Day 2

Upon awaking in sunny Florida on March 2, we decided to head to the Alligator Farm, but because our children are early risers, even on vacation, we had a bit of time to kill before the place opened. So, seeing a lighthouse in the distance, we decided to drive to it. Just across the street was a little yacht club with a waterfront playground/park area. Since it was so early, we were almost the only ones out and about, and everything was still and beautiful. The little park was full of really cool trees that I thought were perfect for a picture. And the boys spent a little time on the playground as well.

Then we were off to check out the gators. I have to admit, I am a bigger fan of seeing gators in their natural habitat than watching them sit around in an enclosure. But, it was cool to see such massive amounts of them swimming in the "swamp" area of the farm.
The place smelled terribly foul, which was ultimately one of the things that ended our trip there. The boys just couldn't take it anymore. But, we stayed two hours. There were also birds, lemurs, and little monkeys to see. One of the best things about the farm, I thought, was that they have shows every hour throughout the day. The first show was about native Florida animals, and the presenter showed us those animals. Had we stayed one more hour (which we wanted to, but the boys were done), we would have been able to catch the gator feeding time. Now that might have been something to see!


After grabbing some lunch we headed to Fort Matanzas. Paul and I both agree that this is the best free tour we have ever been on. Though the fort is quite small, the park ranger gave a great presentation about the history and the structure. You even get to take a short (2 minutes, maybe) ferry ride over to the fort. It was a quite fun addition to our day and the boys really enjoyed it.

After naptime back at the hotel, it was once again time to hit the beach. Nathanael was so excited to use his new shovel, which he did the entire time. The weather was the best out of the three days we were there. It was about 80 degrees, sunny, and just a gentle breeze. Perfect.