After setting up, we went on a pole boat tour at the Skunk Ape Headquarters tour company. (Think Yet

We drove the motorhome to Midway Campground located in Big Cypress National Preserve nice, flat sites; electric only. My parents stayed with us in the motorhome for these two nights a bit of a tight squeeze for 6 of us but we all slept okay!
After setting up, we went on a pole boat tour at the Skunk Ape Headquarters tour company. (Think Yeti or Abominable Snowman in the swamp!) These are basically canoes propelled cheap car rental in orlando by poles rather than paddles due to the low water levels. We went through the low mangrove forests and grass flats in search of our first alligator! It wasn t to be on this adventure cheap car rental in orlando we spotted many birds, interesting vegetation, smelly decomposing mud but no gators.
cheap car rental in orlando The following day we had reservations for a morning airboat ride. It was still a bit chilly when we got to Everglades City and we boarded with excitement for the ride. Have you ever been on one of these? It is propelled by air from an airplane cheap car rental in orlando propeller mounted on the back of a flat bottom boat and it s steered by a rudder behind the propeller. We started off slow through the mangroves and then quickly cheap car rental in orlando did some 360s once we hit the open areas. Our adrenaline peaked when our boat slid out of control straight into the mangroves lining the bank. We all escaped cheap car rental in orlando major injury a few scrapes bruises cheap car rental in orlando across faces, arms and legs were the worst of it. Not something I d like to repeat but luckily it wasn t any worse!
After that exciting start to our day, we worked on the joint Jr Ranger booklet cheap car rental in orlando for Big Cypress, cheap car rental in orlando Everglades and Biscayne National Parks. Each location awards a badge individually and the kids also earned the highest award of a patch for completing all three!
cheap car rental in orlando On the drive back to the campground, we stopped a few times at the visitor centers, the nation s smallest post office and at pull outs along side the road. We re all excited to report that we saw both manatee and gators! No great pictures of the manatees but my Dad captured several photos of the alligators.
The next day, Z rode with Nana and Boppa on the ride out of the Everglades. We tried stopping with the coach at Shark Valley but there was no way we were going to fit. The three of them made a couple other pit stops on their drive: at Robert Was Here for fruit smoothies and at the Ernest Coe Visitor Center on the east side of the Everglades. It turns out there are some extra hungry buzzards at that parking lot you have to cover your vehicle to keep them from eating the rubber of your windshield and windshield wipers!
We, the grandparents, are so glad we joined you in the Everglades. I now know what a mangrove is (there are actually three types) and the true Color of alligators .ok, a nonessential piece of trivia but interesting. Big Cypress and the Everglades are truly interesting to visit.
LOL the buzzards!! I have never heard of such a thing! They must provide the tarps, no? Who would have them in the back of the car? That would be a good side business - Tarps R Us stand in the parking lot!
What a hoot -to READ about YOUR adventures! Not sure I d like to meet up with a gator in that small floating vessel. What did Boppa DO with all the gators he caught? (Isn t that against some sort of law?) Kudos to you all your Junior Ranger accomplishments, S Z. Not always easy to be diligent. What a gift to be able to share these times with grandparents and grandchildren, not leaving out children, as well. A safari in the good old US of A, complete with buzzard management skills acquired. Huzzah for all!