Sun and Palm Trees

Monday, November 3

We have moved on, through Georgia to Florida.  It has been quite cool all the way.  This is the first day we have had  warm weather.

The traffic outside Atlanta was frantic.  It was that sort of freeway traffic where people are jockeying for position.  Some people are just crazy in their attempts to get one car length ahead.

We stayed at Macon (hard c) for the night.  The people were very nice, with real Southern accents.

As soon as we crossed the border into Florida, we saw Spanish moss and palm trees.  At last, warm weather!! Tonight we are in Wildwood, Florida.  I cannot tell you how nice it is to be in short sleeves.

We saw cotton growing at a Rest Stop so I took a picture through the barb wire fence.  It looked like cotton balls stuck to a branch. I have never seen it up close before - only at a distance. We saw many fields of cotton as we traveled.  Much of it has already been harvested.

Sunday, November 9

We were in Naples, Florida for four days - without good internet and then again last night we were in northern Florida and still no internet to do anything with.  Now we are in New Orleans and voila! we have internet. So I thought I would catch up on our adventures.

Naples is a really nice community - but really upscale.  When our friends took us shopping, we saw two Rolls Royces so you get the idea.  There were many little shops.  I found a cute little bell that you use to ask for more wine.  Lis liked the shoe stores.  They did have the cutest polka dot sandals...

The following day, we went on an airboat tour of the Everglades.  Dalton made a new friend before we even got on the boat.(I mean the baby alligator, not the girl!)  Her family has been in the alligator business for four generations in that area.  Her father was an alligator wrestler.  The alligator had an elastic band around his snout so he couldn't bite.

The ride itself was somewhat educational but mostly a thrill ride.  Fun though.  Luckily for me, I took the back seat with our friends (two rows of 3 people) and let Dalton sit in the front.  He got wet!  The guide did lots of fancy turns to churn the water up.

We drove through the canopy of plants and looked for alligators.

In a more open area, the guide spotted one.  He (the alligator, that is) was pretty patient and let our boat go all around him.  Finally he got fed up and submerged.

 We also saw raccoons in the trees near the water and the guide thought the alligator might be waiting for one of them to fall in.

Here are the tourists extraordinaire:

Later, we went to a restaurant in Naples called Fred's.  Fred was a dog so dogs can go on the patio.  Casey was happy to sit under our table and didn't even freak out when a big dog went by.  There was live music in the no dog part but it was quieter in our part so we could talk easier - even with the poker game going on at a nearby table.

 Now that we are in New Orleans, we hope to get a tour tomorrow.  Stay tuned!