A Trip to Everglades City and the Ten Thousand Islands

Yesterday, we left home at around 5:30am and headed for Everglades City, a kind of sleepy, rusting town on the gulf coast about 100 miles from our place. Edna Trepanier and family have invited us over to their condo there to check out the place. It was Edna's birthday the previous day and the trip was kind of an extension of her birthday celebration.


The NW entrance of Everglades National Park is situated there and we already know we'll be touring the Ten Thousand Islands. This was our first time there and although we have been to the park several times, we have always used their Florida City entrance which is actually more popular among visitors.


It was just a day trip although several families have already gone there Saturday afternoon ahead of us. The Trepaniers have two 3BR condo units so accommodating all of us was not a problem.


We spent the early morning trying to catch some fish but since it was low tide, the odds of landing one is just so great, in short 'no fish' but a lot of bug bites from the 'no see-ums'. That bug repellent spray we used was lousy.

After breakfast, I did some driving around with Glenda and Gail who used to be Ophine's college teacher and now working with her in Memorial Regional Hospital. We went to Chokoloskee Island which is just about 5 minutes away then drove around the town center of Everglades City. The city itself is just 1.5 miles across at it's longest. No way we can get lost here. Chokoloskee was even smaller. We saw a cute small white church and took some photos there. We were looking for the Everglades city post office which I thought was the smallest post office in the US but we didn't find it. I realized later upon inquiry from a restaurant waitress that the smallest church was in Ochopee and not there. Ochopee being only 10 minutes away via Hwy 41 south made me decide to pass that route on the way home instead of going back to Hwy 29 and then I-75.

Anyway, around 9:30am we all went to the Everglades National Park and got tickets for the boating cruise through the Ten Thousand Islands and the gulf coast and of course we had a swell time during the 1.5 hour trip. We learned so much from the guides about the place. Saw a lot of pelicans, ospreys, snow egrets, herons and even the roseate spoonbills. We just didn't see any manatee really up close but they were there. Anyone can easily get lost among the mangrove islets and one should bring a GPS if you want to go kayaking or canoeing.

After eating lunch at the Seafood Depot Restaurant, a local landmark operating since 1928 that serves all you can eat 'peel and eat shrimp' and/or fried chicken, salad bar and assorted side dishes for the buffet, we all headed south for home, full but feeling great.

As usual, any trip will be more memorable with photos so here they are.













Edna and youngest daughter Gail.





Jing and Edward.



Glenda, Edna, Ed and Gail.






Roseate Spoonbills.



The mangroves up close.



In case of emergency...


Gail (another one) and Glenda.


Missy, Kayla, Beverly, Christian and David.



The kids with a big 14' gator, stuffed and dead of course in the restaurant where we had lunch.