Category Archives: Travel Blogs

Exploring, Florida Keys, New Experiences, Troy's Blog

The Keys

3 Comments
Dividing the Waters of the Florida Keys

After visiting the Everglades National Park, we are going to begin our journey to the southernmost point in the continental United States – Key West. Driving the U.S. 1 through the Florida Keys is something that I have wanted to experience for a long time. During our excursion to Southern Florida we have decided to finally do just that – Drive the almost 160 miles from Miami to Key West.  This highway has been highlighted in such movies as True Lies and Licence to Kill which began my interest in wanting to drive this long span of bridges that connect many of the Florida Keys. We will be staying in Key West for one night before returning to the mainland for our trip back home.   

A tropical sunset

The plan currently is to leave right from the Everglades about mid-afternoon and drive the 4 hours straight for Key West where we will enjoy the rest of the night.  One of our games right now is to figure out where we’ll be for the sunset on this drive.  The next day we plan to take in some of the sights and attractions as we meander back towards Miami.  Since time will be limited we will have to stick to some shorter excursions.  Some of the places in Key West that may be interesting see are the southernmost point marker, beaches, the Butterfly Conservatory, the aquarium, and the Hemingway House.  I’m sure there is much more than this but these are some attractions the caught my attention.  

Feeding Frenzy

As we drive back through the Florida Keys some of the other places that might be of interest in our short time are Bahia Honda State Park, feeding the tarpon at Robbie’s Marina in Islamorada or visiting Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park.  Continuing on to Key Largo could bring a stop at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park where there is snorkeling, hiking, or kayaking to enjoy.  I have read many positive reviews of this state park which moves it a little higher on our list of places to see while driving the Florida Keys.  Of course snorkeling is abundant in any of these areas and there is always the option of sitting back and taking in our surroundings.   

While researching the drive on U.S. 1 through the keys, I discovered that we could easily spend our entire 10 days in Southern Florida playing in the keys so to only take a day is a great teaser for future endeavors to this area.  I am eager to experience driving on a highway that has the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other.  It’s hard for me to imagine driving on such a long span of bridges connecting so many islands together.

Biscayne National Park, Exploring, National Parks, Troy's Blog

Adding Biscayn N.P.

3 Comments
 
Boca Chita Key with Miami in the distance

While I’m sure we could spend many days exploring the Everglades National Park, we have chosen to visit nearby Biscayne National Park as part of our excursion to Southern Florida.  This destination is not on our National Parks edition of Monopoly but is a place we highly look forward to experiencing.  It is common for us to add non-board destinations to our trips which help both in tiring us out and packing more experiences into each trip. We have planned for one full day at Biscayne National Park so I hope the weather is nice.  This is not enough time to do all that we would like to do I’m sure but does give us a taste of this park which is the intention of our visits to all of the National Parks on our board.  

 

Most of Biscayne N.P. is underwater (95%) which is one of the features that really draws us to it.  Snorkeling is a favorite activity whenever we are in tropical waters with reefs.  Kristy is anxious to travel to Southern Florida as this will be her first attempt at snorkeling.  This will be Lysa’s second time snorkeling.  Her first experience was in Cozumel, Mexico three years ago. I am excited to take them and let them experience life on a reef.  They have both looked over pictures of reefs and fish and we have a small saltwater aquarium with corals and fish but to be able to see everything going on at a natural reef is so much more mesmerizing.  Fortunately by watching how different animals work together in our aquarium, Kristy and Lysa will have the opportunity to notice many things that can be missed when snorkeling such as how the cleanup crew (snails, crabs, shrimp, and sea stars) scavenge around the reef and interact with the fish.  Watching all of this will make the day go by exceptionally fast!  

Our home reef away from the reef

 

While snorkeling appears to be a great way to explore Biscayne National Park, there are other activities that highlight the diversity of this park.  There are hiking trails, the Dante Fascell Visitor Center at Convoy Point, boating, fishing, and a lot of history according to the National Park Service website.  The beginning of the Florida Keys is considered by many to be in Biscayne N.P. – Elliot Key.  Since we won’t have a boat to freely move about the reefs and keys, we need to plan ahead to use the park vendor for boating excursions in order to be able to experience this area and see what we can.  I would like to see the lighthouse on Boca Chita Key and Stiltsville in Biscayne Bay along with snorkeling.  Kristy and Lysa enjoy becoming Junior Rangers at all of the national parks that we visit so this will be a priority at Biscayne National Park as well.  

Motivation and Anticipation!

 

Camping is allowed on Elliot Key and Boca Chita Key which would be a great way for us to really enjoy and explore this wondrous area.  Unfortunately, we are limited by our arrival to Miami late the day before and have commitments early the day after.  I would love to watch the sun set and rise again from a key while star gazing and surveying the nighttime Miami skyline.  These are some of the things we may have to explore on another trip after completing our National Parks Monopoly Board.  

