Yep, we’re still here…

Finally back online for a blog…We had a sketchy connection in Big Cypress…and NO connection in Flamingo..Soooo..I am going to post a few chosen pictures…and you know darn well I took a gazillion!

Above is our spot at Midway Campground, Big Cypress Nat’l Park..Right is a picture looking across the lake there.  This was a very nice place,  electric only, you need your own water but they do have potable water there.  They have bathrooms but no showers..$15 a night if you are an old fool like us. No phone service for AT &T, and sketcy Verizon signal..We stayed here one week. While we were there, friends from Illinois invited us to Everglade City, where they stay for January and February…They have a boat…and we got a great boat ride!

 

They took us to a deserted island called Fakahatchee Island where a family once lived. There is a few tombstones where some of the family are buried. We docked by pulling right up to the island..After walking through a little path to explore (I was a bit concerned we might encounter something exploring US), Tom and Sammye broke out some cheese, crackers and wine and we had a little picnic on the boat..! This was so much fun..I felt like I was on Gilligan’s Island..

Here we have the the Professor, the Skipper and Ginger…MaryAnn took the  photo..tehee. What a spot!

I have SO many photos, I will put this boat trip into collage form ..You get an idea of just how much fun we had…

From Big Cypress, we went further South and spent one week at Flamingo campground in Everglades National Park… Here we had good AT&T cell service, but zip, zero, zilch Verizon internet signal..Oh well…sometimes it’s nice to be a bit “off the grid”…no new is good news, right? Flamingo is very large, and most of the campsites are no  hook ups..We managed to get one with electricity and used our own water onboard again. Now I need to make a collage of Flamingo pictures…

They have a lot of hammocks here in Florida..and NO, not the kind you lay down and fall out of. A Hammock is a forest of broad leaf trees surrounded by Pines or swamps..(there are no cliff notes for this lesson). On the left pic, we are walking through a Mangrove Hammock..If you think those peeps in the middle photo look like the same three on Gilligan’s Island, you are right. Tommy and Sammye drove the 120 miles from Everglade City to pay us a day visit at Flamingo..Great friends,  yes they ARE!..Papa Osprey was watching over his mate, who was sitting on a nest resting on a post at the Flamingo Marina..Everyone was taking photos..all he did was crab at us every so often..I think he liked the publicity.

Are you ready for one more place?? Hey, we have been out of touch for a few weeks!! We have been here at Highlands Hammock(yep another hammock) State Park in Sebring FL…

This is our spot at Highlands Hammock..In my opinion the spots are waaay too close together. It’s kinda hard finding where yours stops and another begins..It’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but a little tight..The trails here, however, are a-maze-ing!!!!!!

 

This was Cypress Hammock Trail.. We did see one alligator crawling up on the shore, but he was faster than I was with my camera…Some of the Oak trees here are HUGE!

Above is what’s left of a 1000 year old Oak Tree…awesome, to say the least!  There are 9 trails to walk here and we did 8 in one day..My favorite was the Cypress Swamp Trail..It was like walking back in time..felt like we  had to whisper (which is no easy feet for moi!)..Here are some photos from that trail…

Sooo beautiful at this place…There was a boardwalk built up over most of it, so you really got the feel for being in the swamp…However, there was a section that made me pause before I walked out on it..

“Come on, Donna, you wimp..There is a rail to hold…COME ON!!”..but …there was only ONE flipping rail to hold…Somebody who built this walkway had an evil sense of humor..didn’t make the rail on the other side…and it was this way for a looooooooong walk!! “OK, Dennis, I’m coming, but I’m NOT feeling real good about this..I know there are critters in here who see me as lunch!”

This is me…trying to think my way to “becoming one with the swamp”…Note there is NO rail on my left…and that walkway was darn narrow..I’d like a headcount of how many people actually did a header into the water, please…

OK, these are just a smitten of the pictures I have taken in the last 18 days..We leave tomorrow for Mannatee State Park near Cedar Key and Chiefland, FL…We will be there one week, but not too sure about internet service..So if you don’t hear from me ….either I DID become something’s “lunch”…or we have no service there… Thanks for tolerating my “big sissiness”!!

Sunset over Flamingo, FL…