Everglades National Park
National Park #2
For Spring Break 2018, we did a south/central Florida driving tour and visited a number of things we had never done. Everglades National Park was one of our stops. We went hoping to see an alligator and were absolutely amazed by the diversity and amount of wildlife!
We spent our day in the Everglades exploring the south eastern area of the park. Our first stop was Royal Palm. We grabbed Junior Ranger books and then where ready for Anhinga Trail.
We hadn’t even started the trail before spotting our first alligator.
We just happened to be visiting the Everglades on a Junior Ranger day. There were extra rangers along the trail sharing information about the anhinga, alligators, wetlands and other animals in the park.
After the Anhinga Trail we jumped on the short Gumbo Limbo trail to check out more native plants. The kids also took part in a couple of other Junior Ranger activities.
Then it was time for the kids to get their Junior Ranger badges.
We had a little more time before we had to get back on the road so we made a quick visit to the Nike Missile Site HM-69. One of the neat things about this particular site is that it’s almost exactly as it was during the Cold War. We were able to explore one of the missile barns, talk with a volunteer, and pose with a missile.
If you love wildlife, the Everglades is definitely worth a visit. In addition to all of the alligators, we saw a handful of anhinga and lots of other birds. The water was crystal clear so we saw lots of fish and turtles, too. The Everglades makes a great day trip if you’re in south Florida!