Holiday Park Florida Pictures

When I visited the east coast the first time (went there twice in the last 2 years), during the Florida leg of the trip, one of the highlights was visiting Holiday Park.  Check it out (also included the pictures of the Fort Lauderdale and Weston area).  Few notes about the trip:

1. The 2018 trip officially marked my first time visiting Florida since moving out to Seattle back in 1994.  I do recall at least 2 trips to Florida when I was alot younger, used to have a grandfather on my dad's side that lived near Tampa and I do recall at least 2 trips there, with the second trip happening back when I was in 4th grade.  That year, he had recently passed away and my family had to go and clean out his house.  Also went to Disney world in Orlando that year.  However, 2018 marked my first time seeing the east side of Florida (along the Interstate 95 corridor instead of the Interstate 75 corridor) and seeing Fort Lauderdale.  Miami was pretty close to where we were, but I didn't actually get to see downtown Miami nor the Key West area (not enough time as we would soon be driving up to Washington DC and back).

2. Prior to my arrivial, my parents had driven across country to Florida, went to a Navy Reunion (my dad is retired from the navy) and then went on a cruise to the Caribbean before I hooked up with them.  Personally, I wish I could have gone for the whole 7 weeks, but I do have 2 jobs, and I would be taking too much time off of work if I did that.  Perhaps another time I can go on Caribbean cruise someday (God willing of course).

3. Florida was one of the shorter legs of the trip.  First day, I had just arrived from Seattle (7 hour flight, plus there is a 3 hour time zone difference compared to Seattle, 5pm here in Seattle translates to 8pm east coast time).  After leaving Holiday Park, we were on the way to Orange Park (Jacksonville area) to visit some old friends and then the day after that, we were on our way Charleston South Carolina (with a pitstop at Savannah Georgia on the way). 

Okay, here are the photos from Fort Lauderdale, Weston and Holiday Park

Here in this photos, I had recently arrived in Fort Lauderdale Florida after a 7 hour plane trip from Seattle (unlike the 2019 trip, the plane I was on for the 2018 trip was a non stop plane trip, whereas in the 2019 trip, there was a layover at Charlotte NC)..  

One thing about arriving in Fort Lauderdale is that I went from a colder climate to a much warmer climate.  I remember about 2 days before flying to Florida, it was cold and snowy in the Seattle area (it was one of those years where we had a late snow in late March), I remember some people looking at me funny when I was riding around in the truck.  I am sure winters are going to be short and mild compared to Seattle (cold winters in Florida are probably unusual).  However, where I live, summers are on the warm side and winters are on the cold side.  Snows in the winter sometimes too where I live (rarely have years where there is little or no snow in Snohomish).   

Going across the bridge to the beach area

Here is one of the cruise ships in the bay.  My parents would have riden in one of the Princess cruise ships going to the Caribbean and back.  By the way, I am sure working on a cruise ship can get gruelling after a while as you can go for many weeks without a day off.  One group of cruiser gets off the ship, and then another group embarks a few hours later.  I am sure working on a cruise ship can have its perks though, such as getting out more and seeing parts of the world average people do not (for example, it is not every year, I get to see Alaskas for example like cruise ship workers do).  I bet they have plenty of stories to share going out to sea, especially say the ship captains as well as employess who interact with the public.

Here is one of the big lawn chair things you see on some of the beaches along the east coast.  I noticed at least some of the beaches in the southeast have lawn chairs just like this one (seen them in Folly Beach and Virginia beach too).  Many of the beaches are more built up too compared to the west coast (besides southern California).  Many of them have hotels (like the courtyard by marriot hotels) that overlook the beaches too.

Check out this yacht in Fort Lauderdale.  Seems like there are a good number of wealthy people that live there.  

After leaving Fort Lauderdale, it was onwards to Weston.  Here is the airport I flew into earlier that day.  

Now coming into Weston.  Went to Flanagan's bbq grill there.

Check out this pond.  By the way, one has to be careful about swimming around here because alligators are said to roam the area being close to the everglades and all.

Although it is hard to really see in the photo, I had a fox sighting while I was at Flanigans (can't remember if it was a gray fox or a red fox, but I know what I saw).  Should have brought binoculars with me when I was there (left it in the truck), but I forgot.  By the way, I think the Miami area does get both gray and red foxes in various spots.  Not sure how common fox sightings are in Weston Florida, but they do seem to have a presence. 

