Everglades FL - Jan 2018

Shawna, Edie, Nate and Chris - Fan Boat Tour

Shawna had to be in Florida for a work event so she decided to extend her trip and spend the weekend with Chris and the kids (Nate and Edie).  Chris really wanted to spend time in Everglades National Park so we decided to spend the weekend in Everglades City, staying at the Everglades Rod and Gun Club.  The main lodge is quite interesting with dark wood decor and dead/stuffed animals all over the place; however, we stayed in one of the cabins which surprisingly was nice - we each had our own bedroom with a screen porch in between.

Everglades Rod and Gun Club

Our Cabin

Shawna arrived first on Friday evening (driving in from Naples where she worked for a few days before the weekend) and Chris arrived around 7:30 pm.  After we unloaded her car, we went to Camelia Street Grill for dinner, sharing a grilled/blackened fish dish.  The kids were a bit stir crazy from being in the car (they had a long drive from the Keys) so they ran around outside and played a game of imitating different animals.  Back at the lodge, we sat on the porch drinking wine and catching up until midnight!

Fan Boats

Saturday was a busy day.  We walked over to Island Cafe for breakfast and then went to Captain Jack's for a day of Everglades adventure - the combo tour.  We first started out with a fan boat tour of the mangroves where we saw alligators and raccoons.  It was quite pretty and a lot of fun.  We then went on another fan boat tour but this one was in more open water so we could do faster spins!  After this, we went on the swamp buggy tour where we drove around the swamp in a jacked up open air truck.  For our last activity, we went to the animal sanctuary where we saw lots of alligators in addition to tigers and a panther.  

Mangroves

We had a late lunch - more like 'linner' at Havana Cafe which is a very cute restaurant on an island a few miles outside of town.  We had sangria and cuban pork - very tasty.  We then went back to the lodge where the kids swam for a little while until it got dark.  Since we had a late lunch, we did not go out for dinner but instead had some snacks at the hotel while we sat on the porch, drinking more wine and chatting. This time, we went to bed at a more reasonable hour - we were both pooped!

On Sunday, we went back to Island Cafe for breakfast (it may be the only breakfast place in town) and then packed up the cars.  We drove over to Everglades Shark Valley where we had to wait a while to get into the park.  Normally, people rent bikes to ride the trails but there was a long wait for bikes so we walked part of the trail until we saw an alligator on the side of the trail and then turned back.  We stopped at the Coopertown Restaurant where we had a catfish sandwich that was not good at all so we just ate fries!  After this, we said our goodbyes and Chris drove home while
Shawna drove to Ft Lauderdale airport to fly to CT (she had to be there the following week for work).  It was such a fun weekend - so great to catch up with Chris and to spend time with the kids!

Everglades Shark Valley