During every trip, there is usually one day where things go wrong, and today was that day for us. It didn't all go wrong, and it started well, with a trip to a place Travalon remembered from his childhood, the Shell Factory. I bought some shell sailboat earrings and some starfish dyed in colors that look like they will glow under blacklight, and then we went to their wildlife park. Here are some photos. This first bird is a type we saw all over today, and they have a very intricate song.
This is a very colorful turtle.
This is a bobcat, one of Travalon's favorites.
I forget what this cat was called. A cerval?
This is a very pretty snake.
Friendly cockatoo and some other kind of parrot.
Alpacas always look so cuddly.
Their cousin the camel does not. It's odd that all the other animals have normal "people" names, but the camel was Goofy.
This cow was very friendly and came over to us. I think it thought we would feed it.
This blue-crowned pigeon was also very curious about us.
The pig was not at all curious about us.
We went into an aviary with several types of parrots.
And also these birds with colorful faces.
The goats and the turkey appeared to be deep in conversation.
The macaws were so colorful.
There were also some interesting flowers there.
In the shop, they had this model of the church Luther nailed the 99 theses to, made of shells.
Then we drove to Chokoloskee, the southernmost of the Ten Thousand Islands. Most of them are tiny and uninhabited, and they are part of the Everglades. Driving through the area made me think of a subtropical Horicon Marsh, and we saw lots of birds, egrets in the marsh and cormorants hanging out on the telephone wires, among others. Only Chokoloskee and Marco Island, the northernmost of the islands, are inhabited. We went to a wonderful Cuban restaurant and sat out in the garden, under the twittering birds and the shady trees, and we had snapper with rice and beans and plantains. So good! Travalon took some photos.
After that, things started to go wrong. We booked a cruise through the islands, but the captain never showed up so finally they canceled it. We did have these cute ibises keeping us company while we waited.
Our Plan B was to go to the public beach on Marco Island. It was a challenge to get to, because there is no parking right around it, but we found some just a few blocks away. Here I am on the beach.
It was a lovely, wide beach, and we watched the sunset. Travalon took some photos, and this is the best one.
I was hoping to see the green flash, a phenomenon that sometimes happens when you watch the sun set over the ocean - just as it is slipping below the horizon, there is a green flash. The sea has to be calm, and it was a bit choppy tonight, so maybe that's why we didn't see it. The bigger problem is that there was no public bathroom on the beach, so we searched for one and found a tiki bar. They had bathrooms, and then we enjoyed a drink there on the beach. The palm trees were lit up.
From the beach we could see the comet, but we hadn't brought binoculars so we couldn't get a better view of it - it just looked like a green smudge. Then we come to our hotel room, and they said they didn't have any more of the kind of room we had requested, even though Travalon had booked it in November! What?? They did give us a room, which they claimed was more expensive but they were giving it to us at the price of the room we actually wanted. Not sure why it's so much more, it's an okay room but doesn't have enough outlets, so Boethius my computer is running off his battery because I didn't want to unplug either the lamp or the air conditioning. Yes, those of you back home suffering through snow, we need the air on down here. It was hot today!
No comments:
Post a Comment