1074 January 11-12, 2024 Shark Valley Again!!

We left Fred and Jen’s after our morning exercise and coffee with our hosts.  We had about a three-hour ride to get to Monument Lake in Big Cypress.  It was cloudy and misty and raining all morning.  We stopped in Naples for supplies, knowing that we would be in the middle of nowhere for several days…except we weren’t!   When we checked in Atlanta, Monument Lake had plenty of empty campsites.  When we went to make our reservations, we saw that the campground was full all weekend.  We forgot to take into account, the Monday holiday.  We also found out that there is a music festival at the private resort. 

We booked Monument Lake for Thursday evening and kept searching for other options.  Our reservations in the Keys do not begin until Monday.

When we arrived, it was raining and we spent a quiet afternoon.  At 4 o’clock it was nice enough to walk and bike around the lake.

It rained again during the night and Friday when we woke up, it was gloomy and foggy.  I took a short walk because we were hoping to bike today. 

We pulled into Shark Valley at about 9:30am.  We had to park the RV outside the gate, along the road.  We absolutely love this ride.  We think we have done it 10 times but we never grow tired of it.  Each time we go, it shows up different!   

There were about 30 alligators along the path.

As we biked, the sky began to clear.

There were two crocodiles near the observation tower.  This is the first time we have seen crocs here.  The larger female has been in Shark Valley for ten years.  Noone knows how she got here. 

Little croc.

Bigger croc.

We both felt good as we finished our ride.

We drove about another 30 minutes to the Miccosukee Resort and Casino.  For $25.00, we were allowed to park our RV in their vast parking lot. 

We had no interest in gambling but we did make a dinner reservation.  We had an amazing meal.  We shared a crabcake served in a bed of guacamole with a spicy aioli.  I think that next time I make crabcakes, I will try to emulate this recipe…it was that good.  We never order crabcakes outside of Maryland…but this was outstanding! We also enjoyed tuna tartare tacos.  We both got salads for dinner and we left feeling very full.