I have been writing to a few very special friends in American since 1997.  A couple of years ago I started talking about visiting one of my special friends called Susan.  Susan is a very remarkable friend.  She is always there when you need somebody to comfort you or to celebrate with you.  She also gives very sound advice!  Susan is a fighter.  She has cancer and a very positive attitude to life.

Susan goes to Florida annually and this year, 2002, the second week of her holiday matched with my February half term holiday.  A good opportunity for us both to meet.  I am soft and haven't got the confidence to go places on my own.  I also had to risk the possibility that Susan might fall ill and not manage the holiday at all.  My brother and his wife, John and Lindsey, agreed to go with me as they knew how desperate I was to meet Susan.  Unfortunately John's half term holiday was the week following mine.  Lindsey saved the day by offering to go with me and then stay in Florida an extra week so John could have time there too.

What could I worry about next!  My weight!  I struggled until January to get back on track.  I knew Susan had seen my 'before' photos but I would have been much happier if she was going to see me nearer my goal weight not back near my starting weight.  But I hadn't succeeded in losing in time so I would have to live with that.  The plane was the next thing I worried about.  What if I had to ask for an extension belt.  That would be really humiliating.

I chatted with Lindsey on Thursday 8th February and she reminded me to take my bird guide.  I said I would hunt for it as soon as I put the phone down.  I hunted but couldn't find it anywhere.  On Friday I phoned the local bookshop and they did have a bird guide but I didn't know if it was the one I wanted.  I then phoned the bird reserve.  They had a couple of different guides.  I had to dash after school as it was about an hour's journey and the shop closed at 5pm.  As it turned out the book I wanted was the one in the bookshop!  Never mind I had a nice chat, bought my book and got some more seed for my goldfinches.  It was a rush I could have done without though!

Saturday 9th February came and I got up early to pack my bag.  I never was one for getting ready with time to spare!  I somehow stood on a picture hook when I was wandering around in my bare feet.  I couldn't get it out.  Fortunately I spotted lights on next door and my neighbour pulled it out for me.  A good start don't you think!

I then drove to John and Lindsey's and John drove us to the airport.  The trip was finally starting.

We flew from Manchester to Philadelphia where we knew we had a 3 hour wait.  I didn't need the extension belt.  Hooray!  We had our own little TV screens so we watched Shrek and The Green Mile to keep us amused.  Our plane got in early so we had a little longer to wait than expected.  It was about 2pm and the sun was shining and I was roasting in the clothes I had needed in the UK!  I  had a non fat latte and a low fat berry muffin.  Very nice!

We then boarded our plane for Miami.  I had booked window seats and it was nice to have such a good view.  Again I didn't need an extension belt.  Actually this belt had room to spare too!  We were late leaving the airport as there was a queue of planes.  At one point the pilot said he could see 12 planes in front of us but didn't know how many were round the corner! We must have taken off about an hour later.  We arrived in Miami to find rain.  An Italian shuttle driver drove us to the motel and told us he was a Liverpool supporter!

I phoned Susan from the motel.  It was great to hear her voice.

The following morning we went back to the airport to pick up our rental car.  It took us a while to get used to the US way of sign posting roads so we made some mistakes but solved them in the end.  We stopped on the way to buy some provisions for picnics etc.  I was excited to find different flavoured rice cakes, Snackwells and Graham crackers.  Of course I had to buy some!  I nibbled them all week!

We headed south, beyond Florida City for the Everglades.  We visited the centre and bought a few things, one of my favourite past times!  Our first stop was the Anhinga trail. I was amazed.  There were so many birds, all new to me and they seemed to be right beside me!!  I had bought a guide in the visitors centre which listed all things found in Florida from birds to plants etc. I started ticking off the ones I saw.

    I loved all the different herons and they were so close that I could recognize them without using my binoculars.  (photo by John or Lindsey)

  I loved the alligators.  This is one of my photos.  This alligator had some beautiful tiny babies.  They were too small for me to take with my camera but they were lovely to watch.
 

It was a very hot day (the car temperature guide said 83F) and we forgot to put suntan lotion on!!  I had a very red face and got caught on the back of my neck like usual.  Guess who didn't have a hat!  Me!!  We continued on the drive and stopped at most of the stopping places.  We saw wood stork nesting in the trees.

