Monthly Archives: January 2013

There are apparently millions of Burmese Pythons overrunning southern Florida in both the Everglades and Big Cypress. Long story short, they are an nonnative predator to the Everglades and destroying the natural balance of things. So the state of Florida decided it was time to do something and opened up python hunting in the form of a competition.

All one needs to do to participate in the challenge is take an online quiz and pay $20. Then your python license is rushed in the mail to you and all you need to do is put on your ‘Murica t shirts and camo pants and your set.

Some of the guys from work and I decided to make this a weekend adventure. As we told other co-workers about our excursion we were warned of the Skunk Ape. I had never heard of the Skunk Ape before but Wikipedia quickly informed me that Skunk Ape is a hominid cryptid native to South Florida. In simple terms, Skunk Ape is the Big Foot of the Everglades.

Check out the snake skin on the wall.

Anyways, we needed to find a campground site somewhere along US-41. A few places we had in mind prior to starting the trip, but when we saw the campground next to the Official Skunk Ape Research Headquarters, we knew exactly where we were staying. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Research Headquarters, but it ended up being a gift shop.

Our group was gawking at the snakeskin on the wall and that’s when my pal Dave found the entrance in the back. As we went though the door in the back of the gift shop, I couldn’t help but to feel like we were about to go through a freak show at a carnival.

It ended up actually being a huge covered room with several species of South Florida. It was like getting a glimpse of the Everglades without actually doing any of the dirty work. But that’s not why we drove three hours south. We drove to see the nature. We drove to capture us a python bounty.

So we set up camp and tried to hit the wilderness a little bit before dusk. Google Maps led us off a side road to a small path we could barely see from the road. Seemed like good as any place to me since we were all Python Hunting noobs. Darkness quickly approached and we were pythonless. So we headed back to camp.

The next morning we were awakened by the sounds of every creature nature has to offer at the crack of dawn. It was time. There was a path behind the campground that led to endless miles of nothing. It was beautiful. It actually resembled everything I have ever imagined Africa to look like. We ventured this way for an hour or so but the only wildlife we noticed were deer. Yes, deer in the state of Florida actually do exist.

So we headed back to the campground and went off in a different direction, north actually. That’s where we found land that resembled what you would envision the Everglades to actually look like. This is where I saw the biggest Doe I have ever seen in my life. But alas, no pythons.

We went back to the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters and that’s when we threw our stubbornness to the side and asked the locals where to head. They suggested a path behind the Post Office had yielded the best results. The path didn’t bring us any closer to the bag limit of pythons but I did notice that Post Office was the Country’s Smallest Post Office, literally.

One of the best parts about living in the Sunshine state are the professional sports teams. Before moving to Florida all I had were the Reds and the Bengals and I wasn’t about to root for a team from Ohio.

Since I’ve lived down here I have anxiously been awaiting hockey’s opening night. Some of you may have heard about the lockout which only increased the amount of time I had to wait for this night. And then finally the lockout came to an end. And January 19th was set as the date. And then the schedule was released. And the Washington Capitals were set as our first victim.

I knew I would be attending this game so I bought tickets the day they went on sale without hesitation. My transaction went through five minutes after they went on sale. The seats were nosebleeds but the game was a sold out slobberknocker. We ended up winning 6-3.

The best part about the Tampa Bay Lightning are the tesla coils built into the arena. Every time the Lightning put the puck in the net, the coils shoot off bolts through the arena. It truly is something special. Especially when you get to see it six times in one night.