Friday we drove down Rt. 41, the Tamiami Trail, to get to our next stop. We could have taken the interstate but decided to go with the shorter, more scenic, and slightly quicker route. V: Hottest day yet – temps in mid 80’s – Lexie found a new place to travel right in front of the A/C vent on the floor and the dash – in the space for my legs and feet. Good thing I love that dog!
We set up camp at the Miami Everglades resort and grilled a steak (someone forgot that it was Lent). The campground is busy but spacious with some trees around.
Our site is right across from the dumpsters (so it is a very busy location) and from the waste treatment pump. Besides a bad location, the campground has had a boiled-water policy since we arrived, two of the three bathhouses /restrooms are closed, the pool/spa have been under reconstruction since last summer.
Saturday we dropped Lexie off at her new dog-sitter (Nathaniel), who had a couple of dogs Lexie would get to know better.
V: what a hard life for a dog, chilling poolside in her bed.
Then we went back along the Tamiami Trail to the Miccosukee Indian Airboats, where we took a 40 minute airboat ride.
Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to us, February is the dry season and 2025 was a drought year for Florida. The Everglades were very dry.
And many airboat operations are closed because of the lack of water. Most of our airboat trip was along the canal parallel to the Tamiami Trail, but we did go into the everglades proper on a shallow watery section. We saw fish in the canal, turtles, gators and many birds during the trip.
After the boat rides we went into the Miccosukee Indian Gift Shop and Museum (https://www.visitflorida.com/listing/miccosukee-indian-village-%26-airboat-rides/25149/). We got a great lesson in the Miccosukee Indians lifestyle and history from our guide (who was not Miccosukee).
We also ate tater tots and gator bites at the cafe. The gator bites were a little chewy, and definitely did not taste like chicken.
After the Indian Village, we stopped at the Shark Valley visitor center in the Everglades (https://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/shark-valley-tamiami.htm).
We took the tram ride to the observation tower, and we observed many alligators and their babies along the way. Since most of the Everglades were dry, any spot with water also had alligators.
We also saw a few birds, lizards and turtles. The land along the tram trail was mostly dry. Sadly we didn’t see any mammals because the Burmese pythons have eaten them all up. And we didn’t see any pythons either.
Saturday night’s dinner was a couple of pre-packaged Trifecta meals from Dan’s surplus. I thought they would be quicker to cook in the microwave than grilling food outside. But that may not be true since they needed to be defrosted first.
Sunday, Steve went to Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes (https://ololourdes.org/). The bishop presided over the Mass, so there was incense all around. The church also had two sides, with another set of pews behind the alter. There were many people of all ages attending. And I was underdressed wearing shorts and sandals. This was not a vacation church. V: I did vacation church in my shorts and t-shirt – online!
Sunday afternoon we enjoyed some ice cream at the resort’s community center and talked with some of the long term residents.
Our Monday snorkel trip going out of Key Largo was postponed to Thursday due to cold (40’s) and very windy (gusting 20 mph) weather. The area where we would be snorkeling had waves between 3 and 4 feet. Greg probably understands that wave size best. V: the water temps on Thursday were also warmer as we snorkeled in the Gulf of Mexico. Still wore a wetsuit.
Monday evening we had a delicious dinner at Golden Rule Seafood restaurant in Miami (https://goldenruleseafood.com/), a place recommended to us when we were at the ice cream social.
They had key lime pie as a dessert option, which Steve ordered and consumed.
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