Finally updating from spring break.
I should be cleaning my room, or something but I have class at 5...just hung out with the boy next door, too. I'm listening to the Jack Johnson CD he made for me too...as of now, using Laura's line...he's so good for me.
So for the past week, I've been in South Florida. It was sooo freakin rad, I can't even explain it. I took about 160 pics, and I didn't even have my camera every day. Here's a quick recap, followed by the 10 National Geographic moments.
Sat/Sun: drove to Raleigh for the train, it left a bit late. Glad we stopped at Nicole's parents' house for a quick dinner. Nice. Since we left a good 45 minutes late (8:30 instead of 7:45), we didn't gain any time at all, in fact, we lost another hour or so somehow. We went through Winter Park, which I mistook for Winter Haven, and I called Ally, but I think she was in church. Then we went through Tampa, and then Winter Park. Hit both the Winter towns. So, since we started out along the east coast, and were ending on the east coast, why the crap did we go to the west coast through Tampa? I have no idea. But we got to Miami about 6:45 pm. There were issues at the rental car place too, so that held up Amy and Jamie some more. We found our way to A1A and down to Florida City, and checked into the hostel and went to Walmart and back, it was near midnight. Dinner was McDonalds in Walmart. High class. Talked to a way hot French guy and a few "Nether dudes" who started calling me Pinky cuz of my pink shirt. Went to bed.
Monday: Got up at 7, left at 8 to head to the Flamingo District of the Everglades National Park, about 40 miles past the park entrance. There, we met a few rangers, Alice and Louie (absolutle darling!!!) and trekked out to a park near Florida Bay. Our duty was to help rid the area of the toxic shrub/tree Thespezia (sp). We pulled up approximately 1,000 (yes...one THOUSAND) seedlings and cut down 4 or 5 HUGE trees. Mission accomplished. I wish we could have done that all week, almost...it was so satisfying. I decided I'm doing my huge research paper on invasive species in the Everglades, complete with personal photos. I can use the Thespezia, Burmese pythons, even cats, in it. Soooo kick ass. After working, we went to the Eco-Pond, and watched an alligator stalk a few birds. That was way cool. Louie gave us some firewood too. Then we went to this marina thing, and went to the gift shop and looked around some. We just hung out that night at the hostel...the campfire lasted for a long time. We were exhausted. No French guy or Nether dudes. =( I cooked dinner with Tiffany...we made tacos. They were waaaay good.
Tuesday: Got up around 8, left for the Everglades Outpost to get there at 9. The Michigan group was there all week too. Anyway, we got an awesome introduction with Harry the white tiger, Frances the brown bear, and Yukon and Tasha the grey wolves. It was so incredible. Jackie, Kathryn, and I helped out with a preschool group that went through, and some little kids didn't listen to me and wouldn't sit still til I told them the tigers would bust through the fences and get him. He looked at me like "yeah, right. you're full of crap." Haha. But he did sit down and shut up. That afternoon we were in one of the back areas weeding and organizing a bunch of junk, and the 3 brown bears Charlie, Frances, and Ivan (notice the hurricane name pattern?) came over and watched us. Sarah U and I had the brilliant idea to see if they'd lick us through the fence. They did. It was the strangest sensation ever. So slippery and slimy almost...not like a dog's tongue. Hung out again that night. Talked to some other foreign people though. That's usually pretty fun. Oh yes. Made dinner again with Kathryn and Sarah U. Meat lasagna and meatless baked ziti with salad and garlic bread. Yummy.
Wednesday: Another day at the Outpost. A few of us planted an adorable little garden (pics to come), and others cleaned out the shed. I started out in there, but discovered a bunch of "waterbugs" so I joined the gardening crew. And Tonka the buffalo was being nosy and trying to get into the other end of the shed. That was a little much for me, even though she's super friendly. At one point when people were at Home Depot getting the flowering supplies, Jamie, Tiffany, and I went and worked on spreading the rocks along the front yard...Michigan's job, but they weren't there that day. And we played with the baby raccoons. We did that on Monday too, but I forgot to put it up there. Right before we left, a lady came to take them away...she was going to raise them a few more months and wean them from the baby formula, and then send them to her sister in Naples, who was going to release them onto her back acrege. Apparently raccoons are those animals that are never completely tame...Jeannette said that as adults, they will still turn on a human that raised them. Scary. So that's good for them. We made another Walmart trip for dinner food. I didn't cook, so I don't remember what we had. Pizza, I think.
Thursday: We were planning on going to the Outpost again, but got word of a mass dolphin stranding off of Marathon, and decided our services would be better used down there, so after an emotion-charged group meeting, we headed off for the 2 hour drive down there. It was so chaotic, and way unorganized, so we weren't needed at first, and told to come back later. We did get to see a bunch of the dolphins (rough-toothed) in a small channel, probably about 20-25 of them. They were in there for safe keeping so they wouldn't go strand themselves again. Some had been tagged showing a vet had checked them out and they were ok. The Maine kids were there that night, and said that same channel had about 50 by the next morning. Crazy packed full. From what I've heard, a few dolphins have died, but most are ok.
Friday: In the am, we headed over to the Alligator Farm, owned by the same guy as the Outpost. He treated us, and Michigan, to a 30minute airboat ride...it was so fun! We did 360s and just went flying over the marshy water. After that, we went to "Snake Island" where there was the snake show. We got some good pics of people holding the snakes...Tiffany's face was the best...but it was so great that she held one for a minute. After that, we watched the alligator show...This old lady was sooo funny. She was so excited when Mario told her she could (really!) hold an alligator. She made her husband come take like 5 pictures. They went on the airboat ride too, a little bit after ours. We went back to the Outpost to hang out for a bit to see if we could do some work since we didn't on Thursday. It was bath time for Thatcher, Cypress, and Lisa the Florida panthers!! Willow had been taken to the vet Thursday with severe anemia because of fleas. The poor animals were absolutely COVERED in them. It was so gross, but really sad at the same time. Bob the owner came over, and gave them a shot that knocked them out. While part of the group was washing the cats, Jamie, Emmy, Kathryn and I went to this printing place to get some photos Tim gave us printed and laminated so we could make a bullitin board at the hostel. After we left the print shop, we went to the hostel for lunch, then back to the outpost. We helped out with the last 2 panther baths, and laid them back in their cage. That night was a fend-for-yourself night in the way of dinner...the Maine kids really rocked out and grilled up chicken and burgers, and even offered us what they had left. Totally awesome.
(More later, gotta go to class.)