The Everglades

This post had many titles in its working draft. For starters: An Albatross and a Beetle Walked into a Taqueria. You know how we end up with barn swallows in Home Depot or Lowes, and they're in and out of the rafters? Well, in the Fort Lauderdale airport, a GINORMOUS bird flew first through security as my bag was enduring it's own personal inspection, and then flew straight at mom's head while we were walking to our gate. I mean, it was huge! And then, there was a whole beetle incident on the plane that was every bit as insane as you might imagine. Snakes on a plane have nothing on this! Ha!

Another working title: OJ Simpson and Crocodile Dundee. We had dinner (at a taqueria 🤣) next to a couple (well actually, 2 tables down) that was having an insane conversation about OJ Simpson. That probably didn't need to be said, the insane part. Barring a white bronco spotting, how does that even come up in casual conversation? And I'll get to the Crocodile Dundee part. 

My last working title: The Terminal.  Our ship docked at 7am, and our plane didn't leave until 6:10pm. Do you remember that movie with Tom Hanks about living in an airport? That was us on Saturday. We had coffee, we repacked our suitcases. We sat on the floor; we stood in line. We went upstairs, downstairs, and back up again. I changed clothes in a public bathroom. There were highs and lows - mostly lows! 

But, I went with Everglades because it was our last excursion, and is someplace I've always wanted to see.  If you're not picturing Horatio Caine ala CSI Miami, you're missing what I'm throwing down! Plus, I've taught about the Everglades in one way or another for years. There are numerous ecosystems represented in the Everglades (9?), and unfortunately, also many invasive species. Did you know the Everglades is actually a very slow moving river? I used to read a book to my class by Carl Hiassen: Scat. A teacher goes missing, and (spoiler) it turns out she was nursing a panther back to health deep in the Everglades. Being there, I can actually understand how something or someone could hide and never be found. It's a river, it's dense, it's open...it all looks the same and it is so unique. It's such a fascinating place!

Anyway, it was AWESOME! Airboats are SO LOUD, and so weird. They are flat bottom, and literally run on giant fans that propel the boat forward. When you're in it, it doesn't feel like a normal boat either; you do feel like you are riding on top of the water. 

Even in our loud boats, we saw numerous fish and birds, which speaks to the overall wealth of organisms big and small lurking just out of sight. We saw plenty of black vultures (plenty!), fish jumping, and lurking just below the surface, and an alligator!

The bird from the airport...lol

Got that eye looking at you! (What show is that from?)

After the airboat ride we went to an alligator "show". The quotes are because I don't really know how to qualify what we saw, and I'm sure these types of shows are a dime a dozen in Florida. Crocodile Dundee was confusing because his "humor" was mildly offensive, and yet he's in the alligator rescue business. I'm still processing him as a human. And alligators as animals. What weird creatures!

And then we hurried up and waited around in the airport for....six hours? It was brutal! Wait around for six hours and then get on a plane for six. Egads!

I love clouds.

The end of our very long day was spent in a Marriott shuttle in Seattle with a Delta flight crew that had also flown in from Florida. They were way past rummy, and as such, quite hilarious. They were watching flight attendant TikToks, and literally rolling with laughter. As we were the only other ones on the shuttle, we crowded around the phone too and shared in the humor. Nice to end a hard day in fits of giggles!

And that's it! That's the trip! I mean, I think there is one more blog, as we love to think about our favorites, so stay tuned for that! :)