our not-so-fun Florida trip

[drache]

Hi everybody
I am so happy to be back - I can't even tell you.
I'd never had much desire to go to Florida, but since I'd been hanging out here, I was looking forward to the Everglades.
Our Florida trip was a visit to condo-land, where every inch of earth has been groomed and tamed. I made myself very unpopular with my comments and was told to zip my mouth, which really set me off (i can get very pissy).
For those of you in Europe who haven't seen this: this is a place where you cannot get the least thing without a car. There are endless miles of bedroom communities - miles away from any kind of shopping. There are no sidewalks.
Fuel efficiency is just a band-aid. Give those people grocery stores and you'll cut fuel consumption and emissions.
That's the inflammatory comment that got me in trouble.
I never got a chance to get going on habitat destruction and a number of other subjects I can get pissy about.

We did go to a nature park and a gator farm.
I did take some pics.

Here's a lizard we saw upon arrival at the hotel. It made me feel hopeful and excited.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//525/IMG_0475.jpg

these are pictures from the nature center:

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//525/IMG_0520.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//525/IMG_0528.jpg

and this is from the gator farm:

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//525/IMG_0573.jpg

I did get a ton more gator pics, but most of them of juvie basins or through double layers of chain link fence. There are a few more pics in my drachenkram album, including a nice shot of a couple of Sebastopol Geese.

I really liked the young woman who did the alligator show and told her I'd love to have her job.
They also had some large, wild caught, non-native snakes there.

So that was it for Florida.
So, if there are areas in Florida, that are not completely paved, gardened, or golf coursed over - I didn't get to see much of them.

And I missed you guys

[adamanteus]

Welcome home Rhea. Sorry you were disappointed with your Florida trip. Sometimes expectations can exceed the reality of a place, I guess. Maybe if you'd had more time to travel more extensively......

[drache]

It wasn't really my trip and my expectations weren't high. I figured, it'd be pretty plasticky down there.
It's just that the extend of habitat destruction and artificiality was shocking and even a bit frightening to me. I find it scary, when people refer to pesticide laden golf courses as "beautiful pieces of nature".

This subject does lead me to go on a bit, so I'll just stop right now.
I've heard that there are other kinds of places in Florida as well . . .

Thanks for the welcome home, James

[CrazyHedgehog]

hi Rhea, sorry you had such an awful time, we went two years ago, and after some talking and asking advice, we took a full day trip to deep everglades, to where it is owned by the true native indians, I was enthralled..
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/florida1_023.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/florida1_031.jpg

[adamanteus]

A freind of mine has a place in Florida where he goes every couple of months or so. He showed me pictures and I was really disappointed...as Rhea said, all concrete and golf courses. I guess it depends where you go, Florida is a big place!

[drache]

that is beautiful and looks more like what I would have liked
in my case, the alligator farm was definitely the highlight of the trip
it did include a short air boat ride into the glades and that was fun
I learned a lot about crocodilians in those three hours
next time (in seven years), I need to do more research ahead of time and make sure that we can get away for a full day

[FitnessFreak]

lol sounds like my trip at mexico with my family

i'm a very energetic and adventurous person and my family is....welll....... lazy.

they didn't want to visit the pyramids-or parasail-or scuba/snorkel they didnt want to go cliff jumping or even visit the ocean!!!

they just wanted to relax by the pool all day every day and not even swim..

i went to the beach the first few days by myself but it got boring as i got lonely..

but i did play with some geckos that i found for a while and that was fun

[drache]

actually
that may have been it
the trip was with Jeff's family
they're really nice people in many ways
they think I'm a nut-case
because I care about stuff and get emotional
most people think I'm weird that way

[GarterGuy]

Hey welcome home. Sorry to hear that Fla. was kind of a bummer for you. I can totally understand though....there are a lot of areas down there that are just totally ruined by "progress", but there also is a lot of natural beauty there as well. My first time to go there, I was sooo excited and it ended up being really crappy. It was so cold, cloudy and miserable(we went in March), that I spent most of the time indoors. Where I stay is in Tampa, at my wife's grandparents place. It's one of those "canned communities", but even there, there's wildlife. Tons of anoles (mostly browns but a couple greens), frogs, toads, southern racers, ringnecks, turtles....and in a near by park (just a regular suburban park with a jogging path and two lakes) I found banded waters snakes, tons more anoles, more turtles and of course gators...even saw a mother and babies. Hopefully you'll get to go there again and be able to enjoy some of the better areas that are there...it's kind of like James said, it's a big place.
Roy

[GarterGuy]

PS.....Very nice pic of the curlytail lizard....I've never been able to get one to sit still enough for a good pic. :D

[drache]

PS.....Very nice pic of the curlytail lizard....I've never been able to get one to sit still enough for a good pic. :D
so that's what it was
very cool animal
never got close enough to one after that
but this one had a few interesting maneouvers
the trembling tail thing
the arching the back like a cat
for a moment I thought it was some kind of chameleon
wish I'd gotten a shot of that

[KITKAT]

The best areas of Florida to visit are the ones that are in the center of the state... because the coasts are highly developed. Bunnell, Flagler, and Volusia Counties have some interesting back roads that yield herps at the right time of day.

Then there is Merritt Island Wildlife Preserve... a drive through the wildest that Florida has to offer, with lots of birds, the occasional gator, etc.

You just gotta get away from tourists and the usual tourist haunts.

[GarterGirl]

The only thing that was actually fun was the everglades. At the hotel, there were some of lizards crawling around. I spotted most of them!

[adamanteus]

One day I would like to visit the Everglades. But if I ever get to the USA, I might prefer to visit the desert states, Arizona, New Mexico etc. I can dream!

Annoyingly, my brother who has no interest in reptiles, is flying to the States tomorrow...North Carolina, I think.

[Thamnophis]

Arizona, Mexico and California would be my states of interest.
And a few days in the city of New York would be fun too, I think.
And the swamps of Louisiana...
And the Everglades...
And the Grand Canyon...
And maybe Maine, to drink a Heineken with Stephen King...
And...

I wish I had retired and was rich :D