We left Marathon Key and stopped for breakfast at a Waffle House on Key Largo. We keep seeing
Waffle House restaurants so we decided to try one. The staff was friendly; the food was okay.
Next on to Everglades National Park. We came in at the southeastern entrance. The Everglades
are a very shallow marsh (about 2 feet deep). From a distance it looks like grassland, but up
close you realize it's growing out of water. There are occasional rises where trees and larger
animals inhabit. We took a couple of walks: one to the Pa-hay-okee overlook and another through
the Gumbo Limbo trail. We next drove to the northern part of the park and took an airboat tour
out into the everglades. After our boat ride, we charged our way up the coast to Cape Canaveral.
We had a very nice dinner at a Thai restaurant next to the supercharger across the street from
our hotel.
At the Coe visitor center, there was a overview map of the park. The front desk gave us
a much better map for navigating the park.
Here is a picture from the Pa-hay-okee overlook. Sawgrass as far as you can see. On the path
we saw a cute cricket. Apparently they are quite toxic. We had an interesting park ranger
talk and he said there is one species of bird that kills the cricket, puts it on a sharp
stick and waits a couple of days before eating it. The toxicity rapidly decines after the
cricket is dead.
The Gumbo Limbo trail is named for the Gumbo Limbo tree. It has a reddish bark that can
be used for many things, medicinal and otherwise. The trail is rather enclosed feeling.
Here are a couple of picture of the marsh. One shows that there are occasional rises where
trees grow and animals reside.
We talked to the ranger at the visitor center about boat rides out into the everglades.
She pointed us to Everglade Safaris. They are a private company but they cooperate with
the park service. They even gave us a discout for our National Park Senior Pass. Here is
a picture of the airboats that we rode in and a picture of an alligator that we saw from
the boat.
Finally, at the end of the long, tiring day, we had put in 398 miles.
