Everglades national park

Ochopee, FL

We got up early today to head to the Everglades National Park.  I wanted to check out Flamingo campground to see if it was some where we would want to stay in the future.

After about an hour and half drive we finally arrived at the Everglades National Park. 

Here is the road coming into the  Park

First stop was the Ernest F. Coe visitor center
 
Then it was on to Royal Palm to see the alligators
 
This is a beautiful place and there were lots of people out and about enjoying the beautiful day 

this concrete walk way surrounds the waters where all kinds of creatures live.
 
We walked the Gumbo Limbo Trail

The trail was a black top pavement which made walking easier.  along the trail were benches for those like me who are disabled could rest along their walk.

We were surround by trees
 
This is a Gumbo tree click on the picture below to read about it

One of my favorite trees in Florida is this huge Royal Palm tree
 
and ferns
 
there were several holes called the solution holes that hold water for the plants in this area.

If you click on the picture below you can read about the solution hole

 
I just love the big trees
    
Anhinga Trail was next on our tour.
 
This bird was not afraid of people .. see how close he got to these girls
     
these baby alligators were suning on the bank .. i couldn’t get a good picture as they were too far way.

I finally found a turtle although as you can see they were not up close
   
the birds were out and about .. isn’t the white with black beautiful
 
this guy came up just long enough for me take his picture and then he disappeared
 
this guy had the board walk shut off as we waited for him to pass

more turtles!
          
wow we walked up on a big group of gators .. gators everywhere you looked and these birds were very brave

this blue bird is beautiful and i think one of my favorites i saw today
 
this bird was sitting on a nest
     
look how close these fellows were to the walk way .. yes so glad they were resting and not in any mood for human legs
   
After our walking of the trails we headed to check out Flamingo campground
 
the campground is huge but only 41 of the sites have electric and they were all full
 
After touring the campground we found the Florida Bay which is water that comes in from the Gulf of Mexico

these campgrounds are right along the bay
   
after leaving the campground and bay we went to check out Eco Pond

We found these pink and white bird .. absolutely breath taking.  I had hoped to get a better picture but no go
 
next it was on to the Flamingo Visitor Center where we had planned to have lunch but when we arrived it was late afternoon and they were sold out of almost everything so we passed on what they had left.  Choices were hot dog, oyster soup or a veggie burger.

earlier they had spotted some Manatee's in the water behind the center but we didn’t see any

behind the Marina store is where the crocks hang out.  We only saw one guy .. i was disappointed there wasn’t more out to see
 
they had the tour boat going but it was late and i was getting really tired and we had a long drive back home

on the way home we saw lots of different types of crops and below is a picture of the migrant workers working in the fields.
         
we went through Homestead, Fl which used to be a big booming town.  A hurricane came through and took out the military base and they decided not to build back and it hurt the community big time.  It’s kind of run down now.
                 
I love these little huts .. i think their adorable and anywhere you looked there were these little huts.

I can now mark the Everglades National Park off my list to see .. I have to admit i was a bit disappointed as i thought the everglades would be different.  I guess it wasn’t what i expected.
 
We had seen a sign at the Indian reservation that they served dinner until 9 PM so we stopped but their sign was wrong the door said 5 PM and were late so we struck out again.  I was thrilled to get home as it was a long day and i was exhausted. Dinner was left over's as neither of us had the energy to cook.   I was in bed by 8 PM