December 30, 2016: Alligator Overload and Winding Down Franko Family Gathering

Following the airboat ride we went to the alligator show. There was an alligator presentation where an alligator handler was in a cage with "Charlie," a ten foot alligator.  The handler told Linda that he keeps the alligator very well fed!  The show was about what you'd expect from an alligator handler in the middle of the Everglades in remote Florida.

JP holding a small alligator.

He got Charlie to open his mouth by tapping on his nose, showed us Charlie's many teeth, which grow back anytime one is lost, and put his hand in Charlie's open mouth. We learned that once open, his mouth stays open and only snapped shut quickly as a response to touch inside his mouth. You can put your hand, in but DON'T touch anything in his mouth.


We then moved to a small cage that had a small alligator we could hold to see how it felt, (very soft) and took pictures with it.





Next we moved to a small fenced area with a pond that had 21 alligators just laying around in it. Many were over ten feet long. I wondered what they fed that many alligators.

Alligator lunch!

We didn't know they were going to feed them and almost left when the handler said "Time to feed the alligators. If you think they are slow and never move watch the feeding." They brought in two full size wheel barrows with chunks of beef liver and chicken quarters and started throwing it over the fence.








Clearly the alligators know the routine. They all raced over to the fence where the food was being tossed over. Definitely a feeding frenzy!





This huge alligator was having trouble getting the large chunk of liver down but he wouldn't give it up. I hated to see the alligators in such an unnatural situation but I will say it was impressive to see them going after the food.

At a final stop at the gift shop Matt found a few more fun items. No one admitted purchasing any but we weren't watching too closely!

Matt, Wendy

After being pretty much on alligator overload, Matt and Wendy enjoyed the warm weather and flowers on the walk back to the cars.

Matt next to smallest post pffice

Next it was a visit to the smallest U.S.Post Office in the United States. Linda spotted it as we drove across Alligator Alley and we were quite close from the airboat place. Everyone decided they wanted to see it.

By this time we were getting hungry so it was on to the Rod and Gun Club in Everglades City.  The name describes it well. It was built in the late 1800's and has been visited by five U.S. Presidents. The owners have worked hard to maintain the original decor and it is a fun place to visit. Wendy is checking out the hunting "trophies" from the past. We had stopped here twice in the boat in the past. It's a winding  8 mile trip east through mangroves in the Chokoloskee Bay from the gulf (on our way to Banana Bay). Definitely a fun 'old Florida' place.

Wendy standing by stuffed alligator.

Kaitlyn, Jillian and JP

The food was good, especially the strawberry shortcake.










This fun filled day was getting exhausting. We received a nice surprise phone call from my sister Terri and her husband Scott.  They decided to drive down from Bradenton to join our group for the evening activity, the Naples Botanical Garden Holiday Light show, and dinner.  They are always a lot of fun and we were very happy they could make it. We decided to skip the afternoon swim in the pool and rest up for the night. On to the light show. A tremendous amount of work went into the show as many plants, trees and walkways were lit up with creative patterns. The tower below looked like a huge origami sculpture made of paper but it was actually metal.

I included a couple pictures to give you the idea but I couldn't get pictures that did the show justice.

My favorite lighting display was this huge tree with the falling lights, it looked like fireworks.

It was 8:00 PM by the time we finished the light show. Ordinarily we'd be winding down toward bedtime, but not with this Franko group. We would not get together again before people headed home so it was on to dinner and an opportunity to catch up with Terri and Scott.  The day ended with goodbyes around 10:00 PM.

Matt and Wendy had a late afternoon flight on Friday so we were able to spend most of the day with them.  It was breakfast at Waffle House and then Matt and I played a round of golf while Wendy and Linda relaxed at the clubhouse. 

We dropped Matt and Wendy at the airport about 4:00 PM and started the 4 hour drive back to Banana Bay.  We did not want to drive into the Keys on New Year's Eve given the expected heavy traffic with folks headed to Key West so we just drove all the way on Friday and arrived at the boat about 9:00 PM.  It was a great  trip.

December 29 2016: Heading to Naples for a Franko Family Gathering

We have been quite pleased with our "Keys Cruiser" but knew the headlamp lenses were very yellow and faded.  Knowing we'd be doing some night travel we decided to try cleaning the lenses.  Turns out the Turtle Wax people have a good product. You can see the results.  

Tuesday we packed up and left the boat once again. This time for only a four hour drive to Naples for the Franko Family gathering.  We decided to avoid the freeway and cut across southern Florida on Alligator Alley which goes through the Everglades.  

We stopped at the Big Cypress Swamp Oasis Visitor Center. The swamp is essential to the health of the neighboring Everglades by delivering filtered fresh water for the rich marine estuaries along Florida's southwest coast. 

Big Cypress Swamp is larger than 729,000 acres and is fortunately now nationally protected as a preserve.  In the sixties, plans to drain and develop the swamp were halted as that would have been a disaster for the Everglades.  


Big Cypress National Preserve contains a mixture of tropical and temperate plant communities that are home to a diversity of wildlife, including the elusive Florida panther. There are plenty of alligators, birds and the rest of the typical swamp critters such as otters, snakes and butterflies.


We continued up to Ft. Myers to spend the night so we could pick up Matt and Wendy at the airport. Everything went as planned and we had Matt and Wendy in the car in time for a nice Thai lunch. 




