Everglades WorldStrides Spring Break Educational Adventure, Middle School Day 2

Last week you joined me for Day 1 of Molly's Spring Break Advetnure, here is Day 2 of her 5 day trip. 
Day 2~The adventure continues with Molly along with Centinnel Middle School and the Worldstrides educational trip. Come along for the ride...

 Day two begins...

  The next day we go on another two hour Everglades tour, but this time it’s during the day and we get to be on a big Tram that luckily had enough room for all of us. The Tram was also open, the only thing separating us and a man-eating gator was a skinny red rope on each side of the Tram. The announcer tells us about the different trees and plants where the animals will make their homes. Some groups of trees acted like a cave and had there own little ecosystem inside. We see Turkey Vultures, Cranes and Hawks for the first hour but after that we get into alligator territory.

Many of them blocked the road and we had to go around. We saw babies and their mom
climbing out of the river and even two males fighting. We get let off the Tram and have 15 minutes to grab a partner and explore a few places that they have fenced off for safety. My roommates and I go on this hidden path right along the river, with no fences I may add. We get at least six feet away from a five foot alligator! As we are called back I take one last look at a big group of alligators and I see something strange. One of the gators snouts is a lot skinnier and the scales are a lighter color then the others. I get one of the employees that work on our Tram and show them. It turns out it was a Crocodile! It is very rare to see Crocodiles in that area with a group of alligators, so that was very exciting.

  For lunch we had a choice of Wendy’s or a Mongolian restaurant. Since I love to try new things I got my friends and we went to eat at the Mongolian restaurant. It was delicious and I wish we had one here in Spokane. I had fried rice topped with teriyaki chicken, black beans, corn and an awesome honey barbeque sauce. After lunch we went back to the hotel to pack our things. For the next four days we stayed in Key Largo, so we had to move to a different hotel. It was about a 45 minute drive but it was beautiful. Once we got our rooms situated at the hotel we got to rest for an hour and go across the street to get Aloe Vera and more Sunscreen for our already terrible sunburns. Our next stop was the Turtle Hospital. They gave us a lesson on the different turtles in Florida, what they eat, and the different injuries they have when they are brought to the hospital. We got to see all the turtles they recently operated on and their permanent residents in captivity, too injured to go back in the wild. I swear they were the happiest turtles I’ve ever seen! My favorite turtle was about five weeks old; his name was Tank and I WANTED TO KEEP HIM. We also saw some Iguanas roaming around the building, resting in the sun. We visited a local burger shop for dinner, and then took a visit to an outdoor aquarium. We went to a Touch Tank. I got to hold Sea Urchins, Sea Spiders and Sea Cucumbers. Then we learned the autonomy of a Squid and dissected it. Legend says, if you kiss a Sea Cucumber or eat the eye lens of a squid, you get seven years of good luck. So I did both! Now I have fourteen years of good luck. I also got to write my name in squid ink. When we were done with the dissection, we fried up the Squid and had Calamari.

It was all outside and they brought out a grill and fryer, right by a dolphin exhibit and we listened to all the dolphins chatting and playing.

 When we returned to the hotel, it was only about 7 pm. We all threw on our bathing suits and ran to the outdoor hotel pool! It was the first time I swam in months. And it was dark out, so it was nice and cool. We played Volleyball in the water and relaxed in the hot tub. The pool was right next to a bar with a band playing. The band started singing Happy Birthday to someone in the bar and all of us joined in. We spent about three hours swimming, afterwards we were exhausted. We took showers and hurried to bed. But with four girls in a room together, no matter how tired we are, we always find something to stay up and talk about. We got to bed at around two in the morning. 

Thanks for stopping by and check in next Tuesday for day 3 of our adventure! Molly~  
Molly loves trying new foods, here are just a couple of favorites: 
Lemon Shrimp Pasta Grilled Shrimp  Sesame Chicken and Avocado 

Just cook something! Cheers! Kary! What is your favorite shrimp dish?