Vaca Recap Part 3

Okay, I think the end was my favorite part of the entire trip. Key West was fabulous and then we got to drive across Florida on 41! JB's sister's ex-husband R (I know, keep up) winters in Florida so we drove from Key Largo to Naples to visit with him and his wife. Don't judge - it was a lovely visit. As we were driving across 41 I was on the lookout for alligators. R had said I would be able to see them from the car. I didn't believe him and JB didn't believe me when I told him I was seeing them. The top one is the first one I saw. I had to scream at JB to stop the car! After seeing that first one, JB was able to spot them from the car too. They are pretty amazing. At one point, we were standing on the side of the road, and this guy (over there on the left) got off the rock he was sunning on and started swimming right toward us. Spooky. There were actually 2 alligators sitting right next to each other on the rocks and at the same time, they both splooshed into the water and started coming at us. One went under and the other stayed on top. Thankfully, we never saw the one that went under again and we hightailed it back to the car.

Another thing that was amazing was how clear the water was and how big the fish were. I don't know what type of fish, but they were huge.

There are tons of birds I have never seen before. Just sitting around. R's wife told us that some of the birds are good divers but can't fly when they are wet, so they spread out their wings to sun themselves before flying away again. It was beautiful, but every time we would stop the car they would fly away - so we didn't get a photo of them all splayed out.

We stopped at a nature reserve boardwalk. There was lots of interesting wildlife, but one of the neat things was the Strangler Fig. You can see how one tree is hugging the other - essentially feeding off it and killing the host tree to survive.

More birds of varieties we have never seen before, so there were lots of photos.

On the way out of the boardwalk, we saw this little turtle sunning himself.

After spending a day visiting with R, we called my friend S. She is a "Virtual Friend" that I've now had the pleasure to meet. I know her through the weight watchers dog walking group. S and her husband and dog also winter in Florida. They live within 20 minutes of R, so it was logical to get over to meet them.

S was absolutely lovely, her home was beautiful, and her dog is so well behaved. Tootsie Jane could teach my pack a thing or two. When Tootsie greets you - she runs up to you then sits right in front. It was the cutest thing - she doesn't jump on you, she doesn't hit and she doesn't snatch cookies. We had a lovely visit. I'm really glad to be home. However after 2 days back at the office, I can already say - Did I just have a vacation? You'll have to wait until Friday for the lessons.