a few years now.

View from the bridge over a canal on one of our bike rides.

Mon, Mar 13, Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf, FL:  Douglas called and wanted to get together with us today before we left on Thursday. So, we met him and Chuck at Boondocks for miniature golf at 2:00. After playing a fun game we went to Kiki’s for drinks and food. A fun evening. When we got home we realized we hadn’t even shut our door. But nobody bothers anything—at least not yet. Another beautiful day. Low 80s and a slight breeze. 

Another beautiful Lazy Lakes sunrise.