I am not a skier or a snowboarder. I don’t like ice fishing. I don’t have a snowmobile. Basically, I just hate winter in New England. I don’t like being cold, winter sports are expensive and driving in the snow is the worst. To me, I don’t feel like winter really gets bad until mid-January through February. Jarrett feels the same, so we decided that we needed to plan a trip somewhere warm during those months. Since we are trying to make it to all 63 US National Parks, that was our first thought – where can we go that will be warm but also help us check parks off our list? We didn’t want to be gone for too long since we were already planning a longer trip in the spring so we decided that Florida would be the perfect spot. Being on the east coast makes it an easy, fairly quick flight from Boston. The two parks we were going to – Everglades and Biscayne – were very close to each other and we could visit both of them within a few days. So flights got booked, the car and hotel were reserved and we were off!
We left on a Tuesday and landed in Miami in the early afternoon. It was an uneventful drive to Homestead, where we’d be staying during our trip. Biscayne National Park is 95% underwater, so there are limited parts of the park above water. We figured we could go there that afternoon and see what we could. We walked along the water and did the Jetty Trail past mangroves and palm trees. The trail is short, flat and easy, just under a mile round trip. I was just wearing my Birkenstocks at this point and had no issues. We walked to the end of the trail where the jetty abruptly ends. We spoke to a park ranger there who said that the jetty had previously been longer but a hurricane has ruined it in the past and they didn’t repair it as multiple seabirds had taken over the ruins and it was now a colonial bird protection area.
After we spent some time here, we tried to find manatees in the North Canal of the marina at Homestead Bayfront County Park but had no luck. We ended up grabbing an ice cold beer at a small beach bar, La Playa Grill, and then headed into to town for dinner. We went to Havana Spice, a Latin restaurant also in Homestead. We got a variety of appetizers to split and it was tasty! The customer service was excellent and we felt right at home.
The next morning we started the day at Everglades Safari Park where we had an airboat tour booked. We were early so we walked around the park for a while before the tour started. We saw a few alligators which was really cool. Some of them were in pens but others were roaming freely. All were sunbathing and not concerned with us at all. The airboat was really fun, we had a great time. We saw so many birds and multiple alligators. I’d definitely recommend doing an airboat tour if you’re in the Everglades. Even if you don’t see any creatures, it’s really fun to fly around through the tall grass where it doesn’t even look like it’s possible to take a boat.
Everglades Safari Park was about 40 minutes to an hour from Homestead. Near the park was one of the National Parks visitors center – Shark Valley. We had planned on going there Thursday morning but since we were already out that direction on Wednesday, we decided to head there next. We had made bike reservations for Thursday and we were able to switch them to Wednesday afternoon. We biked the Shark Valley Loop, which was incredible! It was so much fun. The trail was paved and flat so it was easy to cruise along. The trail is about 15 miles round trip. Along our journey we saw 27 alligators and two crocodiles! It was incredible how close you could get to them (obviously not approaching them) – they would be laying right along the bike trail. There was one that had just crossed the trail and stopped while his tail was still across the path. He had also pooped and while I was trying to avoid his tail and the other tourists, I rode my bike right through the poop – alligator poop smells terrible! While alligators are most common, it is possible to see crocodiles and we saw two, which was neat! They have a more narrow snout than alligators and some other distinguishing features.
About 7 miles into the bike ride we came to the observation tower so we parked our bikes and walked to the top. It offered beautiful views of the river of grass that seemed to go on forever. From there, we headed back on the remaining part of the trail to the visitor center. During our bike tour we also saw so many birds of all kinds. I’ve never been a “birder” but even I was excited seeing so many. After our biking adventure, we headed back to our hotel in Homestead to freshen up. There was a brewpub nearby so we went there to get a flight and got dinner from a food truck parked on site.
I really, really wanted to see a manatee and while they are not as prevelant in southern Florida as they are in the more central part of the state, we were told we could probably see some at the marina in Flamingo, the most southern part of the Everglades. We took the park road from Homestead to Flamingo which was really nice. It was a beautiful sunny day and a great day for a drive. Our first stop was the Anhinga Trail. When we got out of the car we saw a weird, creepy “pen” full of random toys and things. I read the sign that stated vultures would destroy the rubber around car windows so they created a kind of “playground” to hopefully distract the vultures from damaging cars. It was so odd. We also saw a beautiful tree draped with Spanish moss. At first I thought it was part of the actual tree but I later learned its an air plant and will attach to trees and grow independently.
The Anhinga Trail was full of birds and boy were they loud! We saw eight alligators here. One of the alligators we saw was lazily swimming in the water. It was nice seeing one in the water since the majority we had seen were sunbathing in the grass. We also saw some turtles. The next trail we went to was the Pa-Hay-Okee Trail, which was an elevated platform through some bald cypress trees and other flora. It was very short but interesting to see.
The next trail was the Mahogany Hammock Trail. Again, this was an elevated boardwalk but it was really pretty. It wasn’t very crowded and traffic was light so it was a peaceful walk along the trail just listening to the wind blowing through the trees and the birds calling to each other. The trails we did weren’t long by any means, but they were still pleasant and pretty.
We finally reached our final destination in the afternoon – the Flamingo Visitor Center and Marina. We walked over to the marina where the water was very brackish and cloudy. I was looking down at my feet at the end of the dock saying to Jarrett that if we didn’t see a manatee I would cry (jokingly) when all of a sudden the water started to bubble and the cutest little head emerged. Because the water was so cloudy, I didn’t really get to see the size of the manatee, I only really saw its head and nose. We were told there were about 7 to 8 that lived in the marina. We saw a few come up for air but honestly, it may have been the same one each time. Either way, it was really exciting.
We were hoping we’d get back to Homstead early enough in the afternoon to do a kayaking tour at Biscayne but unfortunately that didn’t work out. Our final night in Florida we made a random pit stop at the Coral Castle, a museum of sorts, which was pretty interesting but overpriced (in my opinion) and then got BBQ for dinner which is a vacation tradition for us. Sadly we had to leave the 80 degree weather the next day and head back to the cold of New England.
It was a short little trip but the perfect winter getaway. I wish we had been able to explore more of Biscayne National Park but I guess that just means we have to go back!
Have you ever visited these National Parks?
📍I acknowledge the lands mentioned in this post are the ancestral lands of the Calusa, Seminole, Taino, Tequesta, Miccosukee and Mascogo people.
The Adventures of Suze 
Leave a comment