Still trying to catch up some. After we left Kaila's house :), we spent the better part of the day driving down to Marco Island where we stayed at the Hilton. Tina and I like to travel during September because it's generally a LOT less crowded. Well, it ends up Marco Island is so less crowded in September that somewhere around 80% of the local restaurants close down for the entire month and let the employees have a vacation. We found enough places to keep us from starving and had a great time nonetheless.
On Wednesday while we were down there we drove up to a place 20 miles outside of Naples called Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. The boardwalk there takes you on a 2.5 mile journey through one of the most beautiful cypress swamp in the state. Being September it was rather hot, but we're both pretty used to that.
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| The Entrance to the Sanctuary |
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| The Border of the Cypress Swamp |
About 15 minutes into our walk the rather large Barred Owl you see in the middle of this next pic came swooping down at me and flew about 5 feet from my head. I'm not sure who spooked who more. After he was a safe distance away, he was fine with me taking pics of him.
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| Barred Owl |
Even with it being the middle of the day, we still managed to find one good sized alligator sunning out. When you're in the middle of a swamp like that it's hard to find creatures amidst all the plants and trees, but at least we found one.
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| A 10 to 12 Foot Alligator (Center of Pic) |
This second alligator was easier to find as he/she was only a couple feet off the boardwalk. Being only 10 inches long, he didn't pose much of a threat ... just yet.
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| A Cute Little 10 Inch Alligator |
And then of course ... saving the best one for last.
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| The Best Looking Creature in the Swamp |
We'll get back to posting some house pics here shortly ... if Tina ever manages to get our pool contractor going.
