Florida December 2011

Roxanne, Ryan, and I went to south Florida for Christmas break in 2011. We spent the first four days in Boynton Beach, visiting Roxanne's mother Betsy and her husband Hal. Then we went to the Keys for four days. Spending Christmas at a 98% Jewish retirement community was a bit odd and anti-climatic. The photos below are pretty much in chronological order.

Ryan and I went to Delray Beach the day before Christmas.

Ryan's feet.

Ryan and Carl.

Northern Curly-tailed Lizard (Leiocephalus carinatus armouri), seen at the public parking lot by the beach.

Another Northern Curly-tailed Lizard (Leiocephalus carinatus armouri).

On Christmas day, Roxanne and I checked out the canefields area near Lake Okeechobee. This is an odd, heavily disturbed region that is home to a surprising number of snakes. We met a couple of local fellows that were also out looking for snakes who provided several helpful suggestions.

Florida Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula floridana).

Another Florida Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula floridana).

Roxanne and a Florida King. Canefields are in the background.

Peninsula Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus sackenii).

A baby Yellow Ratsnake (Pantherophis obsoleta).

Brown Watersnake (Nerodia taxispilota).

The next day, Roxanne and I explored some sandy areas in the central part of the Florida peninsula.

Six-lined Racerunner (Aspidoscelis sexlineatus).

A young Southern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor priapus).

A young Florida Scrub Lizard (Sceloporus woodi).

A young Southern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor priapus).

Now for some people pictures.

Ryan and Roxanne.

Betsy and Hal.

Carl, Roxanne, and Ryan.

Hal, Roxanne, Ryan, and Betsy.

Hal and Betsy.

We then moved on to the Keys. The first day, we actually came back to the mainland and checked out the Everglades.

The butterflies were out in abundance. This took us back to the time when Ryan was 6-7 years old and very into butterflies:

Zebra Longwing.

Zebra Longwing.

Julia (female).

Queen.

Gulf Fritillary.

A crow, of some sort.

Just a few reptiles and amphibians were seen:

Southern Toad (Anaxyrus terrestris).

Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei), photo by Roxanne.

Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis), photo by Roxanne.

Carl, Roxanne, and Ryan in the Everglades.

Florida Red-bellied Cooter (Pseudemys nelsoni). It was eating the algae here.

A young Florida Red-bellied Cooter (Pseudemys nelsoni), floating on the surface of the water.

No trip to Florida would be complete without some Alligators:

American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis).

American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis).

The wading birds were also out in force:

Snowy Egret.

Wood Stork.

Tricolored Heron.

Purple Gallinule.

Little Blue Heron.

Little Blue Heron (juvenile).

Anhinga.

Carl and Ryan, at the beach in the lower keys. Curiously, the water here was much colder than at Delray Beach.

A Green Iguana (Iguana iguana), from the lower Keys. Got to love that scientific name. It was a challenge to find an angle through the trees to take this photo.

Ryan and Roxanne at Ernest Hemingway's house in Key West. This is as close as we got, the price was a little steep. We spent an afternoon checking out Key West. I had a dolphin sandwich, a margarita, and an ice cream cone. Mmmmmm.

Sunset in the lower Keys.

Another look at the sunset. This was pretty much the sunset on our trip as well. After this, we had dinner at Bentley's in Islamorada, which was arguably the best dinner of the trip. We had a number of great meals on this trip; the Island Grill and the Islamorada Fish Company were also very good. Then after a little sleep, we woke up at 5:00 am and drove to the airport to go back to Ohio.