Tuesday – December 31, 2013
Homestead, Florida
Everglades National Park
Long Pine Key Campground
We celebrated New Year’s eve with our traditional lobster tail dinner, served with fresh asparagus spears and a medley of fresh green pepper, red pepper and tomatoes smothered in a dressing of extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The lobster and asparagus were prepared on our versatile charcoal Cobb Grill. I added some wet hickory chips to the charcoal briquettes, which imparted a very tasty smokey flavor to these two delectable entrees. Refreshed from this scrumptious meal, we settled in with our fellow campers, here at Long Pine Key Campground, to welcome in 2014.
We had an unexpected visitor in the campground today. A fellow camper showed us a picture he took of a rattlesnake in an unoccupied campsite next to ours. It was out in the open for a few minutes until it disappeared into the dense vegetation and shrubs that separate each campsite. The camper described the snake as being about 6 to 8 inches in diameter and about 4 to 5 feet in length. Needless to say, we kept a watchful eye on our campsite for the remainder of the day.
Since Friday, December 27, it has been overcast during the day and clear at night. The temperature has been consistently in the low 80’s during the day and in the low to mid 60’s during the night. When we see the below zero temperatures in the Chicago area, it makes us thankful we are able to travel to a warmer climate to ride out the sometimes brutal winter months up north.
Everglades National Park limits campers to a 14-day stay during the winter months. We will complete our 14-day stay on Wednesday, January 1, 2014. We will depart here Thursday morning, January 2, for the Big Cypress National Preserve and spend 10 days there.
Happy New Year to all!
Tomorrow another adventure begins.
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