Lots of sightseeing and shopping were done between Key West and Fort Lauderdale. Every meal was eaten outside overlooking the beach and not a single one was in a chain or fast food restaurant. We enjoyed the beach at Islamorada and drove across the famous Seven Mile Bridge. We even walked two miles of the old bridge down to Pigeon Key, which is where the workers lived while building the bridge.
I thought an amazing excursion idea would be a few tours of the Everglades. First, Mom and I did the airboat tour at Gator Park. The next day was our kayak tour through the mangroves as well as a swamp walk tour. The mangrove tunnels were so interesting. I was amazed at how many types of birds we saw while we were there and, of course, we saw plenty of alligators while paddling. Mom enjoyed kayaking although she seemed to have only two speeds, passing me and going 95 mph or at a dead stop crashed into the mangroves. Oh how I wish I had video of that to post.
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| Following our guide |
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| She is ready to paddle... super fast. |
That afternoon was the swamp walk. When they asked us if we wanted the wet or dry tour, we said we wanted the wet tour. We didn't care to get muddy at all. What we didn't realize was the the wet tour was actually wet. Our guide started out the tour by telling us not to panic if we see a water moccassin or alligator in the water. Ok sure. I wish I could better describe the look on Mom's face for the first 45 minutes of the tour, but only one word comes to mind - terror. She was scared to death and I heard several curse words being muttered behind me. Our guide (a former marine) was fabulous. We actually did feel safe with him, we're just not used to walking in waist deep water in swamps.
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| Mom and I with our guide, Jason. You can see how deep the water got in places by where my jeans are wet. |
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| This was a more shallow part of the walk. |
I will have to say that after it was all said and done, even Mom said she would do it again. It was fun and I felt like we could conquer anything after we got out. If you are interested, the tour company is called Everglades Area Tours. They have many different types of tours and I wish we could have done them all. I love that they concentrate more on the conservation of the Everglades and leaving no footprint as opposed to some of the other tours companies that we considered. I highly recommend them.
One more thing, did I mention I fell? Typical Brittany style and grace, I fell in the swamp. Oh well, at least I got in, right? Now, for the next adventure... any ideas?