At Nine Mile pond we had a turkey vulture sat virtually beside the car.  I didn't realise they were so tame.  I had seen some in California when I visited my friend Delia but those were just circling in the sky.  At West Lake we saw some boys catch a fish.  They pulled it out and immediately an alligator came over to investigate.  (Photo by Lindsey)

We walked down Snake Bight.  We had read the guide book and seen reference to the mosquitos.  Did we remember to put our repellent on?  No we did not!  We were in a hurry as we had a long journey ahead of us to reach our next motel and we were worried that we wouldn't make it back to the car before it got dark.  Lindsey was soon covered in bites but mine didn't start to appear until the following day.  We saw a few interesting birds but the birds on the mud flats at the end of the path were mostly too far away for us to see.

The journey to Everglades City seemed never ending.  It was 8.40pm when we arrived at the motel.  We had been frightened to stop on the way as we had to arrive by 9pm.  We were really hungry and I was longing for a coffee.  We had to make do with water and our picnic provisions.

The following morning we were off out before 8am.  We wanted to find somewhere to get breakfast.  We eventually found a store which sold coffee and we had an english muffin with egg.  We sat outside to eat it.  There we were treated with a  lovely sighting of our first red bellied woodpecker and a palm warbler.  After breakfast we booked our seat on a boat trip round the islands.  The ticket office also sold various things including hats.  I took advantage and bought a straw type hat.  I thought the ribbon was silly but I was very glad of it as my hat stayed on the whole time were on the trip despite the strong winds!

 The trip was wonderful.  We saw the noses of manatees.  Lots of brown and white pelicans.  A female bald eagle by her nest, although she was hard to recognize even with binoculars.  We saw a number of Osprey nesting which was very exciting.

The best part of the trip for me had to be the dolphins.  This photo was taken by me although John has doctored it so you can't see my finger!  (I have never taken my own finger with this camera before!!)

We then travelled to Corkscrew swamp.  We had a late picnic lunch at a picnic table and watched the birds.  We were fascinated by the red shouldered hawk.  We had seen it the previous day but not heard it before.   (John took the photo of the hawk.)

I took the following photos on the way round.

 

We then travelled to Fort Myers.  We got caught with the one way system which wasn't marked on our maps and also the fact that our motel had changed names and we didn't know.  No wonder it took us so long to find.  We were disappointed with the motel and so went out to find a new motel for the following night before we found an eating place.  We went to an Italian restaurant where we were astounded with the sizes of the portions.  Yes what is said in the UK is correct about those.  They were enormous!  We took a doggy bag back with us and heated the food up the following night.  Fortunately we were in one of the few motels which provided us with a microwave and fridge.

Tuesday morning saw us both up very early.  We knew the trail on Sanibel island opened at 7.30am and that one of the best times for photographing the birds is early in the morning. We left the motel at 7am and  soon discovered that 7/11 stores would provide us with pleasant coffee and something to eat.  Well Lindsey used to have doughnuts and I carried on with my Graham crackers.  Lindsey bought a telephone card as we were having some problems trying to contact John.  My bites were really bothering me by Tuesday morning so I had my eyes open on Sanibel Island for something to provide me with some relief.  I eventually found a large pharmacy which helped me cope.  (I should have bought some capsules as I was still troubled a week after returning home.  The capsules solved the problem very quickly.)

    We started driving down the trail which was a 5 mile drive.  I needed the toilet before we even set out but we didn't think they would be open as the centre didn't open until 9am. We found out later that they were!  We had a wonderful time on the Ding Darling reserve.  The birds were amazing and so were the views.   We saw lots of Osprey and were told there are 70 breeding pairs on the island alone.  We travelled to Scotland to try and see one in the UK last year!  (This photo was taken by either John or Lindsey.)

We followed the advice that if you saw cars parked then it was likely there was something good to see.  Half way round we stopped and drove to the centre and put me out of my misery.  It was then hot when we finished the drive.   We wanted to get back for high tide and hopefully some good roseate spoonbill pictures at sunset.  (The sunset wasn't right for us but John took this photo the following week.)

We found the pharmacy, emailed John from the library and eventually managed to catch him on the phone too.  At about 3pm we headed for the beach for a late picnic lunch.  We were interested in all the notices asking folk not to feed the birds.  What were people doing on the beach?  Yes feeding the birds, chasing them too!  Lindsey went off to collect some shells.  As soon as we moved a little way from our spot a herring gull came and pinched our loaf of bread!  Lindsey spotted him and took the bread back.  I think she allowed him a few small crumbs and our bread later got thrown out.  When we looked we thrilled to find 3 different kinds of tern in with the herring gulls and laughing gulls.

