For some reason I like to go places that look on a map like there is no good reason why someone would want to go there, so despite all of Ryan's protests, we decided to camp for a few days down in Flamingo, Florida. Look it up on a map, you'll notice that there is one lonely road that leads all the way through the Everglades to a campground called Flamingo…nothing else for miles and miles.
I should mention here that Ryan has a strange sort of sweet blood …we can go to the same place and he will cover every inch of skin in clothing and douse himself with DEET 250 and still come out looking like a five year old with the chicken pox. I, on the other hand, can walk through the swamps barefoot at sunset and never see a bite. Needless to say he wasn’t too excited about a trip to the swamps, but after showing him that the 'mosquito meter' was only on 'moderate' and enticing him with the idea that Eisley might get eaten by a crocodile, he agreed to go.
We took a canoe out into the Everglades waterways and got to see lots of crocodiles, some baby crocs, amazing hawks and eagles, armadillos, wild pigs, and one very friendly manatee named Hugh (get it?) Eisley, somehow, did manage to make it out alive, though I did have to pick her up a couple of times when a big hawk would start circling. -Lane
To see more pictures from the Everglades click here.
