Monday, 04 July 2005 - Pt I, Everglades City, Florida

I got up earlier than everyone else - and discovered my sandals were still in Allen and Rose's hotel room after partying last night. I wandered downstairs to grab the continental breakfast at the Captain's Table hotel we stayed at and it sucked. Orange juice and white powdered donuts. What a rip-off. Went back up to the room and luckily Rose, Allen, and Charles were just waking up and grabbed my sandals and said bye n' thanks. It was 8:30 am, and decided to do some exploring before heading back to Miami. Drove to the Florida Heritage site of the "Smallwood Store" which unfortunately was closed so didn't get to venture in. The place was thick with mosquitos though ... so was eaten alive. Got to see some fiddler crabs on the beach which was nice and good views.

Smallwood Store
Built and founded in 1906 on Chokoloskee Island by C.S. Ted Smallwood - A pioneer in Collier County. The building served as a store, a post office, and Indian trading Post. Ted remained postmaster until his retirement in 1941. His business was with early settlers and Seminole Indians. Road access came to the island in 1955. The store was placed on the National Register of historic places in 1974. Restoration of the store as a museum was started in 1990 by the Nonprofit.