Yippee! There is Trader Joe's in Florida and it's (almost) on our way to the Keys. In Naples we stopped and stocked up on salads and fresh vegetables and the many things that TJ's does better than anyone else. You know what comes next. We headed to the nearest Starbucks. Linda has driven the camper and toad through more Starbucks parking lots than anyone alive. The way to find a Starbucks is to look for the little green umbrellas. Even we had never seen a green Starbucks, though.
We even resorted to pleading at the gate, to no avail. We couldn't get a campsite in Collier-Seminole State Park. The only other option on the Tamiami Trail with hook-ups was this.
Remember when Florida was the capital of tacky tourist attractions? Not saying' it still is but...
 |
"Skunk-Ape Research Head Quarters".
|
 |
Skunk-Ape
|
 |
Campground gate, keeping out the Skunk Apes.
|
 |
We woke up to this view out one side of the camper. Out the other side was a shabby, run-down campground. Our favorite kind!
|
 |
White-tailed Deer.
|
No sooner did we get hooked up than a woman walked by and told us there was a ranger lecture in the meeting room. Our favorite thing! We dropped everything and walked back to the front of the campground. People were gathering in a screened-in building. A local man had spent years studying the Florida indians and especially their dress. He brought examples of Seminole clothing, many of which he had made. Linda was over the moon. Her father had brought her a Seminole skirt from Florida when she was about 10 years old. Sadly, her mother put it away somewhere to keep Linda from ruining it.
 |
Images from a Smithsonian publication the lecturer brought.
|
 |
A man's shirt.
|
 |
Man's shirt.
|
 |
Another man's shirt. They grew increasingly complicated over the years.
|
 |
Piece from a patchwork garment in a pattern called 'fire'. Strips of fabric are sewn together, cut on the diagonal and sewn together again.
|
 |
Woman's skirt.
|
 |
Fragment showing how the patchwork was made. With the arrival of sewing machines, Seminole women made increasingly complex patterns.
|
We stopped at one of the Visitor Centers and found a boardwalk where we saw a manatee and several alligators.
The area is integral to the Everglades ecosystem; rains that flood the Preserve's prairies and wetlands slowly filter down through the Glades.
 |
Red mangroves.
|
The country's smallest Post Office is in Ochopee.
Even at the country's smallest post office there's a line.
I was camping in Big Cypress when I ended up on Crutches and headed back to CA. Would love to go back. The Everglades was a very peaceful place to camp.
ReplyDelete