We got into Port of Miami at 7:30 am Saturday morning. We didn't fly home until the next day so we thought we would make the most of our day in Florida. We rented a van and decided to check out the Everglades National Park.
Everyone was exhausted by how busy we had been the previous week so some of them were 'Chuckles', but we made it to the Everglades intact--haha!
We checked out the visitors center.
We stopped by an area to check it out. However, Aaron was pretty freaked out when we saw Turkey Vultures all over the parking lot. He HATES birds especially really big ones like those! He almost didn't let us stop, but I talked him into it. Anyway, when we went inside the rangers recommended you get a tarp which they provided to cover your car since the birds like to eat away the rubber seals around the windows. They also can scratch up the car climbing all over it. There were a ton of them and all over. It made me bit nervous, too--haha!
We walked around the Royal Palm area. They had some HUGE, brightly colored grasshoppers.
They also had a TON of butterflies all over. They were pretty cool:
It was definitely not quiet anywhere in the park. We tried to see alligators, turtles, etc. You could hear things swimming around, but never see them which was a bit unsettling. It was a really pretty area, though. Lilly pads were everywhere.
We finally did see a turtle swimming around:
It was awesome to walk around the read things about the different trees and plants.
We were disappointed not seeing any alligators, though.
We went to another lookout area called Pay-he-okee Overlook. That is where we happened to see an alligator right next to the trail. It was a bit eerie. It just watched us walk right by it and didn't make a sound or move.
We all thought it was pretty awesome to see and glad we were above it on a trail so it couldn't get to us.
We then drove over to the Flamingo visitors center. We met up with G&G T, Bryan and his family as well as Johanna and her family. Jennifer and her family had already started their drive back to Ohio so they weren't there with us. Anyway, at Flamingo visitors center is where we saw a bunch of manatees. They were so cool! There was a group of 8 and they were just eating right off the boat dock. Here's a snout of one:
The water was murky so you could just barely make out their huge bodies:
We also saw a crocodile swimming around in the bay, too. It's the dark lump in the middle of the picture:
The kids thought the palm trees were pretty cool. Daniel tried climbing one:
So did Josh:
We went back and watched the manatees some more:
It was a cool place to just walk around.
Except when you see a sign like this--eek:
On the way back to Miami we stopped by a really cool fruit stand that my brother and his wife told us about called Robert is Here.
We just looked around and saw all kinds of fruits and stuff.
The avocados were the size of my hands. They were HUGE!!
Robert the owner was there. He offered to cut up the fruit we had picked out.
He started out with a coconut so everyone could try the coconut water:
We tried a passion fruit and it was so incredibly sour!!
We tried some dragon fruit:
Some rambutans:
Mangos:
Star fruit:
We also tried some guanabana, but I didn't get a picture of that one. It was really fun trying all these new things. It was pretty cool.
On the way home we stopped by a Cuban family restaurant so we could try some authentic Cuban food. It was tasty:
The next morning we had an afternoon flight so we had a leisurely morning and then took the hotel shuttle over to the airport. I thought I would check the temperature in Salt Lake to see what we would be flying into and it made me sad. It also was really cold to get to Salt Lake in shorts and flip flops.
While I was on the cruise ship I definitely needed a scopolamine ear patch because I got sea sick. Once I had the patch on I did great throughout the whole cruise except for snorkeling. Anyway, I thought everything would be fine once I got off the ship, however, I was wrong. On the flight home I did have some issues. Every since we got off the boat I had been dizzy and flying made me even more dizzy. We had to fly from Miami to Atlanta and then fly from Atlanta to Salt Lake. The first flight went okay, but I wasn't feeling the best. The second flight everything caught up to me and I spent the majority of the flight really sick. There was no barf bag in my seat pocket so I had to urgently root around in my backpack to find something to barf in. I spent the rest of the flight sicker than a dog. It was bad. Poor Aaron didn't know how to help me, but he really tried. I was so glad to finally land in Salt Lake. We finally got home late Sunday night about 10 pm. The poor kids had to get up for piano lessons the next morning at 6 am. It was a bit of a rough morning, but we survived. I was really glad I didn't have to work that Monday so I could try and get a handle on my vertigo. Sophie was more than happy to be home, too. She didn't leave my side or my lap all day--haha!
The rest of the week everyone was thrown back into a regular routine even me. I worked every single day since Monday. However, I am feeling lots better now. It was just the first few days I struggled with vertigo. Now I am back to normal--thank goodness.
We will miss the awesome towel animals that we found in our cabins every day of the cruise, though.
Anyway, it was an amazing trip and we were so glad for the experience. We definitely made some awesome memories. We are grateful for the reason--G&G T 50th anniversary. It really is nice to be home, though. Here's everyone that went on the cruise:
We were only missing 4 members of the entire family. Nathan--who is serving an LDS mission in Mexico, Taylor who is in his last year of college and couldn't get away, Miriya and her husband who are enjoying newlywed bliss and Matthew. It was an amazing fete to get everyone together, but I am glad we did it.
No comments:
Post a Comment