Everglade City and Gator Country!!!

This morning we got up and went to work out. After that we went and spent some time at the pool. We love going to the pool in the morning because it is not busy at all. Then the clouds came in and we decided to head home. After our showers, Rick said put some water in the cooler and we are off for the day. I said where are we going and he said, I don't know. Well, we headed to Everglade City in search of some alligators. And we found some! But first, here is a very nice RV park in Everglade City where you can take your boat. There was a boat launch on the left. It was real peaceful here. Then we went to search for gators. We decided to stop at this picnic area that is off of Rt 41. It was a perfect place to stop. Here are the gators and birds that we saw. This one was sunbathing just off the walkway. This is the close up of the above alligator's head. This guy was sunning itself. This one was trying to hide on the other side of the water. He is huge. This picture does not do him justice. Rick thinks he is about 15' or so. The birds do not seem to be afraid of the gators. There were all kinds of fish in this water. Every time we turned around there was another one going by. We couldn't believe how many big ones we saw. I love this picture. It looks like he is headed right for us! We saw this one along Rt 41. Another bird sunning itself. Then we decided to head back home. On the way down on Rt 29 and again on the way back up we saw signs like this one. It says, Panther crossing. Yep, the signs tell you to watch for panthers crossing the road for about 7 miles at two different areas. The speed limit is 60 during the day and 45 at night. I think the difference is because of the panthers. We did notice that in certain areas, there were high fences on both sides of the road. We figured that this might be a higher concentration of gators. On the way back, I saw a lot more gators basking in the sun. Rick had to concentrate on the road. I saw a real big one with it's mouth open, but Rick had cars behind him and couldn't stop to get a picture. So after we got home, we had BLT's for dinner and then total relaxation. Rick's left knee is swollen and we wrapped it up and he is keeping it elevated. Not sure what caused it to swell. This weekend we go up to ST Petersburg to visit with family. That will be fun.