Chinese Thanksgiving! Day 3 Billie's Swamp Safari

We started the third morning with corn cakes and sausages for
breakfast, then made turkey sandwiches and packed a cooler
of snacks and drinks to go to Billie's Swamp Safari!

Karen and I loaded up the two cars and drove south of Clewiston
to the Seminole Reservation at the edge of the Everglades.
As we walked to the Visitor's Center to purchase our tickets,
we were greeted by some big ol' gators! They look so strange 🐊

Too funny!  I don't think Tianchen would get
nearly as close if that gator was alive 😲

Our first adventure of the day was an air boat ride through the 'glades.


Heading out- hold on to your hats!
What a cool video Rachel made sitting in the front row!

After FLYING through the Everglades with our trusty ear plugs in,
we stopped in a Cypress slough to hear the guide give a talk about
the ecosystem and the various plants, fish and animals.
We saw a variety of fish in the clear, shallow
water, saw several birds, and heard about the
history of the Everglades.  Our guide was great!

Among the trees our guide pointed out a congregation of
baby alligators. Momma was keeping a watchful eye a few
feet away.  Alligators can hatch as many as 50 eggs or so,
but only 10-20% survive until adulthood. Poor little fellas!
What a beautiful view looking up through the
slough to the blue sky :)  Our guide explained
that the straightest cypress trees were carved out
 by the Seminoles to be used as canoes- it was
their primary mode of transportation in the swamp.

A herd of deer were grazing in the wetlands.
The water hyacinth were blooming :)
After the air boat ride, we had our picnic lunch, then went
to see the Critter Show.
They gave us little nuggets before the show began...
I didn't know what we would be feeding.
But, I was so happy to have a deer eating from my hand!
God love it; she was so sweet 💗
She knew how to work the crowd, lol.
They brought out all kinds of critters...
a skunk, baby gators, and this vicious looking turtle!

Celia said the baby was so soft 🐊
I don't know if Rachel wanted to kiss him, eat him,
or turn him in to a purse! He was about three years old.
Next, we took a swamp buggy ride.  We felt like we were
getting ready to take an African Safari!
We no sooner crossed a river, turned a corner, and there were zebras!
What is this place?! Are there lions and elephants, too?!
We saw American Bison, and big water buffalo, too.  The
Chinese babies recognized the water buffalo as they are
used in the rice paddies in South China.
I never saw kids get so excited about an ostrich!
A little while later we passed an ostrich nest that
had three HUGE eggs. Look closely, you just don't
see an ostrich nail a zebra's butt every day, LOL. 
You could imagine being on an African Safari.


They also had a small zoo, with some very well
cared for animals.  Our Indian guide who drove the
swamp buggy was petting grey wolves and
scratching the nugget of this grizzly bear.
The wolves yipped and played like puppies 🐶
The kids had never seen a capybara before, the
world's largest rodent hailing from South America.
It was feeding time, and the capybaras came running
to get a turn at receiving belly scratches from the worker.
Ugly critters, but the belly scratches were pretty cute :)
Miss Joy saw a Florida panther just the other morning
on her walk to the Locks.  They are big, beautiful kitties 🐱 
I couldn't get the bobcat to look at me, but I could hear him purring.

The otters were adorable- they SQUEAKED!!!
Back in the 1990's, long before Donald Trump became POTUS,
he visited Billie's Swamp Safari. He helped put this place 'on
the map', so in his honor, they found the biggest, oldest,
ugliest alligator they could wrestle up, gave him his own
habitat, and named him TRUMP.  I kid you not. 😜

We also visited the petting zoo where Tianchen made a new friend.
By late afternoon, we were hungry for a snack, so we decided
to visit the Swamp Cafe to sample some local cuisine.  We
had gator tail nuggets, frog legs, sweet potato fries, fried
pumpkin bread and other tasty treats.  In our haste during the
Thanksgiving festivities, we forgot to go around the table and
share what we were thankful for...it really was more fitting to
do it in this more intimate gathering.  The kids said lovely 
things about their parents, their opportunities to study here
in the United States, the chance to meet the wonderful people
of my neighborhood, and to experience SWFL. 😭



After some serious souvenir shopping,
we called it a day and headed home.

On the drive back through the country, I had to stop
by this sign and grab a photo.

We got home in time for Len to man the grill for Friday Night
Pizza Night.  I made eight homemade pizzas for the kids-
two of our famous broccoli pizzas, two margherita pizzas, two
hawaiian pizzas, and two pepporoni pizzas...we devoured them all.
Then true to Chinese form, they requested some quiet time
so they could study!  Before bed, I taught them SPOONS, and
things got pretty rowdy before we retired for the night.

All is well in Turkey Creek :)

G'nite, y'all!

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