4 Days, 3 National Parks, 12 Junior Ranger Badges...WHEW!

After we left Orlando, Florida, we drove down south to visit Big Cypress Preserve, Everglades National Park, and Bicayne National Park.  It was a whirlwind tour, but we got the chance to see and experience a lot of nature!

We dry camped (no water or electric hook ups) at Big Cypress preserve one night at Lake Monument.  When we first arrived, there was a lovely alligator just a few feet from our site...Yikes! Alan named him "Smiley" because of all of his teeth!!! He didn't bother us and in fact he slithered on down into the lake shortly after we arrived.  Could the noise of four young brave boys have scared him off?? Either way, I made sure to tell the boys they couldn't go outside the RV without me or Daddy!  

The next morning we went to the Visitor's Center to learn more and have the boys participate in the Junior Ranger Program.  They each received one book that covered three of the National Parks in the area.  The boys worked in the books and then we walked outside to the observation dock.  We saw a few alligators sunbathing and swimming around.  Then, we noticed one alligator diving and feeding on the fish! I actually caught it on camera below. The alligator on the right was swimming along and then he jumped up and dove into the water to get his lunch!

After the boys finished the Big Cypress pages in their books, they received their Junior Ranger Badges after a brief pledge ceremony.  Caleb really got into it! He was so excited!

We continued to drive south towards the Florida Everglades.  We walked through the Anhinga Trail and saw all kinds of animals, plants, and trees.

This interesting bird kept making the funniest gargling noises as we walked by.  It was as if he was talking to us.

At first we noticed just one or two alligators in the water beside the trail. Then we reached the observation dock and saw this...

There were DOZENS of alligators just laying around basking in the sun.  Nathanael counted somewhere around 50 to 60 alligators in that one location! Overall, he counted more than 70 alligators that day between Big Cypress Preserve and the Anhinga Trail. WHEW!

I was surprised how close some of the alligators were to the trail. After years of protection, these alligators do not fear people.  They are still wild creatures though and can be violent if they are fed by humans.  If someone tries to feed the alligators, they become conditioned to associate humans with food, which can be very dangerous.  Looking at this picture below now just kind of freaks me out! (My common sense did finally kick in and I did tell Nathanael to get off the fence right after I took this picture!)

There were tons of turkey vultures just hangin' around.  Kind of makes you wonder...what are they waiting around for? Do they know something we don't? Mmmmm...we didn't hang around to find out:)

The boys finished 3 more pages in their books to receive their 2nd Junior Ranger Badges. Later on in the week we visited Biscayne National Park on our way back up the coast.  The visitor center had some neat touch and feel displays.

Look at this huge tortoise shell! WOW!

It was a cloudy day with some rain, so our walk around the trail was short.

There was a beautiful view where you could see the city of Miami in the distance on a sunny day.  Unfortunately, we could barely make out the skyscrapers because it was so cloudy that day.

This guy sure worked hard in his Junior Ranger book! He was really excited to earn his badges!

Joshua's smile just warms my heart:) He totally posed for this photo below and said, "Take my picture Mommy!"

After we walked the trail, the boys finished up their books and requirements to earn their third Junior Ranger Badges for the week.  They actually each received patches as well for completing all 3 park Junior Ranger programs!:)

So...the Park Ranger put these hats on the boys and they just went crazy! They were transformed into tough guys :) Ahhh..life with boys! It is always an adventure - that's for sure!

Blessings to you and yours,
Jill and the Power Rangers...oops...I mean Junior Rangers!:)