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OUR NAMES ARE CAROLINE AND BABY, AND WE ARE PROUD MEMBERS OF THE CATS WORLDWIDE GUILD OF CLAW



We live in Fort Lauderdale, which is a major city in Broward County, Florida. Our apartment is about eight blocks from the beach and a few blocks from the Intracoastal Waterway, which runs up the entire East Coast of the United States and was built by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.






Fort Lauderdale lies on the Southeastern (Atlantic Ocean) side of the Florida Penninsula, which is often referred to as the "Gold Coast." The term "Gold" can be used to describe many things in South Florida such as the great amount of sunshine we get. That is why Florida is called the "Sunshine State." Another reason that this area is called the "Gold Coast" is because there is a great amount of wealth here, even though there is also a great amount of poverty.






Originally, Florida was inhabited by Native American tribes, including the Seminole Nation. Some time later, other Native Americans, known as the Miccosukee Nation relocated here. These Native American Cutures often settled in the shallow marshland that runs across the State, known as the Everglades.






Everglades National Park is a wonderful marine ecosystem, although man is constantly forgetting that and, through his indiscriminate negligence, he often destroys the great beauty of this natural resource. All kinds of wildlife exist in the Everglades, including the Florida Panther, which is an endangered species, alligators, and a great variety of marine and bird life. Another endangered species is the manatee, a mammal, known fondly as the "Sea Cow." These giant, gentle creatures are rapidly headed towards extinction due to a variety of factors, most of which are man made, such as by being injured or killed by boat propellers or by man made pollution.






South of Fort Lauderdale is the metropolitan hub of Greater Miami-Dade, which is permeated by Spanish influences. After the Bay of Pigs, the Mariel Boatlift brought many Cuban refuges to this region, fleeing the Communist takeover of Cuba in 1959 by Fidel Castro. An area of Miami known as "South Beach" is an international jet set vacation spot. Often, many fashion magazines from around the world use this as a setting for their photo shoots. Miami also has a wonderful zoo, called Metrozoo, Monkey Jungle, Parrott Jungle, a top notch planetarium and the beautiful estate know as Vizcaya, just to name a new. The City of Coral Gables is the home of the University of Miami. One could say that, without a doubt, Miami is a non-stop ride with a latin twist.






Further South and slightly West of Miami lie the Florida Keys, which are a group of tiny islands, forming an archipelago. Life in the Keys is extremely laid back, and many people enjoy a wonderful array of water sports, including diving, boating, snorkeling and deep sea fishing or, for the less actively inclined, there is always just plain relaxing. At the bottom (western) tip of the Florida Keys is the City of Key West, known for it's carefree party-going atmosphere. In Key West, people do things at a different pace then they do in other parts of the Florida. The "Conchs", as the native Key Westerners call themselves, call it "running on island time." These Conchs call the Keys the "Conch Republic", and every so often they attempt to break away from the mainland and form their own, independent island nation.






South Florida offers so many things for visitors to see and do, and is one of the most important vacation spots in the United States, rivalled only by the Orlando (Florida) area, with Disney World and other main attractions in that area. It has major league sports teams, museums, theater and every other kind of cultural attractions imaginable.






Now that we have told you something about where we come from, please tell us all about where you are from. We would love to know.

Each of us won a Special Activities Award for telling about our local foods. Baby and I each have one but it is silly to put two up so we will show only one badge. Here it is. We hope miew like it.






We also won this badge for each writing about our favorite spot.






We got this badge for writing about where we each would like to go on summer vacation.