Christmas lunch
The weather forecast said it would rain today. Plan A had been to have an easy day on the beach as we are all still tired, on the other hand a visit to the Everglades national Park would appear to be the best option weather wise – cooler for walking.
What I had not taken into account was the intracies and inconsistencies of the road grid. The vital statistic in my opinion is the popularity of the place. 900 people a day move to Florida! That is a statistic that has consequences for infrastructure but unlike Britain if they need roads they build them. The system sounds perfect if you know your longtitude and latitude as stated on the signs eg NW 75th st and East 22nd . The problem arises when you build new roads and do not change the numbering system. A secondary problem is when the districts run into each other and they do not tell you where you are.
It was a long journey to the Royal Palm visitor’s centre, the Anhinga trail and the Gumbo Limbo trail – The Everglades. We had our Christmas lunch in the car park, pulling crackers to keep with tradition. We wore paper hats over sun hats ensuring that everyone knew we were English and this led to a couple of interesting conversations.
The Anhinga trail, a boardwalk close to pools, Aligators everywhere an unnatural abundance of wildlife caused by the dry season concentrating the fauna where there was still water. We were suitably impressed and moved on to the Gumbo Limbo trail which was another short trail through a hammock that was recoverying after the hurricane Andrew. The sheltered environment, no wind, had the predictable consequence, wee beasties. I had to go back to the car to spray myself with mosquito repellent. I still got bitten. We then went up the road to the Pinelands trail a subtropical pineforest the most diverse land habitat in Florida. The acid prodcuced by the pines eats through the limestone leaving holes. We enjoyed ourselves a great day and we would have liked it to end there but we had the minor matter of getting home.
We are back to the intricate road system Lynne drove and I attempted navigate I got us to within 10 miles of home but the roads ran out, our maps did not have the detail and their was the little problem of a stretch of water and I could not find the causway. We were all very tired and when we went down a road that was a dead end and their was a police patrol car and police sorting an incident out I want to press the undo option. Action was required. I jumped out the car and asked for help from the police. A very solid policeman started to explain how I could get to the causeway, half way through his directions, and this impressed me, he said forget it turn roand go north for 15 miles on the turnpike (a toll road) and then east for a few miles on the Palmetto expressway. Problem solved.
We were shattered on arriving home and ate in the hotel. No Christmas meal. Tomorrow it is the top priority.