Animals galore!

When I plan vacations, I try to take into account the varied interests of each member of our family. Our eight days in Florida contained very little "history," which is one of Paul's favorite interests. We learned a little bit of history at the Everglades National Park in the part where a Nike missile has been housed since the 1960's. Paul had a lengthy tour of Fort Jefferson, which was built during the Civil War, and we learned about the history of Biscayne during our tour of the Jones Lagoon. All of us enjoy seeing animals, and we've visited far more zoos, aquariums, and animal refuges since Nadia decided to major in Zoology. We saw many different animals almost every day of this trip. In the Everglades and Big Cypress, we saw hundreds of birds and alligators. We saw manatees and sting rays on two occasions. On our glass bottom boat tour, we saw a dolphin, sea turtles, and a variety of fish including a goliath grouper. We visited a few places where animals are rescued/rehabilitated with the goal of releasing them into the wild if possible. Those sites included McCarthy Wildlife Sanctuary, Turtle Hospital, Florida Keys Wild Bird Center, and the Zoological Wildlife Foundation. We didn't visit Zoo Miami. The closest we came to a traditional zoo was the Lion Country Safari.

On our final day in Florida, we visited our fourth National Park site of this trip - Biscayne National Park, which is almost all under water. There were so many (expensive) tours to choose between. I think I made the right choice in picking a paddle boarding activity instead of a snorkeling one given Miami was experiencing a "cold snap" (meaning highs only in the high 60's) this week. Two employees took the five of us out on a boat to the Jones Lagoon, which was about 30 minutes away from the Visitor Center. The kids and the two men used paddle boards, and Paul and I shared a kayak. Oliver is often the only one who counts as a "child" when I am buying tickets these days so usually his ticket costs less, but the opposite was true of this tour. The minimum age was eight, but if you bring a child between the ages of 8-11, you have to book a private tour, which in our case meant paying for a 6th person because the maximum group size was six. Oliver wasn't supposed to be allowed to paddle board, which is why I had reserved one double kayak, but the guides allowed him to paddle board (at the age of 11.5) when we told them he did know how to paddle board. Oliver was thrilled because he really wanted to use a SUP, and Paul was happy because he preferred to use a kayak. We traveled around many mangrove trees. We saw two lemon sharks, many Cassiopeia jellyfish, parrotfish, many different kinds of sponges, sea stars, and some birds (one spoonbill and many pelicans, seagulls, and cormorants). The kids earned their fourth Junior Ranger badge plus one patch because they had earned a badge at the three parks in that area. 

After we left Biscayne, we stopped at Robert is Here, which is a famous fruit stand and farm south of Miami. Oliver and I absolutely loved our milkshakes. You choose three fresh fruits to be added to your shake. I picked passion fruit, pineapple, and strawberry. Nadia sadly didn't like hers. After that stop we headed to the Zoological Wildlife Foundation for our third tour that included encounters with animals. Our first experience was in Indiana last April. That one is still our favorite. On this trip we did two. The first one did a better job during the tour portion of the experience, but the animal encounter portion was much better at ZWF. I should add that ZWF cost a lot more than the other one. At ZWF we had the opportunity to hold a lemur, armadillo, python, kinkajou, cockatoo, and a baby alligator. We also were able to pet a capuchin monkey (he jumped onto Paul) and a serval. Because he was under the age of 13, Oliver wasn't allowed to come near the monkey. After our tour was over, we had dinner at Olive Garden and then drove to a hotel located very close to the Miami airport. Paul dropped Nadia, Oliver, and I off and then he and Ian vacuumed out the van, returned it to the rental car company, took a shuttle to the airport, and then finally took a shuttle to the hotel. The next morning, we had an early breakfast and then boarded the 7:00 to the airport for our flight to Quito. 

We were not a fan of the rental car company. I hope to do a better job picking which company we use in Alaska in August because this one tacked on SO many unexpected fees (ex. forcing us to pay $20 a day for the tolls even though there were several days we were never near a toll road). Paul vacuumed out the vehicle because they threatened us with a $350 fee if it was at all dirty on the inside when we returned it.

We didn't buy many souvenirs on the trip. We bought five magnets for our refrigerator (one from each National Park site and also one from the Turtle Hospital). Nadia bought herself a bracelet at the Turtle Hospital, and she asked me to buy her a pair of earrings there that I will give her in June for her birthday. 

We've taken the kids to Florida many times over the years. Several of the trips were to the Orlando area. I'm not anticipating we will go back to Florida for quite a few years now that we've also had the opportunity to explore the Everglades, Florida Keys, etc. This was the first time we visited Florida in the winter, and I have to say that it's a very nice time to visit the state, especially if you are visiting the southern part.