It was still too early to check in at Naples so we decided to stop at the six Mile Slough park. They have a very fun bike rack!










The water in this swamp area was quite low because it was winter but we still saw some alligators, a few birds and some really cool large turtles. The cormorant next to the turtles gives a size perspective.








It's fun to walk on the raised boardwalk among all the Cypress trees. 

The John Franko Family planned a fun filled few days in Naples. We gathered at Pizza Fusion for a great dinner Wednesday evening and planned an Everglades airboat tour Thursday morning. 

The airboat company had just the right size boat to accommodate our group of nineteen.  Someone asked the captain if we had to wear the ear muffs.  He said, "It's optional, but you WILL!" He was right, very loud
















The driver enjoyed speeding through narrow openings and sharp turns. 

We appreciated seeing the alligators close up and in their natural environment.  Also spotted were various birds and two snakes. We came quite close to a couple of very large alligators, 10 - 12 feet long, definitely not the time to get out of the boat.










We all made it back to the boat safe and sound, hands and feet in tact!












The gift shop had some fun alligator humor postcards. 

Too many activities to cover in one blog.  The remainder of the trip will be covered in the next blog.

December 25, 2016: Christmas Memories - We have been truly blessed!

We always enjoyed Christmas and the season. Here are just a few pictures that brought back some pleasant memories for us.



Playing in the snow was always fun! Wendy was an accomplished snow disc rider.

Playing in the snow was my job, not that I minded. This was a giant igloo we made during a major snowstorm.




Mom and Dad Franko holding Wendy after her baptism.










Mom and Dad Drouhard at one of many Christmas Eve gatherings.





Christmas stocking were always filled with fun stuff.
















The famous or infamous cactus John gave Scott. We stopped exchanging gifts very shortly after that ......




Matt and I making Aunt Josie's coveted butter creams - a gift to be hoarded by anyone lucky enough to be the recipient of a box!

Seems like we always managed to squeeze in a lobster dinner during the Christmas holidays. This was taken in our kitchen in Cleveland - Steve, Rebecca, Linda, Wendy and Matt.
















Nice to have Matt for the heavy work. He has the shovel at the end of the driveway while I am snow blowing.








Not sure why I wanted this branch but was happy to have Matt to help.

Had to decorate the fish!

Not quite Christmas but a great picture of Mom Drouhard and Tom.

Linda is holding the saw but Becky did all the work.

Wendy used her artistic talents when decorating.

I always wanted a big Christmas tree.  When we moved to
Cleveland with a family room with a high ceiling, I
 jumped at the opportunity!

One of Linda's favorite Christmas presents, Minions 
and a Big Bang Theory Glass.

Grandma Drouhard never wanted to miss
 anything, even if it was freezing!

This little cactus guy brings back great Christmas memories.  We sent one to my brother and bought a second one just like it for Mom Drouhard.  She loved it and set it on the kitchen counter.  It's sound activated so he started singing at every little noise. Un-named people started sneaking in and turning him off! Grandma wasn't so dumb - she turned him right back on. We brought hers on the boat and he has been singing every Christmas for over ten years.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Linda and Steve

December 24, 2016: Christmas Eve, Hard to Believe we're officially in Winter

The work on our Keys Cruiser has been deemed complete.  There are some brush marks but the body is now all black, no more oxidized paint, and the rust is all covered. The interior received a thorough cleaning and looks pretty good.  The car looks especially good in the shade under the pretty tree.










Linda was looking on the web for a used hub cap to replace the one that was missing and discovered she could order new plastic "knock off" hub caps for $18.00 for four. They'll arrive next week. Even out in the open our little Toyota passes the 10 foot rule, looks okay if you don't get any closer than 10 feet.

One boat maintenance issue was taken care of. There is a doughnut shaped zinc on the stainless steel shaft that protects the shaft from corrosion. The zinc gets eaten away by electrolysis instead of the shaft.

Obviously, the propeller shaft is under the water so it was time to dig out the scuba tank. The old zinc was pretty well gone so it was good to get it replaced, you can see the remnant of it on the swim platform and I am holding the new one.

I was also able to inspect the bottom and was very pleased to find little growth.  I usually need to clean the bottom about once a month but because we have been travelling and left the boat in fresh water when we went north it will be okay for a while. The water was 78 degrees, no wet suit needed!

The marina is slowly filling with the winter boaters. One of our boating couples arrived from New Jersey last night, Pat and George on Reflection.  We happened to see them on the Intracoastal as we were making our way south.  They, like us, went north for the holiday visit and like us welcomed the return to warm and sunny Banana Bay. Several couples have yet to arrive but they are on their way.

Its always fun to get the group back together again. We're especially anxious for Randy and Cindy to arrive with the cutest dogs ever, Gigit and Cricket. Cricket in the picture, only weighs 4 lbs and gets cold easily, even here in Florida, hence the Brown's blanket.

Somehow Christmas decorations are just not the same in the Keys as in the north where the lights reflect off the snow. We have to make do with what we have.  One of our favorite breakfast places, Porky's, did a good job of adapting with their Santa hat clad pigs.  Unfortunately it was very windy when I took the picture so one is a little on tilt but still cute.

I decided we needed a few Christmas pictures for a Christmas blog. I became sucked into looking at a lot of pictures from the archives. It took so long looking at old pictures and trying to choose that I decided to make it a true Christmas blog and post it tomorrow.

Merry Christmas Eve to all, and to all a good night!