Day 46 - Florida

Day 46

Nov. 26

Everglades National Park, FL

My Dear Miss Smith,
    Oh, what a lovely day this has been. Last night after the girls had gone to bed, Amy and I took the dogs for an evening stroll along the beach. The sun had set and the evening breeze was pleasant. We discussed our day and talked about the coming one. We were both wishing we could have spent more time with the dolphins since we were staying at the only hotel in the continental United States that has real live dolphins, so we began to scheme and plan.
    This morning, as we all sat at an early breakfast, I told the girls that instead of leaving right away for the Everglades, we were going to go spend another hour or so with the dolphins. Grace gave a cry of delight for she loved her time with them. Then Amy informed Mikayla that she would either have to remain on the dry dock herself or join the rest of us in the water. Amy had kindly remained on the dock yesterday with Mikayla since Mikayla didn’t want to go in the water. Mikayla was rather hesitant, but with the combined urging of Grace and myself and Amy’s continued refusal to stay out of the water, she at last gave in and agreed to join us.
    When I first heard we would be in the water yesterday, I assumed we would have to be swimming, but there was an underwater platform for us to stand on.

    Miss Smith, Grace said she told you about our time with the dolphins yesterday, but I doubt if she could share the thrill of holding on to a dolphin’s dorsal fin and being pulled through the water at a rapid pace, the water being cut around you and leaving a trail of waves behind; the fun of splashing and being splashed by a dolphin, the delight of directing a dolphin choir and listening to their wonderful sounds, the wonder of watching the dolphins follow your commands to fetch rings, leap, dive or dance on their tails, the charm of their kisses, or the humor of their laughter. All this and so much more. I begin to realize the impossibilities of conveying what it was really like.

    I know you will think me perfectly hopeless, Miss Smith, but I wore my “ladies top hat” to visit the dolphins this morning.

Ladies Top Hat

I did have one on yesterday, but left it with Amy and Mikayla. This morning, however, there was no one to leave it with so I wore it in the water. At one point my hat blew off my head, for I was in such a hurry this morning that I neglected to use a hat pin. But as I was saying, it blew off and went sailing across the water. I wondered how I could get it back and gestured to it and gave the sign to fetch to the dolphin I was playing with, and would you believe it, Miss Smith? He fetched me my hat! Oh the praise I lavished on him. I fear it made the others rather jealous for they came over too as though to see what the fuss was about and he must have told them, for he talked and laughed at me. The other girls laughed with him and even the real trainer who was with us laughed. I was half afraid Amy would take my hat and toss it back into the water for another dolphin to fetch it, she seemed to enjoy it so much.

The "Real" Trainer

    Later Amy said, “‘Cilla, if you are going to wear hats, you really must make sure they are secure before we venture out for our adventures or you will lose them one by one. If you wish, I can save you the trouble of slowly losing them and just pack them all up and mail them at once to Miss Smith.”
    I assured her I would be more careful, and when we reached the Everglades I made sure “Madaline” was securely on my head. But I am getting ahead of the day.

    It was hard to part with those darling dolphins. Oh those dear dolphins! I know I will always remember my time with them and I have certainly added that hotel to the visit again section of my notebook. And I’m sure it won’t surprise you, Miss Smith, that the addition to my “50-State” hat for Florida is a dolphin.

    At last we tore ourselves away and headed up here to the Everglades.
    It was rather overcast, but not enough to make us think rain. At first we thought we’d go walking on the trails and take the dogs along with us, but since no dogs are allowed on the trails, as it could prove hazardous to their health and to ours, we opted to go on a ranger guided canoe trip. ( Note from Miss Smith: Make sure your sound is on before clicking this link.)

    I didn’t realize until we got here that December though April are the dry season here and with it being so late in November, the wet season has practically ended. We were delighted to discover that since December hadn’t yet arrived, the crowds of the Everglades were only beginning. Thus it was that we had a total of eight people on our tour, making it a pleasant four-canoe trip.
    Our guide was a young man who enjoys his work and who answered questions quite knowledgeably. First he gave us instructions about our canoes. Since Grace and Mikayla had never canoed before, he assigned Mikayla to his canoe and Grace to another older man who had been canoeing for years. Amy and I were assigned to the same canoe for which I was thankful. Amy knows how to paddle a canoe. The next time you see Amy’s brothers, please give them my hearty thanks for teaching Amy to handle a canoe!
    Our guide, Josh, told us that the first rule was to remain seated at all times. For some reason, he said, there are people who, when they see the large American Crocodile (I had thought there were only alligators around here, but Josh told us there are both.) they want to stand up to get a good picture of him and then their canoe drifts closer and closer and what if they were to tip? It made me shudder to think of it. There was no danger of us standing up!

Alligator

    The whole experience was delightful. We saw alligators and yes, Miss Smith, we did see the large crocodile. And goodness, was he large! Believe me, we kept our distance.

Great Egret

We also saw a large variety of birds.

Brown Pelican

Madaline

Since it was the beginning of the dry season, there were thankfully very few insects to bother us. And my hat remained on my head the entire time.

    I neglected to mention that when we arrived, we were told that the vultures in the area liked to attack anything rubber and had been known to destroy windshields and tires, so before we left for our tour we had to take out a tarp and cover the front of the RV. I was much relieved to find everything undisturbed upon our return.
    We were able to take the dogs out right around our RV before supper, which we ate indoors. The clouds had dispersed and the moon was coming out when Amy had a brilliant suggestion.
    “Why don’t we get a blanket or two and climb out onto the top of the RV and lie up there and look at the stars?”
    I was charmed with the idea, so, gathering up a few blankets, the four of us did just that. Oh, Miss Smith, the sky was so beautiful, the stars so bright with no city lights to dim their brilliance, and we could see stars, planets and constellations which, in the city, remain invisible. We remained up there for over an hour just relaxing and talking now and then before everyone was yawning and we came inside.
    The others have gone to bed, and since I can scarcely keep my eyes open and my handwriting is becoming nearly illegible, I will close.

Sweet dreams,

~Priscilla