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Okay here are some of the vacation photos, as promised. These are from Crane Point a nature center in the Florida Keys. It has some of the original plants and landscape, so you can get a glimpse of what it might have been like for early explorers and settlers.

The first picture is of an island just off the shore. The birds swirling above the trees are vultures. We saw a lot of vultures in the Keys. They soared everywhere. It must be some seriously good thermals, because the sea birds did a lot of soaring everywhere, as well.

The next picture is of a Zebra Long Wing. It was one of the more common butterflies at Crane Point. It had a very lazy flight, and you see why it?s called a long wing. The wings give the impression that they?re so long, they must wave in the middle of each flap. I know they don?t, because of the way butterfly wings are designed, but the illusion is there for the eye.

Most common lizard at Crane Point was this guy. I think he’s a Flordia Scrub Lizard.

This butterfly, we saw only once here. It was near the butterfly meadow, which was strangely almost butterfly free.

The Gulf Fritillary was probably the most common butterfly we saw there, unless it was the same butterfly over and over. If so, it was stalking us. Or maybe it just enjoyed making Jon and his mother, Mary, fight for a good picture of it. The Frittarly would pose beautifully until a camera got aimed, then it would move. It did that several times. A butterfly with a sense of irony.

Isn?t this cactus cool? It was pretty abundant along the trail. It was not marked with a little plate letting us know what it was, and I can?t find it in our books. So it?s a mystery cactus. If you know what it is, let us know.

This grasshopper appeared only once, but he hung around long enough to get his picture snapped. Unsure what kind of grasshopper he is. He was good sized.

Here?s a better shot of the lizard.

I was quite taken with the morning glories that were growing along the trail. Jon took this and the next picture. Were there blue morning glories waiting for the first settlers?

This is the Bahama trail, which I highly recommend if you want that sense of wildness. We kept having Gilligan or Lost flashbacks. We were close to a small airport, so had several planes go overhead, and I kept having this urge to wave, and call out, “We?re saved!” The path gave you that feeling of isolation and tropical claustrophobia, that a really lush enviroment can have sometimes.

Trinity didn?t want to take the trail, and opted for a more open and better manicured one, but I picked the one that looked like you?d need a machete to chop your way to freedom. Of course, I did. You didn?t need the machete by the way, but it had a nice wild look to it, which is why I liked it, and Trin wasn?t too thrilled. Obviously, we did take the trail that was less traveled.

We saw quite a few spiders at the edges of the trail. This one is a spiny backed orb weaver. They were the most abundant spider, and they were so funky looking, very science fiction. They?re about the size of a woman?s finger nail, so not so big, but noticiable. Maybe it was the spines that made them stand out so much.

This beauty is a Golden Silk Orbweaver. The next picture is Jon?s hand next to it, for a size comparison. It was a big spider, but so lovely. I thought it?s name came from the golden color of it?s abdomen, but it turns out that if you get enough of it?s silk in one batch, that?s truly golden. We got a book at the Crane Point gift shop on local spiders and it had a great picture of the silk in a shinig mass. It was very Ruplestilkskin.

This picture is the underside of the Golden Orb Weaver, to show you that it?s still pretty on the bottom, but not quite so shiny.

Mangrove swamp. I can?t tell if it was black, red, or white mangrove in the picture, but we saw all three on our hike.

Okay, that?s it for the path at Crane Point.

Future pics will have the wild bird rehab at the Point, and pictures from the end of the path where you got a pretty nifty view of the ocean. Yeah, we saw a lot of nice views, but the one from the end of Crane Point was good enough that it stands out. There?s a couple of benches where you can sit and gaze out at the ocean and sky.