road trip day 47: from the florida keys to the everglades

Did you know that there are miniature deer in the Florida Keys? We had no idea what miniature deer might mean (we are used to big white tails in the upper left, USA) so we spent our last day in the Keys trying to stalk them. Lucky for us, the Keys have a little deer nature reserve and we were able to drive right up to one. The weren't kidding on the size. The deer are about the size of a dog and are extremely endangered. Feeling privileged to see one of these little fellows, we decided that was as good of an exit as any, and we started to drive North for the first time on the whole trip.

We made it to the Everglades, and apparently crocodile alley. There were gigantic crocodiles sunning themselves on every yard we drove by. Brian, being the little kid that he is, was so excited to finally see a croc that he made us pull over in the middle of no where and walk up to a shanty that said "Buffalo Tiger's Florida Everglades Airboat Tours." We were in for a treat.

Smiling through my fear...
The brave ladies we forced to sit up front
After six of us boarded a tin deathtrap, our guide, a crazy young guy took off at full speed and saddled right up to a croc. He proceeded to taunt it until it the thing was practically in our laps. I of course was having a heart attack and planning my escape route if the boat happened to flip (basically there was none). It was intriguing to be so close to things that could rip your arm off in one bite, and I vowed never to find myself near any body of water in Florida  again.

Our crazy guide

 There were raccoons involved

Somewhat ironic