Our drive took us through the Big Cypress National Preserve. And it is BIG...more than 700,000 acres big. So yeh, fill up your car with gas and your tummy with food before venturing through this part of Florida.
We stopped at the Big Cypress Swamp Welcome Center (NPS Visitor Center), but they had just closed for the day. Can't comment on what was inside, but there were quite a few interesting displays outside and a big map so that you could orient yourself before trekking into the swamp.
The kids were hoping to see some gators, so we stopped at the first waterway we came to...
Did you see it?! We spotted that one immediately. He was just doing his gator thing, hanging out watching us watching him ;).
There were some pretty turtles swimming around and lots of fish. The water was super clear and it was easy to see all the creatures lurking beneath...
The farther we walked, the more gators we saw. When we got to the end of the walkway, there were tons of them! Swimming, sunning...
The kids watched them for quite a while...
...then we got back on the road to finish up our drive through the Preserve before dark. We stopped several more times to check out some pretty air plants and some baby cypress trees...
That night, we stayed in Florida City, where we happily dined on Panda Express for dinner. Such a nice surprise to find one of our favorite restaurants waiting for us on the edge of the swamp :).
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