Alas, parting is such sweet sorrow. The time has come for kerowhack to set out on the road, laptop, suitcases, and boyfriend in tow. Looks like I’m evacuating the peninsula, like it or not. Another chapter in my life is partially closed… my internship is over. School starts in a week. What better time to head back to the heartland than during this season’s first real hurricane? As usual, just as life starts to get exciting is when I have to hit the road. I guess it’s a good thing that Ernesto seems to have decided to twist and bend and smack southern Florida instead of roaring into Naples, else my plans would have been seriously dampened. As of now, all that’s changed is that we have we’re leaving Tuesday instead of Wednesday morning to stay ahead of storm, avoiding as much of the gales and torrents as possible.

Friday, I went to the CoastalBeat.com launch party at Stoney’s. That was pretty much my first experience with the Southwest Florida college scene, and it was most definitely a throw-down, kick-ass party. It was also a nice warm-up for how life will be once I’m back at OU – one good party after another. As I told you last week, Ohio University is not only renowned for its academics… its party scene is totally killer. I’ll be getting home Thursday and school doesn’t start until Tuesday, so visions of raucous debauchery are dancing in my head.

But back to Naples. I’ve fallen in love with the Everglades, and spent the weekend tromping through them. We took Turner River Road north all the way from U.S. 41 past Alligator Alley, back south to Wagonwheel Drive, crawled along Jane’s Scenic Drive and wound up in Southern Golden Gate Estates. For those of you who have never made that trek, let me tell you, it’s amazing. I’ve never really been a nature lover – there’s little I hate more than bugbites. And for those of you like me, I recommend experiencing the Everglades from the comfort of your air-conditioned car. But seriously, it’s really cool and if you haven’t done it, you should.

Southern Golden Gate Estates is part of the Picayune Strand state park. It’s a failed housing development; in fact, as far as I know it’s the largest failed subdivision in America. Developers would sell the land during the dry summer months to northerners unaware of the potential likelihood for flooding. Now, there are roads and canals, but no houses. The roads are paved and overgrown, so it’s easy to drive around. We saw deer, turtles… and a whole herd of vultures eating a dead deer.

I know, I know – totally gross. But where else in the world can you see wildlife so unaccustomed to humans and cars that they aren’t even afraid? It’s really eerie to drive around perfectly planned out blocks with no houses, no buildings whatsoever. And to see all these animals… it was freaking awesome.