Casinos and Monument Lake

In the past, national parks were first-come, first-serve. Now more of them are switching to reservation only. When we pulled into Monument Lake Campground in the Big Cypress National Preserve, I thought that we didn’t need reservations. Long story short…we got one night since they happened to have an opening, we got a 2^nd night by paying someone who had a reservation but didn’t need the spot, we had to leave for one night, and then we got two nights by reservation. We ended up staying at a casino (free parking) that was an hour away on the night of a big concert with all kinds of noise. Ah, the joys of camping!

The campground is nice with a lake and a few alligators. It seemed that every time John started supper an alligator showed up floating beside our RV.

We had some excitement at the campground. One of the campers brought a small hot tub. OK, that’s a first time we've seen someone do that plus they pumped water from the lake to fill their hot tub. But the rumor is that the wife wore only pasties while in the hot tub and sunbathed in the nude on top of their RV. Given that this is a family campground, the sheriff department showed up. The husband told everyone it should be OK since she was a former stripper. I know camping is being back to nature, but that’s just bizarre!

Some of animals we've seen lately including a bird (great blue heron?) eating a fish.

Alligator

Florida Soft Shell Turtle

Florida Gar

Green Heron

For the last three weeks we’ve really enjoyed ourselves being in areas with little cell phone service, no internet, no power, and no water connections. Now we’re at an RV park (very expensive in Florida). We’re busy doing laundry, taking long showers, catching up on email, and this blog.