The Beginning

1/20/17

Today we left for our Great Adventure at 1:10 pm. We drove for about an hour and then we stopped at the Oasis and got an EZ pass. We also got ice cream at Dairy Queen. We all got an Oreo Royal blizzard. I am very excited to sled down the great sand dunes in Texas. Yesterday my class threw a surprise party for me because it was my last day of school. They taped balloons to my desk and everyone made me a card. I also brought brownies in as a good-bye treat.

1/24/17

Yesterday we went to Fort de Soto. It is an old military Fort. There were really cool cannons and mortars. Andi and I found some branches from palm trees that looked like swords and we had a sword fight. In one of the rooms there was some sort of animal on the ground and we had no clue what it was. We also went to the beach. Andi and I played a game where we let the waves get really close to us and then we sprinted away as fast as we could and tried not to let them touch us. I also looked for shark teeth. The sand was really soft. We also went biking for a long time. The last thing we did is we visited the Blumettis’ new house that they just moved into. It was very nice.

1/25/17 (5^th day of trip)

Today we went on a canoe tour in Big Cypress. There were lots of mangroves, which are trees that grow right out of the water. Andi and I sat in the middle on the floor. Dad sat in the back and Mom sat in the front. 

All of us in the canoe

We were hoping to see lots of alligators, but we only saw one swimming in the water. We also saw lots of dead fish and jumping fish. The tour guide told us a story about a guy back in the day who got killed by a cop because instead of paying his workers, he would kill them. After the guide told us the story we went into a mangrove tunnel and it felt really good because it was shaded. After about a half of a hour, the tunnel got even thicker and there was no light at all.

Mangrove tunnel

 After we got out of the tunnel, we stopped at a sand bar to eat lunch. After lunch we headed back. Then we went to a spot where you can see lots of alligators. I saw seven alligators. They were not in cages. Finally, we went back to the camper.

Lots of alligators

1/26/17

Today we went on Loop Road which is a 24 mile long loop. We saw lots of ‘gators and birds. I’ll bet we saw fifty ‘gators, if not more. We also saw a bird that was so camouflaged that I couldn’t see it when I was staring right at it until it moved. We also saw a ‘gator on the shore that was huge. It was about 11-12 feet long. Not long after that, we saw a ‘gator under a bridge that was about 9-10 feet long. Another ‘gator nearby growled at us, and we got back in the car in a hurry.

Alligator under the bridge

Bad day for the tire

We also saw some baby ‘gators on the side of the road that were about 3-4 feet long. After we finished the loop we packed up the camper and drove to the next campsite. On the way we saw a corn field. I had no idea that corn grew in Florida. We also saw a lot of palm tree farms. We also stopped at a visitor center and when I hopped out of the car I heard a weird noise so I walked to where I heard the noise and I found a nail in the tire. Dad patched up the tire, but it didn’t work so we had to use the spare. 

After about 2 hours we got to our campsite and Andi and I rode our bikes around the site. There was a big blade of grass wrapped around Andi’s wheel and it caused her to fall two times before we figured out the problem. Finally, at 7:00, we went to an astronomy program where the ranger told us about all the constellations, planets, and exploding stars in our galaxy.

1/27/17

Today we went on Tropical Tree Walk with a Park Ranger named Mr. Bob. He showed us lots of kinds of trees that only grew in tropical places. They were mostly different kinds of palm trees. My favorite types of trees Mr. Bob showed us are the Gumbo Limbo tree and the Button Wood tree. The Gumbo Limbo tree has a sort of red bark. 

Gumbo Limbo tree with a royal palm to the left

The Button Wood tree had really rough bark and fruit that grew off of it that looked like buttons. During the tree walk we went to a beach to look at trees on far away islands and in that time I found a shark tooth. I couldn’t keep it because it was at a National Park and you can’t take stuff from those. 

Shark Tooth

After we finished the tree walk we went to Bear Lake Trail. There were potholes all over and since our truck was so big we couldn’t avoid them. It was probably the bumpiest road I have ever been on. There was a swamp on both sides of the road. There were so many different kinds of plants that it looked like a different planet. We all agreed that it looked like the planet Dagobah from Star Wars. Dad also saw some mound of dirt that kind of looked like Yoda’s hut (also from Star Wars). After we finished Bear Lake Trail we went back to our campsite and Andi and I went biking for a little while.