National Parks

Our second day in the Everglades was a Thursday. We were up early, had breakfast at the hotel, and hiked the Anhinga and Gumbo Limbo Trails in the morning light. I say “hike”, but really this was a stroll. The Everglades is F-L-A-T with the greatest elevation change of about 14 feet. Do not let this deter you, even those of you who hike Half Dome, because this part of the Everglades has its own beauty and you don’t want to miss it.

Besides our newly made bird friends, we saw a turtle and a large alligator. Well… we saw a large alligator’s tail. For better or worse, his head (and teeth) was covered under some vegetation. The scenery along the Anhinga trail was truly beautiful. Lilly pads with yellow buds covered the water.

After our peaceful and non-strenuous hike, we made a quick stop in the Earnest F Coe visitor center. I read good things about this center, and it did look promising, but we were unfortunately running a little behind and didn’t stay long. After the quick stop, we journeyed along the Tamiami (US 41) headed towards Everglades City. Following a recommendation from one of my favorite pod casts, Dirt In My Shoes, we stopped at Robert Is Here Fruit Stand. The evil stepsisters wanted to get inside the petting zoo, but it was breakfast time for the animals, so we could only watch them eat. It’s hard to see others eat and not participate, so I got myself a banana, pineapple, coconut fruit smoothie. It was yummy! Tamiami is littered with fruit stands, but Robert Is Here did seem like the most popular one with its petting zoo, palm tree-covered eating areas, and impressive display of fruits and vegetables. It is worth the stop.

Taking our smoothies on the road, we drove about two hours to Everglades city. The 12:30 departing 10,000 islands boat tour was sold out, so we bought tickets for the 3:00 tour and then decided to eat some more. Why not? Triad Seafood Café was recommended by several local sources, so we stopped there for lunch. They were out of the famous Stone Crabs so I cannot report on their signature dish, but the fried green tomatoes and Mahi Mahi salad were excellent. Another eatery worth the stop.

We had some time to spare so we drove to Chokoloskee Island and speculated about Python Hunters. For those of you who don’t know, pythons are a bothersome, invasive species in the Everglades and you can get a permit to hunt them. I’d like to envision some bad-ass women in Christian Louboutin’s with Wonder Woman magic lassos wrangling in these nightmarish creatures. Please don’t ruin my vision by telling me otherwise. 

At 3:00 we got on the Everglades National Park Adventures Ten Thousand Islands Boat Tour. This two hour tour, combined with the Tram tour, helped give us a sense of how large the Everglades is. It is the third largest national park in the lower 48. Death Valley and Yellowstone being numbers one and two, respectively.  We spotted dolphins early on the tour and they even played in the boat’s wake for a time. For a landlocked Atlanta lady, dolphins never get old. It was on this tour that we spotted the island of white pelicans.

The drive back to Homestead was long. I thought about staying somewhere else to minimize the time in the car, but our hotel was so close to Biscayne and that was on the itinerary for the next day. We did some grocery shopping and had dinner in our room which was refreshing after a lot of (delicious) fried food. Lindsay and I had a friendly game of ping-pong in the hotel’s game room before a restful sleep.

Our third day in the Everglades was actually our fourth and last day of the trip. (We spent the third day of our trip in Biscayne National Park. Be sure to read all about it – it was awesome.) We had a few hours on Saturday morning for one more activity and chose an airboat tour. Wanting to be an environmentally responsible tourist, I debated doing this tour.

I read all about the controversy behind these tours and ultimately decided to go. I chose Coopertown Airboat Tours because it was close to our hotel and recommended on the NPS website. We got up early and drove back along the Tamiami in time for the 9:00am tour which started with an alligator information session that was really quite informative. We had one last glimpse of gators and birds to end our trip. And yes, I did try fried alligator at the Coopertown Restaurant. It was one of those “get out my comfort zone” experiences. It really does taste like chewy chicken.

While not jaw dropping like some parks, the Everglades and Biscayne have their own unique beauty and vital importance in their ecosystems. They are places where nature’s wonders unfold and conservation becomes a promise for generations to come. 

I hope you enjoyed my first live post, and be sure to stay tuned for what I have planned next! Buckle up travelers, only 49 to go!