Everglades, Florida

12/23/2012 -- 1/1/2013

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The Everglades is a flat and swampy place in a low land of Florida.  Several times in the past million years, the Florida peninsula has been submerged in and then resurrected from the sea.  No park elevation tops eight feet above sea level.  The heart of this unusual land, the Everglades, is the great "river of grass," the largest saw-grass marsh in the world, a hundred miles of gently flowing water that varies up to about fifty miles in width and harbors a vast community of living things.  The only source of water in this subtropical region is the rain that falls on it, mostly between May and October, which is followed by a six-month dry season.  Everglades is a story of life in balance.  Life is adapted to alternating wet and dry seasons, thrives between floods and droughts.

 

[Miami, 12/24--12/25] [Everglades, 12/26--12/28] [Disney World, 12/29--1/1]

Day 3 (12/26) ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the route from Flamingo (south) to Everglades (north, where we will stay for the next 2 days), we stopped by Monkey Jungle, which is a zoological park still owned by the 3rd generation family.  Its advertisement, "Where Humans Are Caged and Monkeys Run Wild," may not be true for all types of monkeys and cages, but its special "Rainforest Adventure" definitely offers plenty of opportunities to feed and interact with a lot of monkeys (Squirrel Monkey and Black-Capped Capuchins).  With virtually unlimited supply of monkey food/snack, we were surrounded by monkeys all the time during the 40-min tour.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 (12/27) ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After getting back from kayaking, we went directly to Chokoloskee for sunset.  Of course only I got off the car to catch the last light of the day.  The rest of them were staying in the car taking a break.

 

 

 

Day 5 (12/28) ...

 

 

            On our way to the Shark valley along the Tamiami Trail, we passed by the smallest post office in the US.

 

 

 

        After a full-morning bike exercise with great views and delicious sandwich lunch boxes, we started to drive back to Orlando to Disney World for a totally different vacation style.

[Miami, 12/24--12/25] [Everglades, 12/26--12/28] [Disney World, 12/29--1/1]


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