We returned to the reserve but the sunset wasn't good enough to provide Lindsey with a good photo.  We were joined by lots of other keen photographers.

We returned to our heated Italian meals and Lindsey did some washing.  As usual we were ready for a good nights sleep!

One Wednesday morning we went to Lee Valley Manatee park.  We arrived at 9am.  It was lovely.  The park rangers were very friendly and helpful.  We of course ended up staying longer than planned.  We saw some noses and eventually saw the backs and a tail of a manatee.  It was exciting but we still longed to see the whole thing.  Somebody told us that the water was often clearer making then manatees easier to see.  The park also was planted to attract butterflies so we saw some lovely ones which we marked off in my book.  We saw a few birds too.

  We then travelled further north to the Myakka River State Park. we had no sooner started driving through the park when saw a hawk which we later identified as a broad winged hawk.  (Lindsey took this photo.)  We got some brilliant sightings of it sitting in a tree near us.  Later we were to see a limpkin, glossy ibis and wild turkeys.  We didn't manage to see the sandhill cranes but as we left we had some fly over us.  We were amazed at the black vultures and turkey vultures gathered around the picnic area!

Then it was off to Tampa.  I got a little confused with the directions as the map wasn't very clear.  We were both tired and ready to fly at each other but things soon settled once we arrived.  We stayed at the Econ Lodge and were very pleased with our room.  Good job as we had two nights there.  I spoke to Susan and we made arrangements to meet the following day.

At 8.30am Rick and Susan arrived.  We had arranged to go to Busch Gardens with them.  I was so excited and felt a little shy.  Its funny how different it is to talk to somebody when you are used to emailing them.  I was delighted to find that Rick was just as easy to get on with as Susan.   We enjoyed our day in Busch Gardens. We were surprised to see a broadwinged hawk land in one of the trees!  The trees were also full of green parrots.  We went to see a bird show and an ice show and started the day with a ride on the train. The best thing though was just being together.

We went to see the birds in the aviaries and couldn't resist buying nectar to feed the Loris.  These are the pictures we took. (I took the one of Lindsey's hat and Rick but Lindsey took Susan)

  

Lindsey and I then went shopping again.  We went into a Publix which seemed to be the local store.  We thoroughly enjoyed wandering round and finding things I remembered from California and things which Lindsey could eat, vegetarian.

The following morning we travelled to Rick and Susan's motel.  From there we saw their camper, a plot of land they have bought and a lovely beach nearby .  We travelled up to Homosassa Springs.  We went into a State reserve where we finally got brilliant views of the manatees.  We saw them being fed and could go down in an observation place to watch them through a window when they were underwater.  We were in heaven and took lots of photos.  (Lindsey took this photo.)
 
 

All too soon it was time for a long drive.  We had decided to stay one more night in Everglades city so that we could visit Shark Valley before I left for my plane.

     We weren't disappointed.  We had a very early start but arrived early.  We travelled on tram which took us round the park.  We saw a bittern and a black crowned night heron for the first time.  As we walked back to the car we saw the purple gallinule which I had wanted to see all trip.  I was frightened to stay too long as I was afraid of arriving late at the airport.  (Lindsey took this photo.)

My plane from Miami arrived early in Philadelphia but we had to stay put as another plane was at our gate.  That was very frustrating!  It was strange to think that John was just leaving Philadelphia as I was waiting to leave my plane.  There were crowds of people waiting to leave Philadelphia.  It seemed my flight was over booked but I was safe.  I sat next to a nice American who was working in the UK.  But my worst fears were realised.  I needed an extension belt.  It was so frustrating when I hadn't needed one on the previous 3 flights!  Fortunately the attendant was very kind and gave it to me so that nobody but the lady sat next to me would know!  I couldn't sleep on the way home but dosed on and off.

I arrived back in Manchester to be told the temperature was 38F/4C!!  Welcome home.  I then had to search for my keys and car.  John was good and had it all arranged properly with clear instructions as to where he had left my car.

I had the most wonderful holiday.  The birds, the animals, butterflies ..oh just everything.  The highlight had to be meeting Susan.  She did say that Lindsey and I were welcome to visit her at home anytime.  Now that is a thought!  But then if she does manage to move to Florida I could have another holiday and visit some of the reserves I didn't manage before.  My appetite has been whetted.  I loved Florida and hope I can return at sometime.