Here is view from our hotel room

Next day, we were heading to Holiday Park.  Scenery soon transitions to rural west of Weston.  

Here, we were arriving at Everglades Holiday Park.  By the way, I actually got a nice aerial view of the Everglades as I was flying into Fort Lauderdale as the plane flew right over it on the way.

There were some billboards that talk about some of the wildlife that can be spotted in the area.  Turkey vultures can be a common sight in the southeast.

Here is a sign on red foxes in the area.  Apparently red foxes do have a presence in the Everglades.  By the way, I did have a fox sighting the evening before in Weston, so I am sure they do have a presence.  Fast forward to the 2019 trip, my parents had one of my trail cams with them for the Pensacola leg of the trip (yeah my dad went to another navy reunion that year as well) and sure enough they actually caught some gray foxes on the camera in addition to opossums, raccoons, armadillos, and a coyote.  The foxes seem to be regulars there too.  Not sure how common or rare a sight red foxes are in the Miami area, but I am sure both red and gray foxes are around.

Picture of one of the airboats

Here, I had gotten on boat and getting ready to go on a boat ride into the everglades.  By the way, it was nice and hot when I was there, even in March.  Compare that to a few days before when it snowed in my neck of the woods.  On a side note, Florida and Charleston were probably the warmest legs oft he trip as we did encounter all 4 seasons during trip.  Sure it was nice and hot in Florida, but eventually, we went north to Washington DC and then eventually back across country to the west coast.  Encountered snow in Pennsylvania, Illinois / Wisconsin, and Montana.

Random bird flying around (probably a turkey vulture)

here was a crane in the water.  

more birds

Here, we were coming into the open swamp.  Yeah there were other groups of people there too, so there were several boats out in the swamp.

Soon enough: first alligator sighting.  Coming from the Pacific Northwest, seeing an alligator in the wild was a brand new sight for me.  Probably wouldn't want to jump in the swamp and go swimming with it (considering that alligators are known to eat humans sometimes), but you don't see these kinds of animals in the wild here in Washington State (though we do get bears, cougars, coyotes, rattle snakes and even wolves in various areas instead).  Wolves are more common in eastern Washington (like near Okanogan, North Cascades National Park ,and the area north of Spokane).

See you later alligator.  Had a few more alligator sightings during the boat ride.

Here is a closer shot I got of one of the alligators

Check out these lilly pads. The boats go right through there.  

Though you can't really see it in the photo, I had some wild iguana sightings in some parts of the swamp (another animal you don't normally see in the wild here in Washington).  I think there are iguanas and chameleons in the Everglades

There are snapping fishes in the everglades.  One has to be careful about leaving their hands and fingers out in the open above the water.

Another alligator

Check out this bird

Here is another alligator we saw

Here is a sign warning about coral snakes in the area.  By the way, they do alligator shows at Holliday Park after the airboat rides and I think there are places where you can see other animals they have (such as foxes, skunks and raccoons), but my family wasn't able to stick around after the airboat ride as we were heading to Orange Park after that (planning to visit some old friends there that night).  I wish I had a few more days to explore the Miami area, but my family had other plans as we were actually planning to go north to Washington DC with stops in Savannah, Charleston, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg along the way.  Maybe someday if the Lord wills it I could do another trip to Florida and spend at least 2 or 3 weeks there and see everything there (i.e., Miami, Key West, Orlando, Cape Canaveral, and all), but that would have to be something for another trip someday.  Not to say it will happen, but if another opportunity comes up, sure. 

Driving through Weston once again heading back to the Freeways.  Eventually we would be arriving in Orange Park (Jacksonville area)

  

Looke like there was some police activity in Weston.  

Here we were getting back on the freeway.  Initially we were on Interstate 75, but soon, we would get onto 595 and later 95 heading north towards Jacksonville.

Now, we were getting on Interstate 95 heading north to Jacksonville / Orange Park.  Freeway takes on an urban feel for a little ways

Here, we were coming out of the city and into more of a rural setting.  By the way, Insterstate 95 doesn't really offer views of the ocean.  You would have to go along highway A1A or highway 1 if you want to be closer to the water, though it would have been a much longer drive going the scenic route.

Next stop: Orange park

That is all for this post.  Will have to visit the Miami area again someday given the opportunity.



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