We returned from Florida yesterday and even though it was nice seeing the chinchillas, I miss the warm weather and I’m ready to go back!
Here are some of the fine feasts we had while we were there, though we missed some photo ops with some of the best dishes of home cooking. I got a recipe for a coconut ginger soup that I’ll have to try making sometime.
Shrimp Shack’s blackened whitefish and hush puppies
Brew Babies’ Veggie Wrap
Brew Babies’ Pear salad
Some of the other items we had that are a specialty to that region were grouper sandwiches and conch fritters. We even tried alligator tail nuggets which were interesting to eat but not particularly flavorful or anything.
So aside from watching movies, stuffing our faces, and playing Settlers of Catan, we also went to Shark Valley National Park. Acreage-wise, it’s the 3rd largest national park in the continental U.S. (1 is Death Valley, and 2 is Yellowstone). We took a tram tour of the area and spotted alligators and birds everywhere. It was teeming with wildlife. There were no gates or walls between you and the gators either. They just sat around sunning themselves, and people could walk right up to them, though we all gave them some space.
female cormorant sunning herself to dry off (you can tell by its brown neck vs. black on a male)
We ended that day with dinner in Naples and watched the sun set by the Gulf of Mexico.
It’s so easy to relax and unwind in Florida. You get there and it just happens. It felt like one big sigh. Ahhh…
looks sooo yum!