On Friday, our disembarkation day, we four were up early and packed, handing things back and forth between rooms that had been borrowed or carried back for some reason or another. We all went up and had breakfast in the formal dining room. After breakfast we got our luggage and went up on the pool deck to play a few more rounds of Moon. Back at the Marriott Vacation Villas at Doral we played dominoes in their lounge while watching old Jeannette MacDonald movies. "When I'm calling You.ou ou ou ou ou".
Finally in the room just after 3:00 and we all took great naps. It had been raining all afternoon with giant thunder storms and huge fluffy black and white clouds. When we woke up it was beautiful. Giant cloud formations and a lovely breeze. We headed out in the car towards Alligator Alley in hopes of finally seeing a gator up close and personal.
There is an interesting network of stops along this highway to fish. The whole straight highway that takes you from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast is surrounded by the Saw grass swamps of the Everglades. They have dug canals on either side of the highway to keep water from covering it. So you can pull off and look into these canals to see all manner of wildlife. On our first stop we saw a small gator and snapped some great photos. At the second stop, there is a slightly raised look out tower that allows you to see just up over the vegetation all around and see out into the Saw grass for miles. We took lots of pics and spotted three more alligators, a turtle and several buzzards.
A picture I lifted from Cathi's Blog.
Here is the Saw Grass and the brewing storms out beyond. The alligators sometimes come right out onto the boat ramps to sun themselves!
From up on the observation deck. I think they were coming to see if we would feed them
Cathi and Don - another picture from her blog
.
Then we were starved and headed to introduce Don and Cathi to the wonders of Cracker Barrel. We topped off our delicious meals with Coca Cola Cake and Cobbler, then strolled and shopped through their store. When we got in the car we noticed that there were three small frogs on the car, one right on the windshield wiper. Don got out to get them off and one hopped right onto his leg. As we drove around the back to find our way out, Don and Frank spotted a raccoon, no about a dozen of them crawling all over their trash bins. They were very tame, but looked like skittish cats. I'm sure they would have run off if we had made any move to get out, but who would want to try? Although I've never heard of wild raccoon gangs chasing down human targets... I wouldn't want to be the first one!
We topped off the evening with a great rest in very comfy beds!
Finally in the room just after 3:00 and we all took great naps. It had been raining all afternoon with giant thunder storms and huge fluffy black and white clouds. When we woke up it was beautiful. Giant cloud formations and a lovely breeze. We headed out in the car towards Alligator Alley in hopes of finally seeing a gator up close and personal.
There is an interesting network of stops along this highway to fish. The whole straight highway that takes you from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast is surrounded by the Saw grass swamps of the Everglades. They have dug canals on either side of the highway to keep water from covering it. So you can pull off and look into these canals to see all manner of wildlife. On our first stop we saw a small gator and snapped some great photos. At the second stop, there is a slightly raised look out tower that allows you to see just up over the vegetation all around and see out into the Saw grass for miles. We took lots of pics and spotted three more alligators, a turtle and several buzzards.
A picture I lifted from Cathi's Blog. Here is the Saw Grass and the brewing storms out beyond. The alligators sometimes come right out onto the boat ramps to sun themselves!
From up on the observation deck. I think they were coming to see if we would feed them
Cathi and Don - another picture from her blog
.
Then we were starved and headed to introduce Don and Cathi to the wonders of Cracker Barrel. We topped off our delicious meals with Coca Cola Cake and Cobbler, then strolled and shopped through their store. When we got in the car we noticed that there were three small frogs on the car, one right on the windshield wiper. Don got out to get them off and one hopped right onto his leg. As we drove around the back to find our way out, Don and Frank spotted a raccoon, no about a dozen of them crawling all over their trash bins. They were very tame, but looked like skittish cats. I'm sure they would have run off if we had made any move to get out, but who would want to try? Although I've never heard of wild raccoon gangs chasing down human targets... I wouldn't want to be the first one!
We topped off the evening with a great rest in very comfy beds!
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