Everglades Isle / Everglades City Fl

   

      Since our arrival at Everglades City on Friday, Debbie and I have been on a constant state of alert trying to see everything that this area of Florida has to offer.   We also had to get readjusted to the sudden drop in temperature we have experienced since returning to the mainland.  Friday night we actually had to turn on the heat in Weezy as the temperature dropped down into the mid 40's.  Our trip up U.S. 1 was uneventful and we arrived at the  Everglades Isle RV Resort around 3:00 PM and were immediately invited to join everyone at the Happy Hour in the clubhouse at 4:30. The clubhouse is a beautiful building with a movie theater and spa.  The floors are made from wood imported from Honduras and are absolutely gorgeous.  There's a lookout way upstairs that provides a 360 degree view of the area.  The original owner/developer of the property was the Heinz family, and they did a marvelous job.

Debbie and I finished setting up camp, sat down for a little happy hour next to Weezy, and were soon joined by a wonderful couple out walking their Labradoodle, Rufus.  Geoff and Cindy are from NY/NJ, retired teachers, and stopped to get acquainted. Geoff is from Britain, having become a U.S. Citizen in 1974.  He was quite familiar with Rouses Point, having crossed the border from Canada there many times while attending McGill University in Montreal.  He assured me that he had never been arrested by me for jumping the border up there.   We ventured over to the clubhouse and enjoyed a couple of Bombay G&T's before venturing over to one of the local eateries with a live band, and relaxed to good food and good music.

     Saturday morning arrived, and Debbie and I decided to backtrack about 40 miles, and visit Shark Valley, part of the Everglades National Park.  It was named Shark Valley by the Conquistadors back in the day after discovering it was feeding the Shark River to the south. There are no sharks out there!                                                                                              

 But there are plenty of alligators!  And it's mating season!  And they're not really keen on the tourists out there bothering them as one would imagine.   And about the only alligator that the tram driver decided to stop and let those of us in the rear of the bus get a look at, decided to hiss and arch up on his back legs at a distance from me of about 7 feet. Ask me and I'll show you the video sometime.  As we inched away from Mr. Alligator, I looked back to watch numerous other tourists on bicycles trying to figure a way of getting around him, as he lay next to the road.  Hope they made it.                                                                

We also heard stories of pythons which were illegally released into the Everglades decimating the rabbit, raccoon, deer and panther populations withing the Everglades.  Doesn't sound like there is any way to stop them.  Fortunately we did not see any snakes on our 15 mile tram ride around the park, but did view an abundance of birds and other reptiles.  We also got our national parks passport stamped twice.  We picked that up at Ft Sumter and hope to have collected lots of stamps by the time this odyssey is finished. 

Egrets and Herons were plentiful and didn't seem to be bothered by the alligators lying around watching. 

We finished our tour of shark Valley around 3:00 PM, grabbed a quick burger across the street at one of the restaurants operated by the Miccosukee Indian Tribe.  We worked our way back to camp, opened a bottle of wine and sat outside Weezy enjoying the full moon coming up over the park.  Even tried to take a few photos using various shutter speeds, but never was very successful.  

On Sunday after Mass, we settled down for lunch, and our friends Geoff and Cindy came by to let us know that the pontoon boat excursion planned for 1 PM had been pushed up to 12 noon.  Looking at the clock I could see it was 12:03 PM!  There's nothing Debbie likes more than a boat ride, so we quickly cleaned up and headed over to the boat dock.  Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera.  but Debbie saved the day with her brand new iPhone.  This is a nice photo of the rigs looking out over the water, with Weezy in the middle.  

We had a wonderful boat ride out on the bay, and took it out to the ocean where we could see the skyline of Marco Island up in the distance.  We even got a glimpse of some dolphins out in the bay. They'd be really neat to see on Chateaugay Lake! The tour boats from the Everglades National Park were out with us.  (Debbie and I took a ride on one of them last year.)  It was a beautiful day, and Emerald Isles was very gracious to take us out for a ride.  

     Now Debbie and I are not ones to let grass grow under our feet, and we were soon headed to the north over toward Marco Island.  We had heard stories previously of a little party that occurs at a place called Goodlands at a bar named Stan's.  About a 1/4 mile from the bar we encountered cars parked on both sides of the street.  Looked like there was a party ahead.  As we approached the center of town and Stan's bar, we could hear the band in the distance.  Suddenly there had to be a thousand people spilling out into the roadway and crowded into the area around the marina/bar.  

 I have to be honest with you...it looked like "Parents Gone Wild"!  Looks like the baby-boomers still know how to party.  The children would be so proud.  The band was doing a pretty good job of controlling the masses, and keeping the nuts off of the stage.  Parking close to the bar was $10, but they advertised it was for the scholarship program at the local school.  I bet it does quite well.  The beer was cold, and Debbie and I stuck around till the crowd started to thin.  Then back to "the home" for a little peace and quiet.  Tomorrow we're heading for Ft Desoto County Park near St Petersburg, and a visit with Cousin Mary on Wednesday.  I hope Debbie makes it across the Skyway Bridge!!!