Florida Everglades

On Day 5 of our road trip, we found ourselves in Naples, FL, at the mouth of the Everglades. We opted to take U.S. 41 (the Tamiami trail) southeast toward the Florida keys. We drove into the park and saw several different types of birds, some cypress trees, and some alligators in the waters alongside the road. Many of the people we talked to about out trip told us that the Everglades were kind if boring, so we were prepared to be somewhat unimpressed. 

This area is called the Pine Rocklands. The tall thin trees are called Maritime Slash Pines. 

We stopped at the Everglades visitor's center and learned a bit about the park. One of the volunteers there told us a good option would be to take the "Loop road" off of 41. 

We came upon the entrance to Loop road and started out. At first, it didn't seem very different from U.S. 41, except there was no evident wildlife. After about a mile, the paved road ended, leaving us driving on dirt road. 

The prospect of driving 25+ miles on washboard dirt road did not appeal, but we decided to continue on anyway.

After about a mile of driving, we caught glimpses of water and signs of life just past the wall of trees. 

We came to a break in the trees at a wide spot in the road, at a culvert of sorts, where there was open water on both sides of us. 

We stopped and got out and were blown away by what we could see. The area was teeming with birds, turtles, fish, and  alligators. It was so amazing. 

We were immediately hooked. We drove on and stopped at every culvert we came to. Most of the time we rewarded by a beautiful swamp scene with 5-6 different types of creatures for our viewing pleasure. 

The trees were beautiful...

Bald Cypress Trees

Most of the Bald Cypress trees had gigantic Cardinal Air Plants growing all over them. 

There were ominous grasshoppers (aka western lubbers). 

There were ALLIGATORS everywhere! 

In the water...

Posing on a rock...

This guy was gigantic! He was at least 15 feet long from snout to tail. 

We saw whooping cranes, great blue herons, egrets, wood storks, vultures and lots of other birds. This guy is a wood stork. 

Sydney enjoyed sharing the front seat with her dad for ease of getting in and out of the car. 

There were colorful flowers all over the places too. I'm pretty sure this yellow one is called Cone-Spear Bladderwort. 

This purple one is Pickerelweed. 

I couldn't stop taking pictures of the alligators!  This guy was particularly beautiful. 

There were a few travelers on the road with us, most of the time people were courteous and thoughtful of each other. One couple was a little odd. They stopped directly in front of us, put their tripod in the middle of the road and proceeded to take several pictures. We got a pretty good laugh out of it. 

They were a bit close to that alligator in my opinion! To each his own. 

We finally reached the end of the dirt road, joined back with 41 and went in search of lunch.  

We ended up at the Miccosukee Restautant, run by the Miccosukke Indian tribe.  They served us some Indian frybread tacos, frog legs, alligator bites, and hush puppies. 

It was a great adventure checking out all the Everglades has to offer. I would have never guessed that I would love the swamps. When I go back, I'm taking an airboat ride for sure!!!

New Orleans Day 1

Michael and I visited New Orleans a few years back and decided it would be a great place to visit again with our kids. There are places I definitely wouldn't take my kids to, but on the whole, the city has a lot to offer.

We flew into Louis Armstrong Airport around 11:50 pm on Friday night. We took a shuttle to our hotel and there we met up with Grandma Janis who had flown in earlier. About an hour after we arrived, Aunt Suzie made it to the hotel. 

We all went to bed hoping to wake up refreshed and ready to explore. We got up as early as we could, which, considering the time change, was no easy feat. Ask the teenager...

Anyway, we all had a little free hotel breakfast, packed up and headed downtown via taxi. There were lots of cool things to see just on the drive in. I managed to grab a picture of this awesome church. 

We made it downtown around 11am to our new hotel, a Marriott. Our rooms weren't quite ready, so we left all of our baggage in the capable hands of the valet. Not 5 minutes after we headed out, the hotel called to let us know that our rooms were in fact ready. We quickly headed back,  took everything up to our rooms and headed out again. 

