Everglades National Park

Sunday after I got off the ship, some of us headed to Ft. Lauderdale to hear Bro. Saiz preach. He was preaching at Bro. Elm's church, and he tore it UP! This is where I had gone the previous Sunday. That afternoon, Steve took me to the airport to meet my friends, Tim and Joyce. They were flying in from S. Carolina to spend the next 4 days with me. We had made plans to see the Everglades, and then go down to Key West. After dinner at the Florida Diner, we said "good night" to Steve, and headed for our hotel.


It was a blustery, cloudy, Monday morning the day after the cruise. After sleeping in that morning, we wandered around the Ft. Lauderdale strip for a while. We had an air boat tour of the Everglades scheduled for 4:00 that afternoon, so we took the opportunity before it, to see a little of Ft. Lauderdale.

This is the view in front of our hotel.






The Ft. Lauderdale "strip".



Next, we drove around the Las Olas area taking pictures (and dreaming). This is obviously, where the abundantly wealthy live. They have their "vehicles" parked at the edge of the water in front of their houses....sigh....









Ft. Lauderdale's nickname is "Little Venice".












Around 3:00, we left the Ft. Lauderdale area and drove to meet our air boat tour guide. This one was coming in as we were waiting for ours. It is similar to the one we rode. We had a two hour private tour. Our guide was "Capt'n Dave" and I must say, he was quite smitten with me from first sight. I don't know why, but he was NOT subtle about it at all! (It was really quite funny, and made for a lot of jokes over the next 2 days.)



I love this! Lily pads and reflection in water...



Tim and Joyce in the front of the boat. I sat up at the top of the boat next to Capt'n Dave.



Capt'n Dave let Joyce and me drive the boat. I went first. It was not as easy as it looked! I had us going all over the place until I got the hang of it. Then Joyce and I switched seats and it was her turn. She was better at it than I, but it was still funny. I took a picture of her driving, but I didn't think to give her my camera when I was driving. She took pictures of me with her camera, but I don't have those, yet.



More lily pads.



It got pretty narrow in places.



We saw a LOT of 'gators!!






One was swimming right in front of the boat.



And right beside....



Beautiful sawgrass and the blue water.



A heron, I think...


A red shouldered hawk.



A vulture.



There were a lot of "camps" in the Everglades. These are family owned and have been passed down through generations. They own only the part that is standing, and if it is torn down, they lose ownership. (At least, I think that is the way he explained it.) Believe it or not, these are worth millions of dollars due to the cost of having everything brought in by boat.






I have a lot more pictures of this day, but these give you the idea of what we saw.

Tuesday....Key West.