Naples

Once Kyle left, Mary Lou and Nicole and Grammama spent the rest of holidays with good food, wine, and conversation. Gram pulled out all the old photo albums and a box of airmail and postcards that Mary Lou had written during her study abroad in Italy. Fun family fact: The Stack family, with the five daughters, had a dachshund who gave birth only one time, to five female puppies.

After finishing the wine, playing numerous rounds of cards, a wedding shower, going to a senior citizen social club social, bingo, and buying two used cruiser bicycles, Mary Lou and Nicole decided it was time to press on. We packed up the RV and drove West through Alligator Alley, which did indeed have insane numbers of alligators, each sunning themselves on any flat patch of riverbank.

We slept overnight in a Naples Walmart, woke up and drove into and around Marco Island. We walked along the beach, the pier, and watched the Pelicans. We decided that instead of paying to get into the Naples Art Museum, or paying to walk the Boardwalk through the marshes, we would spend the day's budgeted admission money on a worthier cause, The Wonder Gardens.

We had no idea what to expect at the Wonder Gardens, but we had read that it was started and run by an animal lover that took in abounded, abused, or otherwise rescued animals. After buying our tickets, they told us to wait by the otter enclosure for the next tour. For the next hour, we followed our fantastic tour guide through the maze of enclosures in the park. He told the story of how each animal had been brought to the park, told us about the animals themselves, and added in lots of common sense information about how we should be treating these animals and their environments. Many of the big cats in the park, the pumas and panthers and bobcats, had been rescued from wealthy individuals who though it would be cute to keep these animals as pets, and then found out how much raw meat it takes to feed them or that they aren't as cuddly as house cats.

The alligators were freaking awesome. They loomed silently below in the water as we walked across swinging wooden bridges over their ponds. The Gardens had actually built its reputation on the first rescue that was ever taken in - a gigantic alligator that, now dead and stuffed in the lobby, still holds the title for largest gator ever in captivity. There are lots of pics in the album of all the beautiful, and happy to still be alive animals. The Wonder Gardens is a fantastic place doing really fantastic things for the animals there. We read in the paper that the owner had recently been diagnosed with an inoperable spinal tumor, and is looking to sell the whole park. We hope that someone sees the value in what they have built, and takes over the place in the same spirit….

Click here for photos!