Florida, Day 1

12/26/09

I was dragged out of bed at 9AM (as is obvious, I am not a morning person) today to drive to some place called "Coopertown." A huge white sign adorned the parking lot, with big bold letters that read "COOPERTOWN: Population, 00008." I estimate that 5 out of those 8 "citizens" are domestic alligators... We had only one purpose (but later 2) for coming to such a small town, and that was to take an airboat tour. If you've never taken an airboat tour, I would suggest bringing a pair of earplugs. The airboat gets its name from the HUGE fan/motor that is attached to the back of the boat- when running, it rotates and creates an enormous, deafening sound. Luckily, the boat's operator provided everyone with cotton balls to stuff our ears with. During the 30-some minute tour, I spotted quite a few Great Blue Herons, Egyptian Ibises, Painted Turtles, and alligators (I don't recall the specific name). One particular "baby" alligator sunbathed itself on a small marshy island just 4 feet in front of the boat, its jaw gaping wide, boasting all 80 (or so I heard from our tour guide) of its yellowed teeth. I got quite a few close-up shots, which I will post later.

After the tour, we were about to hop back in the car when I noticed that the souvenir shop's sign boasted quite an interesting set of words: "Coopertown Restaurant and Souvenir Shop: We Serve Gator Tails." Gator tails? To eat? My curiosity was most definitely piqued. After obtaining permission (and money) from my parents, I ordered this exotic dish called "Gator Tails." They claim it is made from genuine gator meat, which, after trying the dish, I am willing to believe. To be honest, it tastes sort of like chicken, except the meat is slightly chewier. If I were to have been eating this under the pretense that it was chicken, I would probably call it "unusually chewy chicken." Plus the way it was prepared resembled chicken nuggets; the waitress even called it "Gator tail nuggets." Overall, I think it was one of those "must-do-before-you-die" kind of experiences that you only need to do once... Gator meat is expensive!

Our next stop was originally supposed to be a hiking trail in the actual Everglade Park, however the wait to enter the park was upwards of 2 hours so we decided to skip the park and drive back to Miami to tour South Beach and whatnot. To say the least, this public beach is highly commercialized. Every single building was either a store, a hotel, or some other form of commercial business. These buildings were jammed into every space available, lining up like fat concrete dominoes along the boardwalk. I got plenty of souvenirs from these shops (namely t-shirts, since I seem to perpetually be at a loss for clothes) at great deals (well, mostly great deals). We walked around in the suffocating city polluted air for another 2 hours  or so before finally retiring to an amazing Italian restaurant that served extraordinary pasta (albeit lavished richly with heavy cream, butter, and fat calories) and ravioli.

The fitness center at this particular hotel is pretty shabby (c'mon, not even some barbells or weights to lift?)- the room is only about 60 square feet, boasting an incredibly powerful arsenal of two treadmills, one bicycle machine and one circular leg-rotator machine thing whose name escapes me at the moment. Oh, and there is also a yoga ball (which makes everything much better). I quickly ran about 2 miles on the treadmill (just to make myself feel better about consuming that entire portion of pasta) then dashed back to the hotel room just to type this entry (look how dedicated I am to this blog... hah). What a day!

(P.S. Parentheses seem to be the main theme of this particular entry. I promise that I will try to use less of them; they seem to detract from the main points. Oh, and it doesn't follow FORMAL WRITING RULES! Gasp!)