We made our way to Mother's, a NOLA icon known for its po'boy sandwiches. Unfortunately, it's so well known that it's often packed with a 30-45 line out the door. We were there at noon and the line seemed to stretch forever. We decided we didn't want to waste our time waiting and headed toward the French quarter. 

We ended up at a two story restaurant on Decatur Street called "The Original Oyster House". We sat upstairs near the balcony (there were too many if us to sit at a table outside) and ordered a ton of southern food. 

We ordered a sampler platter with catfish, boudin balls, and alligator bites. It was all delicious, but the catfish was the best I've ever had. 

After the appetizer, Syd and Grandma split a bacon burger, Sam had a "rajun Cajun" burger (which was spicy with a strong red pepper flavor), Suzie had gumbo, and Michael and I split at BBQ shrimp "one-handed po'boy". Michael had a Tin Roof Voodoo Beer. Several of our meals came with garlic butter fries. The were out-of this-world good. We could not stop eating them. They were dripping with butter and chunks of garlic. 

You can see a pool of butter to the far left in this picture. I'm drooling just thinking about them. 

After lunch, we headed back outside. Suzie and Michael both ordered "Moscow Mules" from the restaurant's  sidewalk bar. 

We wandered into the French Quarter towards Jackson Square. The entire town was hopping! Huge crowds surrounded all the street performers. There were people painted gold from head to toe, a guy dressed up as an all silver robot, kids who tap dance with pop can tabs attached to their shoes, musicians, comedians, and dancers.  One could never be bored in this town. We all checked out the local art that covers most of the fence around Jackson Square. Michael, Sam and Suzie veered off to watch a break-dancing performance while Sydney, Grandma and I headed around the square towards the Cathedral, taking in as much art as we could find along the way. 

The Cathedral is one of my favorite things about New Orleans. It's such a shock to walk into a cool and quiet place after being in the chaos and heat of the French Quarter. The interior paintings and stained glass are awe-inspiring. 

The exterior of the cathedral is pretty cool too...

We continued to walk into the French quarter for a while ...

We planned on having Cafe au Lait and Beignets at Cafe du Monde (another New Orleans landmark, but again the line was 45 minutes to an hour. We took a little break (because it was hot!), checked out some canons, some more street performers and a great view of the square and cathedral. 

We walked down to the riverfront to check out the mighty Mississippi River. 

We walked along the river for a bit and got to see the steamboat Natchez depart for a day trip. 

Next time maybe we will go for a ride!

We continued walking along the river, did some bird-watching, and had some fun with the statues along the way.

It was only mid afternoon by this point, but we were all tired. We decided it would be a great time to catch a street car and take a ride to the garden district. After moving from car-stop to car-stop in the attempt to find a car with enough room for all of us, we finally caught one and we were on our way! 

It was nice to sit down for a bit and feel the breeze on our faces. Oh, and to realize we were sun burned!

The street car was under construction, so we had to get off somewhere in the middle of the garden district.

Once were located ourselves (so thankful my phone knows where I am even when I don't), we found that we were quite close to Lafayette Cemetary No. 1. We stopped at a convenience store, bought some water and snacks, and set off to explore again. 

We all enjoyed walking through the garden district. All of the houses are amazing. Each one is unique. The plants and trees are incredible too. 

The ornate metal work is widespread. This is the fence at General Short's villa, in the style of cornstalks entertwined with morning glory flowers. 

Here is an intricate attempt at supplying everyone with power. 

We made it to the Cemetary and were disappointed to find out that it was closed?!? Too weird. We got a glimpse through the gates at each opening. It would have been interesting to go inside, but we all got a little taste of the eeriness it offers.

Cemetary wall. 

We walked on for a while, got out fill of garden district sight-seeing, hopped a street car back in to town and then headed back to our hotel to rest our tired and sore feet. What a day!