…and the alligators…

We decided to take a walk on the wild side and check out the wilderness, Florida-style. What does that mean, you ask? Well, it means water. And grass. And cypress trees. And birds. And alligators. Where do they all live? Swamps.

I guess “wetlands” is the much more PC term for the habitat, but it is what it is. We spent a few different days exploring the various wetlands near my parent’s house, all the way down to the Shark Valley area of Everglades National Park. They were all a little bit different, and they were all really cool.

Shark Vally had all the alligators you could ask for. You literally couldn’t take more than a step or two without seeing one strewn about on the edge of the canal.There were also swamp lilies and lily pads and all kinds of grass growing in water. We wanted to take the trail that took you out into it, but it was apparently flooded and therefore closed. We spent quite some time there, joking about trying to give the alligators a smack on the cheek. You know, for the selfie! One of these years, I want to take an air boat ride through the actual swamp. We never have, and it’s been on my list for ever.

Grassy Waters is right near my parent’s house. As in, it takes about a minute and a half to drive there, and we probably really should have walked. It’s cool in that there’s a raised boardwalk takes you over the actual water, meandering through the cypress forest. It’s shock-full of air plants, cypress knees, and all kinds of other green stuff that grows in water.

Green Cay and the Wakodahatchee Wetlands are right around the corner from each other, down in the Boynton Beach area, about 45 minutes from West Palm. We had never been there, and we were pleasantly surprised. Green Cay was another boardwalk over more water, but it was way more open than Grassy Waters, which meant there were tons more birds! And alligators. Wakodahatchee was more of the same, just smaller and therefore not nearly as impressive… Or maybe that’s because we went there second and the opposite would have been true if we’d reversed the order in which we visited. Regardless, they were both cool.

All of these places were great for taking tons of pictures. And of course, video. Here’s the link!