Everglades Worldstrides Educational Spring Break Adventure and Molly Day 1

It’s travel Tuesday! I am so excited to share an amazing adventure. Over the next couple of weeks I have special posts to share which were written by Molly Stevens, my niece and angel girl! When Molly told me about her worldstrides Centennial Middle School trip I was thrilled for her. This was Molly’s first trip without family and the worldstrides program is an organization that has been taking Middle and High School students on a variety of educational adventures for over fifty years! 

Thank you Molly for sharing your adventure with us and I can hear your voice in your writing, well done. 

So please join Molly on her great adventure and we would love to hear about your great adventures! 

Day 1  Florida Splash into Science Educational Adventure

Waking up at 4 am to catch a plane would not be my first choice. I’m 14, I like to sleep in! But it’s not my decision. So I hurry to the car, with wind and rain around me, in my summer clothes and throw my suitcase and bag in the backseat. I’m still tired but very excited. My mom and I take an hour drive to the airport and the next thing I know I am hugging her goodbye and boarding a plane to Florida. I’m going with my friend Courtney, along with 30 other students, teachers and parent volunteers. Most of them have never been on a plane. I for one have been traveling mostly to North and South Carolina all my life to visit my Aunt Kary (“KK” for short). So for the next 8 hours I will be teaching my friends how not to have a heart attack every time there is turbulence.

  After our 3 hour flight to Denver, Colorado and then another 5 hours to Florida, we finally arrive! It’s sunny, warm and I am tempted to jump out of the plane and feel the hot, humid air that I love. Yes, I did come here to learn about marine biology but just knowing I have a chance to be back in Florida was enough motivation for me to raise two thousand dollars. The last trip was with Auntie KK and Mom to visit Lynn and Paul in St.Augustine, then to meet Winter at Clearwater Marina which was truly amazing!

  Once we get everyone together, we head outside. My eyes are closed as I feel the wonderful warm air. I open them and its raining. Everyone is disappointed, except for me. Warm rain is the best! The smell is refreshing to me. I tell them to enjoy this moment because in five days we will be back in Spokane, Washington where the rain is miserably cold.

   We get introduced to our tour guide; throw our bags in the bottom of our bus and take our seats. This was no ordinary bus. This bus was luxury; it had the best AC, footrests, TVs, outlets for our phones, and free Wi-Fi! A teenagers dream, right? Our first stop was Golden Corral. I hadn’t eaten all day so I was starving. I sat with my three roommates; Courtney, a girl named Sierra and Christina. Surprisingly, we got along enough to spend five days together without going completely crazy. By the time we got done eating, the rain had stopped and the sun was setting. We are told we are going on a night hike in the Everglades National Park. The hike was amazing!

The lightning bugs were all around us and sometimes we would mistake two of

them for a pair of alligator eyes. The hike was all open, no fences or gates. So if there was an alligator in the middle of the path, we had to turn back.

Luckily, there wasn’t and we had a peaceful walk. We saw more alligators than I thought we would. The biggest one was at least seven feet. The tour guide said, for example, if the snout was about seven inches long, the whole alligator would be at least seven feet. We also heard a lot of baby gators calling out for their momma, so we knew we were too close and had to walk another path.  We headed back to the hotel, tired, happy and excited about tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by and check back next Tuesday for day 2 
or our adventure. Molly~ 

I hope you enjoy Molly's posts as much as I do. Molly and I share a love for travel, the ocean, books, cooking and good food. Just Cook Something! Cheers! Kary~