Onward to the Everglades (Florida Boating, Post 9)

Friday, September 5

After our quick overnight stop at the very pretty Lake Griffin State Park in northern Florida on Thursday, we are now on the road for our final day of driving. We never saw the lake itself, turns out it was quite far from the campground, accessible by kayak but not by trail. But that was fine, we were pleased with the hanging moss and all the lush scenery that we aren’t used to seeing.

I’m hesitant to post this first picture because of what it stands for. It is nearly impossible for me to fathom that not all that long ago people (many in the north as well as the south) thought it was somehow ok to own and enslave other people. It’s just incomprehensible.

I do think that southerners should rightly be proud of the south. It’s an amazing place, with incredible plants and animals, architecture, food, music…so much to be proud of! Even the history of the south has a lot that we can be proud of, but unfortunately that flag isn’t one of them.

As we head south, it’s getting steadily warmer. The southern sections of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were surprisingly cold and brown as we went through. In Florida it’s so much greener. I actually don’t understand why northern Florida is so much greener than southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama because they are at the same latitude. Of course the difference is even more dramatic now that we’re heading south instead of east.

These pictures were all taken out the window of a van going 70 mph, plus I had a lot of reflection in the window, so please forgive the poor quality.

We drove all day and near dusk we arrived at our next stop, Long Pine Key in the Everglades. We booked two nights here, which means a day off. Finally a day off of the freeways! I’m realizing that I’m not very good at spending days on end on the freeway. It completely rattles my nerves. I was in such need of a day off the freeway!

Since we were staying two nights, we went ahead and unhooked the boat.

Ta da! Home for two nights.

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