Florida, beyond Orlando

We departed Orlando and drove west to Tampa and St Petersburg, stopping along the way to camp at a few quiet parks.  We were able to tour the Catalina Yacht factory one day where they make a large selection of sail boats.  Great tour, it is so interesting to see how well these boats are constructed.

We spent an afternoon hiking at Honeymoon Island where there is a Bald Eagle nest and some armadillos, driftwood and a playground.  They keep trying to encourage the exercise thing with me, and I enjoyed the slides, I think gravity is in my favour.

Once again we admired the prices of alcohol here in the US and wonder why the American's aren't all alcoholics.  Check out the price of the rum!

Sorry, it looked clearer on my screen...the big 1.7 litre bottle is $19.99.

We caught up with Chris's cousin for a few days and one morning we got to go hunting for wild pigs.  The part where Phil and Chris eagerly arm themselves and go running around trying to shoot things always worries me.  Why aren't they content with buying the meat from a butcher or supermarket like other humans?

 Alas, there were no pigs to be seen on the day. Lucky for them.

Next we headed down to the Everglades on the way to the Miami Boat show.  There is water everywhere it seems, but not that you'd care to go for a swim.  There are plenty of aligators lurking around, and while they don't seem as aggressive as a salt water crocodile, none of us cared to test the theory.

 The wildlife isn't limited to gators, but there were more birds than I'd ever seen, plus lots of mosquitos and snakes. We met plenty of the mosquitos, but none of the snakes.

While Phil and Chris ran around chasing after wildlife in the swamp, I had time to do what I do best, contemplate life.