For Christmas Eve we drove to Edison and Ford Winter Estates to see their Christmas decorations, as well as several huge Banyan Trees.
Fort Meyers
Biscayne National Park
Wee took a 3.5 hour Jones Lagoon Paddle Board guided tour after about a 30 minute jet boat ride to get to the lagoon and mangrove forests.
Everglades National Park
We started with a 30 minute airboat tour at Gator Park, with several gators swimming up close. At the park, there were small gators fenced in, as well as some large ones that had just wandered onto the property and were laying about, and we watched a little Wildlife Show about them. We then drove to the Shark Valley Visitor Center for a tram tour – about 2 hours driving around with a guide talking the whole time with info about the everglades and wildlife. We stopped by Robert is Here on the way back to the campground to pick up some weird fruits (one’s supposed to taste like chocolate pudding and another like egg custard).
Dry Tortugas National Park
Yesterday we drove about 6 hours down to Sugarloaf Key. We woke up early today to make it to the Yankee Freedom ferry – about a 2.5 hour ferry to the Dry Tortugas National Park. We got a guided tour of Fort Jefferson before wandering around by ourselves. We actually saw a raft of refugees arriving as we were about to depart – a pretty common occurrence as this is the southernmost point. When we got back to the campground that night, there was a big hubbub as there were manatees just chilling at the docks – people were giving it some hose water to play with.
Jonathan Dickinson State Park
Yesterday we made it to Jonathan Dickinson State Park and were just resting to recuperate from Disney World. Today we walked the short boardwalk to Hobe Mountain’s observation tower (really just a hill but still pretty to look around), then drove to Carlin Beach for a picnic lunch.
Alva Glen
Finally got to get out and experience the real Scottish weather – went back to Alva to hike through the Alva Glen. My maps steered me wrong again but this time it was 100% worth it because I got to frolic through a field fo sheep and actually made it to my final destination eventually (Smuggler’s Cove). Ended the night going into town for a karaoke night and learned that “Country Roads” is as much if not more popular in the UK.
Glencoe Photo Excursion
We finally took our photography class excursion to Glencoe. We ended up going a lot of the same places that I had been on my Highlands tour last weekend, so I pretty much  already had all the pictures I ended up using.
Airthrey Castle & Ghost Tour
Finally made it around the Airthrey Castle, which I knew was on campus but didn’t realize it was really only like a 3 minute walk. Then we went on the Stirling Ghost Tour walk around the old town and graveyard beneath Stirling Castle.
Wallace Monument & Folk Night
Went back up to the Wallace Monument to actually go inside; the views from the top were quite good but more welcomed was the breeze cooling me off from the Scottish heat wave (80 deg) – which doesn’t seem like much but is actually pretty serious because Scotland is not equipped for weather above like 70, and we actually had to have class online today because our teacher couldn’t get here because the train lines are melting. Then we went to the Birds and Bees pub where we ate and enjoyed a Scottish and Irish Folk band, and taught us a wee dance.
Loch Ness
Last day on the highlands so we made a few stops on the way back to Stirling: Invermoriston Falls, Loch Ness (a lot skinnier and less swampy than I preconceived, but an impressive 800 ft deep almost everywhere), Lagan Dam, and a short hike through Reelig Glen – where the tallest tree in Britain used to be (till it got struck by lightning and fell over and broke the sign talking about how tall it was).
