In the summer of 2005, when we were checking the Fort Lauderdale area out as a place to live, we headed west to the Everglades side of the state. I cannot remember the name of the place we went, but it was right out of a movie depicting the “swamps” of South Florida. Since it was in the rainy season, the Everglades were full of water and the airboats were running.
Saturday, we went much further to the huge area that is the Everglades National Park. The first place to go once at the Park is at the visitor center near Homestead. They have nice displays of the local flora and fauna, a small bookstore, and friendly staff. We picked up a map and paid the $10 for one car for one day.
We hadn’t really planned for lunch, and there was no restaurant at the visitor center. The staff there pointed us to the Royal Palm building where they have some snacks (it turned out to be junk food, soda and bottled water; we later learned that we could have waited until the end of the road where there is a better shop for sandwiches and other food).
This place was cool because there were lots of tame cormorants, a heron (we think) chasing some of the cormorants, and several alligators, one of which you can see here which stayed right in front of us. There are a couple of trails to take you out farther, but there were lots of people, and we passed on that this time. After our munch, we headed south and stopped here and there to read the signs and walk around. Since it was not the rainy season, the whole area looked a lot different from our previous trip.
The end of the road is literally the south end of the State of Florida (not counting the Florida Keys). There is a camping area, boating area, a the small the Flamingo Visitor Center. They have some of the food I mentioned, a gas station (possibly needed if you didn’t plan to drive so far), a place to rent canoes, and a great view. We saw several keys of various sizes, one so small that it had just one mangrove on it. We were there in the middle of the afternoon and the weather was great (you need something to keep the mosquitos off if you’re there later or in the summer). We saw
three BIG alligators sunning themselves, and
an osprey feeding her young. They were cheeping loudly when we got there. We were they long enough for her to be able to feed herself. It was really an amazing experience!
I haven’t counted recently, but I think that takes me up to around 20 World Heritage sites so far. Lots more to to.
