Alligators!!!

Thursday, our last day in Florida, we drove along Rt. 41 and looked for alligators!!
We saw over 100 alligators sunning themselves in the Florida afternoon sunshine.

 A large adult American alligator's weight and length is 800 pounds and 13 feet long,  but can grow to 14.5 feet long and weigh over 1,000 pounds.  The largest ever recorded was found in Louisiana and measured 19 feet 2 inches.  Alligators have an average of 75 teeth.

We were all looking at the bird when we saw the alligator sneaking up behind it...it looks like fresh bird might be on this alligator's dinner menu!  :)

 We stopped in the Big Cyprus National Preserve along the way to see some more alligators.

 We had to keep a hand on the younger ones...don't want them falling over the railing!!! :-O

 We also stopped at Shark Valley and took a short walk.
 Shark Valley is in the heart of the Everglades.  It stretches 100 miles from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico. Wildlife is plentiful here where animals share a freshwater ecosystem of sawgrass marsh and tree islands.

 Orchids

We went for a little .4 mi walk through the marsh

 "Daddy, are there alligators in here?"  :)