Sugar Sugar
Everglades National Park is one of Cold Splinters' favorite places on Earth and yesterday was a historic day for the park. The nation's largest sugarcane producer agreed to sell all of its assets to the state and go out of business. Florida will pay $1.75 billion for United States Sugar, which will turn over 187,000 acres north of Everglades National Park in the next six years.Governor Charlie Crist announced, “I can envision no better gift to the Everglades, the people of Florida and the people of America — as well as our planet — than to place in public ownership this missing link that represents the key to true restoration.” Crist also called the deal "as monumental as the creation of the nation's first national park, Yellowstone."The New York Times says, "The impact on the Everglades could be substantial. The natural flow of water would be restored, and the expanse of about 292 square miles would add about a million acre-feet of water storage. That amount of water — enough to fill about 500,000 Olympic size swimming pools — could soak the southern Everglades during the dry season, protecting wildlife, preventing fires, and allowing for a redrawing of the $8 billion Everglades restoration plan approved in 2000."MP3: Ike and Tina Turner - Sugar Sugar
Wild Palms and Gold Mines: Everglades National Park, FL
Give yourself a new Seminole name, get a plane ticket to Miami, rent a car, then drive down to Everglades National Park in Flamingo. Techno music coming from the mono stereo works best for the midnight drive. When you get there, get an hour or two of sleep and then rent a canoe at the marina. There's a skinny gentleman with a mustache that will get you on your way. Go outside, ask for Louis (like the king, not the Anderson) and get in the water. Get paddling and don't get stuck at low tide. It'll give you a real-life panic attack.You're in the Gulf of Mexico now, so watch for prehistoric looking birds floating by your head, sharks swimming beside your boat, and miles of pristine beach covered by mangroves. Keep going for 10 miles in the hot sun to the continental USA's southern most point, East Cape Sable. This isn't the gloomy Everglades swamps that keep you up at night. This is going to be your favorite place on earth. Full of no-see-ums, shells the size of your face, and lonesome fires on the beach. Unfortunately you might have missed the window. Right about now the bugs are rallying the troops to get ready for a couple of months of deathly humidity. You don't want to be there, trust us. Wait until December and we'll go with you. We promise.