Neither of us really wanted to leave Hobe Sound. Caleb liked the area and I felt like as if I had been ripped off after having been sick all week. We went to the Whistle Stop Café and had breakfast, then reluctantly went back to pack up. Our next stop – C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines, (just outside of Hollywood, FL and close to Miami). Have I mentioned, Caleb has been reading the Harry Potter series as we drive our way around the country? Well, he has. I drive and he reads out loud. He is my book on tape guy. We are now on the 4th book, The Goblet of Fire!
C.B. Smith Park
The park here is very nice, so after we set up, I played my accordion for a while and then hung in the hammock and read for a bit.
On my day off we went to the Everglades on an air boat tour. It was interesting how the boat would glide over the thick grass with what seemed like very little water underneath us. We started off the trip by finding a very large gator with his very pregnant girlfriend. Our guide crumpled up bits of swamp grass and threw it in her direction, which caused her to snap and chew on the grass. Pretty exciting for us city folk. Then we took off and found a place with some juvenile alligators, 14-18″ all over the place. Our final stop was by a very tiny tree lined hammock where there were about a half dozen baby alligators, maybe 10-12″ at the most.
pregnant mommy
juveniles
baby
After the boat trip, we went into Miami to Little Havana to have some lunch at Versailles Cuban restaurant. I had a Cuban sandwich and Caleb had lechon. We also split some ceviche. It was all really good.
After lunch, we headed to the Everglades National Park Visitor Centers at Ernest Coe and Flamingo. We tried to take a hike outside of the campground area in Flamingo but were immediately attacked by mosquitos. We ran back to the car and spent the next 10 minutes killing them on our bodies and trying to get them out of the car.
Lastly, I got really close to some manatees which were hanging around the dock. $5000.00 fine for touching or disturbing a manatee.
luckily she was not caught
Bye bye my sweet.