Jan 29-30am, 2010 - Fort Myers

Ready to go to the airport for Ella's second plane trip...
No pictures of it, but it went very smoothly.

The next morning, Ella wakes up in Fort Myers.

She's excited to be here!

First things first, she meets Bogey and Putter.

Bogey is absolutely fascinated with Ella.

Putter is interested, too, but not as much as Bogey.

Nice poses!

The first afternoon in Florida, we head to the Six Mile Cypress Slough.

Turtles and one gator stand guard over a wooden platform.

A little blue heron takes its chances on the deck.

Ella enjoys the warm air.

Kicking back, barefoot.

A flock of ibis troll the shallows for food.

A night heron plays centurion.

I love this tree!

Thirty minutes into the walk, she's still enjoying the warm air.

We happened upon a pileated woodpecker - a big pecker at that.
He was going to town on this tree.

By the looks of it, he got an insect or two here.

We watched him for 5 minutes from about 20' away (and underneath). Amazing.

Much of the landscape was like this - scrubby trees.

Ella enjoyed the heck out of it!

The boardwalks zigzag across the swamp.

Yellow-crested night heron.

Reflection of an egret.

Decomposing cypress stumps (some more phallic than others).

We really like this place...