As I write this I am looking forward to this trip more and more.  Maybe it is time to stop writing about this national park and focus on the upcoming holidays.

Everglades National Park, Exploring, Lysa's Blog, National Parks

Excited for the Everglades

3 Comments
Everglades in Florida

I am excited to tell you about my adventures, but first I would like to tell you about the National Park we’re going to. The Everglades must be a cool place because I’ve heard so many things about them.  First of all, I’m traveling with my family so I’m not alone. Traveling is more fun for me if there is someone to travel with. I’m very excited to explore the Everglades and learn more. I love to learn about other places.

Everglades National Park is the 3rd largest national park in the lower 48 states!   Only Death Valley and Yellowstone National Park are larger. I am not surprised because it covers much of the southern tip of peninsular, Florida. It is 1,506,000 acres! I’ve been to this area before but never to the Everglades. It does surprise me that it ranks with the planets most important natural areas. It must be a cool place to visit but that’s not all! There are all kinds of animals too! There are all kinds of birds, alligators, crocodiles, bald eagles (cool!), and endangered panthers hoping to track white-tailed deer! I never knew they had endangered animals there! I hope we see, if not all, many.

The Endangered Florida Panther

This park was established December 1947, when Harry S. Truman was president. That was About 63 years ago! That seems like a really long time to me.

I hope we go to The Ten Thousand Islands (that’s a lot of islands!), The Royal Palm, and The Shark valley. SHARK VALLEY! I wonder if it’s where you can see or feel the sharks. I bet it is because the National Park goes into the Atlantic Ocean, and The Gulf Of Mexico. There’s also the Florida Bay, and The Whitewater Bay. There’s even an Everglades city right next to the boarder of The National Park! That’s really cool! I hope we have a lot of fun! Of course we will! I hope you can travel there too. It sounds really cool!

Everglades National Park, Exploring, National Parks, Troy's Blog

Our Next Destination

1 Comment

The Great Egret Among Cypress Trees

Our next National Parks edition monopoly board property has been chosen and planned – Everglades National Park!     

We are planning on spending only two days there which is going to be enough time to start to experience all that this park has to offer.  Our intentions on these trips are only to get an introduction to these parks and experience many different areas of the United States.  Once Lysa and Kristy are older, they can return to whichever locations they may want to explore further and do the activities that interest them.  For now, our family will explore some parts of the Everglades to get a general idea of the intricacies of that park.    

Some interesting information about Everglades National Park:    

  • It is the 3rd largest national park in the lower 48 states with 1.5 million acres
  • Created in 1947 when President Harry S. Truman dedicated the original 460,000 acres
  • This is a sub-tropical environment with a distinct dry season (December – April) and wet season (May – November)
  • Wildlife include the American Alligator, American crocodile, indigo snake, Florida panther, West Indian manatee, many different birds depending on the season, freshwater and saltwater fish, along with many different amphibians
  • Known as the “river of grass” and has the largest continuous stand of sawgrass prairie in North America

    Sawgrass

 Exploring the everglades    

There are a number of different ways in which to explore this vast area.  Driving, hiking, biking, canoeing, fishing, or boating all are options that can give different experiences and perspectives to the diversity of life in Everglades National Park.  For the diehard adventurist there is the option to camp overnight.  We have chosen to enjoy the comforts of environmental controls typically associated with a hotel.  Hiking, driving, canoeing, and boating are the modes of transportation that we are researching currently.     

Once arriving at Everglades National Park we will find out what ranger programs are available and begin to plan our two days according to which programs are of interest to us.  I always enjoy these ranger programs and gain some great information.  Being able to identify some of the flora and fauna or knowing some of the planning and history can really increase the enjoyment while we are out exploring the park on our own.     

There appears to be other tours available such as tram trips, boat tours, bird watching trips, canoe trips, and fishing trips.  These all would give different aspects to the wilderness of the everglades but due to our limited time we can only participate in a few activities.  How do we determine which actives will provide the best experiences for us?  We have to prioritize what we want to do and see the most.

Florida Bay

 

Once we get a list of the ranger programs we can determine which of those we want to attend and we know that Lysa and Kristy want to get their Junior Ranger badges.  Visiting the Everglades without riding on an airboat doesn’t seem like a complete visit so that is something we want to schedule in.  We will take some time to drive through as much of the park as we can to see how the scenery changes as Everglades change from the saltwater of the ocean to the freshwater rivers and streams that flow through the park.  While driving around we will likely stop in a number of locations to enjoy some hiking at a number of different trails.  If there is time, canoeing would be a great addition to the experience for a couple of reasons.  First, Lysa and Kristy have never really been in a canoe before. Secondly, much of Everglades National Park is based around water so seeing the park from this perspective can enhance our adventure.    

We have much more planned with our trip to southern Florida which I will write about in a later post.  For now, we are excited and looking forward to exploring Everglades National Park and including this location on our monopoly board!