Leaving Florida

We left Florida on April 15th, but I have to include a picture of Fred giving his last Nike Missile Base tour at Everglades National Park.

This was a great experience for us, alot of work, but we really enjoyed learning about the area and working with such a wonderful group of people.  Thanks to the National Park Rangers that we meet and worked with Ryan, Julie, Larry, Glauco, Leon, Leslie and Kirk (and Dale), and Bob (and Debbie) and to the other volunteers, Jan, Barb, Tom, Laura, Hayley and Linda. We hope to see you all again real soon.

We had a nice trip up north, however,  the only place of interest that we stopped at on the way was in Huntsville Alabama at the Space Camp and museum at the Red Stone Arsenal.  This is where NASA did a lot of the research and development into the space program.  We also got to see some kids who were there for space camp launch some rockets that they had made.  We even got to keep a few that landed in the bed of the truck or on top of the RV!!.

It was great to see the family and to celebrate Fred's dad's 93rd birthday!!

Dry Tortugas National Park

We took a few days away from our work at Everglades National Park and visited Dry Tortugas National Park.  It is an island about 70 miles west of Key West Florida.  It was founded by the Spanish explorer Ponce DeLeon in 1513 . It was called Tortugas which is the spanish word for turtles, because of all the turtles that were found on the island.  The name was later changed to Dry Tortugas so that mariners would know that there is no fresh water on the island.

The national park is actually composed of seven small islands.

The largest is Garden Island where in the 1800's the US government built Fort Jefferson. It is the largest all masonary fort in the United States.

The fort was originally built to protect the United State's gateway into the Gulf of Mexico.
It has a wonderful history to it.  During the Civil War it remained a Union Fort and was used as a prison for Union soldiers.  It's most famous prisoner was Dr. Mudd the physician who set John Wilkes Booth's leg after he assassinated President Lincoln.

The fort was never completed due to the fact that it was so heavy, that it immediately began to sink into the soft sand.  In addition, the weather has also contributed to it's decline.  However, considering the hurricanes that must have engulfed it throughout the past 175+ years, it's remarkable how well it does look.

We did enjoy a wonderful tour through the grounds.  We saw some beautiful birds (Magnificant Frigate Bird) and tried our luck at snorkeling in the crystal blue warm waters.

A picnic lunch and a walk around the fort was a perfect way to end the day!!