Paddle Boats in the Tidal Basin

Every Friday I pick up Nathan at work and get to park in the paddle boat parking lot along the Tidal Basin.  Every Friday I think about how long paddle boating in the Tidal Basin has been on my DC checklist.  Every Friday I leave without a taste of the (surprisingly) salty sea air.  In mid-September, I finally arrived early enough mark it off my list.

Alison came with me and did a great job of not jumping into the water.  She even tried to help me paddle.

9-14-12 - My Little Helper

It was a lot of fun.  Hard work for one person, but you do get great views of the Jefferson Memorial and you could paddle to the other side and back in an hour if you were motivated.

 9-14-12 - Jefferson Memorial from the Boat

9-14-12 - Mom, What's That?!

We stayed out on the water almost 40 minutes before the novelty wore off for one of us and I was asked to go back.  I would do it again.  I wonder how long the wait is during Cherry Blossom Season?

Florida: Part II - Everglades

I thought I knew what the Everglades looked like already: deep, stinky, humid jungle with water everywhere and rare orchids attached to every tree trunk.  I think I had been misinformed as the Everglades reminded me more of my first look at the Serengeti, than of the jungle vision I had from Susan Orlean or the second season of Dexter.

This was not the best time of year to see wildlife.  On the famed Anhinga Trail, we saw only two alligators.

 9-29-12 - First alligator sighting (Photo Credit: Nathan King)

 9-29-12 - This guy was sleeping so close to the boardwalk, I could have touched him

9-29-12 - I think I'd like to be an Anhinga in my next life.

We drove all the way down to the coast and the Flamingo Visitor Center, then took a boat tour. 
 

 9-29-12 - Pa-hay-okee Overlook

9-29-12 - This the view that reminds me most of Serengeti

9-29-12 - River of Grass (Photo Credit: Nathan King)

 The boat tour was exciting because, in the same brackish canal, we saw one saltwater crocodile and one freshwater alligator.  Our guide assured us this was the only place in the world that we could see both.  We also learned of the ultra-toxic manchineel, which can burn right through your skin.  Fascinating.

 9-29-12 - Mangroves Everywhere

 9-29-12 - On a boat

The highlight of the boat trip, however, was seeing two dolphins so close that one of them spit on Nathan.

The next day we drove the Tamiami Trail to Shark Valley Visitor Center.  There is a 15-mile loop here where you can take a tram ride, walk, or bike and see wildlife and amazing scenery.  We'd just missed a tram, so decided to bike the whole trail.  Again, not an alligator in sight, until we stopped at the look-out tower at mile 6.5 and noticed a whole group of baby alligators perched on lilypads eating insects and calling for mom.

 9-30-12 - Baby Alligators

 9-30-12 - You'd probably look like this too if you were about to complete your first 15-mile bike ride!

 9-30-12 - Bike trail from the overlook

We ate lunch on the Miccosukee Indian reservation and I couldn't resist ordering a fried gator bite appetizer.  Nathan made me feel better by assuring me that the alligators were raised on farms, not shot as part of the airboat ride attraction.

9-30-12 - How I discovered that alligator tastes like less-chewy calamari.

Everglades was amazing, our next stop was Sanibel Island. 

Florida: Part I - DC to Almost Shipwrecked at Sea

Nathan is 30, the new 15, according to the Baby Boomers trying desperately to make themselves feel better about being old.  Even so, we are having a tough time relinquishing our 20's, so we decided to escape to Florida for Nathan's birthday.

Our first day was a day of travel.  Taxi to the train to the airport for a plane, then a rental car all the way down to a beachside hotel in Pompano Beach, FL.  I really enjoyed The Beachcomber hotel, which gave us an ocean view room with a balcony equipped with lounge chairs on the sixth floor.  It was dinner time when we arrived, so we enjoyed the last hour of sunlight on the pool deck, eating bar food and listening to the guitar stylings of Mr. Pat Hayden and his CD of background drum accompaniments.

 9-27-12 - Poolside Dinner

 9-27-12 - Dinner & Dancing

We got in a good walk on the beach in the full moon, then went swimming, Alison's favorite thing to do these days.

The next day, I took this picture during a run on the beach.

 9-28-12 - Pompono Beach @ Sunrise

We skirted around Miami, stopping only for some Pollo Tropical, and spent the rest of the day at Biscayne National Park.  Since 95% of this park is underwater, we felt it only fitting to take to the seas. 

 9-28-12 - Nathan & Alison in front of Biscayne Bay and islands we kayaked around

Did we go on a nice, safe glass bottom touring boat with our 2-year-old?  No way!  I really wanted to kayak along the mangrove coast and convinced Nathan that we could all go together in spite of the looming thunderstorm in the distance. 

9-28-12 - Ready for the boat ride

The guy setting up our boat looked at the storm and repeatedly said, "Well, that's not good".  He also told us that much of Florida City and the edges of the Everglades are overrun with gangs and that we shouldn't get out of our cars.  So, we took his opinion with a grain of salt and got in the boat.

The trip was amazing.  We saw a lot of ibises, herons, and egrets, plus some plumes of mud kicked up by a probable stingray.  We kayaked all the way out to a pair of islands and when we turned around and floated along their Northern edges we saw trees covered in cormorants...and a terrible-looking storm cloud closing in on us with lightning in the distance.  Then it started raining.  I don't think I've ever paddled faster in my life.  Alison did a great job in the boat and liked to lean over the side to feel the water.  We survived and will most likely live to do some more family kayaking.  This was a good adventure for the first full day of our trip.