When I told Gary to think about what he wanted for Father's Day this year, I didn't expect it to turn into 4 day, 3 night trip, but that's what happened. He requested that we go fishing down in the Everglades, and looked up a place he had been before called Everglades Holiday Park. Since we were already so close to the Everglades National Park, when he asked if I wanted to do anything down that way, I told him lets make a field trip for the kids down in the Everglades. So we did.
Sunday night we drove down and got a hotel in Weston, Florida just a few minutes away from Holiday Park. While Mister and Gary scoped out the lay of the land and made plans for Monday morning, I got everything situated in the hotel room and took the kids swimming. The water was surprisingly cool, but we all got in and had a good time for about an hour. Monday mornings fishing trip was everything they hoped. We had to rent three boats since they don't allow four in a boat like before, but only three. With Mister, Gary, and I all driving boats we divided up the kids. In the boys boat was Gary, Britt, and Will. In the girls boat was Rebecca, Kate, and me. Finally our last team was Mister, Ruth, and Jon.
It's probably been 24 years since I got my boating license in Alabama when I got my driver's permit. And it's probably been almost as long since I've driven a boat like that. So my team was at a disadvantage from the start. They didn't have someone who could maneuver them into the best spots, or even know how to find them. Ruth caught the first fish, and her and Mister we off to an early lead with 4. But before long Britt and Gary got hot, and they caught 10 keepers, some they had to throw back. Finally Kate who was minding my pole while I put a new hook on hers, caught the first fish for our boat. She was very proud of it. We managed to catch three more: two for me and another for Kate. When we circled back around Mister and Ruth had 9, Gary and Britt had 11, and our boat had 4. Poor Rebecca was the only one who didn't manage to catch a fish. But everyone had a great time, and despite the fact that I didn't remember the sunscreen until we were about to head back to the pier, no one really got burned, but me. After fishing Mister headed home with the 24 fish we'd caught and we all crashed for a nap. That evening the kids again went swimming, but I didn't stay in too long, it was just too cold.
Tuesday morning we got up and packed up the van, and headed south. It was about another hour to hour and a half to reach the Everglades National Park, but it was an easy drive through farmland and small communities. We stopped at Publix to grab some sandwiches for lunch and things to cook over a camp fire that evening. Just a few minutes later we made it down to the Earnest F. Coe Visitor's Center.
As you walk up to the visitor center there is a board walk with water and grasses. There were lots of fish and turtles all around the building. It was fantastic. Each National Park has at least one really excellent visitor center with exhibits, helpful rangers, and a detailed topographical map. There was a large python skeleton, some military displays from it's army base days, and interactive exhibits on the animals, birds, and land in the Everglades. We spent a while reading and exploring before asking to watch the Park video. Each of the National Parks also have a video about what makes their park unique and worth protecting, and this one was very well done. By the end, even Kate could explain the process the water goes through and how even a few inches made different landscapes in the park. Finally we picked up the kids Junior Ranger booklets for the national Junior Ranger Program. It was then that we discovered that for kids under 7 they can do the deputy Junior Ranger Program, which is an easier and shorter booklet for them to fill out. Kate liked that much better since she could do it all by herself. Then as we were leaving, a few people saw things they couldn't live without while I was picking up our park stickers and a hiking stick medallion. Finally we were able to happily we set off for the park itself.
The Everglades aren't a typical National Park, in that depending on where you want to go you don't have to pay. The entrance to the eastern portion of the park is actually just south of the visitor center so you can access it and the portion of the park all along Alligator Alley without paying an entrance fee. To enter the Southeastern portion of the park it costs $20 for an individual or $35 for a carload. Of course we used the kids' Access Passes to get in free, which is a little advertised free pass that the National Park Service allows for any disability including "permanent physical, mental, or sensory impairment." It is a lifetime pass that has no expiration date.
As we made our way down to Flamingo, which is the Southern most point you can reach by roads on the mainland, we stopped off a few places. First we pulled over at each of the plaques to read the information and view the surrounding country side. Much of what was on them was also on the video so it served as a reminder and let the kids answer questions to review what they had learned. But we also did a few shorter trails, since Gary was with us, and he has slowly been building up his distance walking and hiking with us.
Our first stop was the Pinelands Boardwalk, listed at only .1 of a mile long, we were able to walk out into a cypress stand, and were amazed at our first real look into the Everglades. While only a few inches to a foot or so deep, the water everywhere you look is crystal clear, and you can see all sorts of life teaming beneath the surface. I can't even tell you how many types of fish we counted up, but there were so many! Rebecca was excited to spot a green lizard there, it really stood out from all the brown grey of the cypress trees. Kate also saw the first giant grasshopper, though we'd see hundreds more while traveling through the Everglades.
Our next stop was Pay-hay-okee Overlook which was a .25 mile trail. The boardwalk was just a few inches above the water, and again it was crystal clear water and you could see all sorts of fish and marine life. The boardwalk crossed to a small hammock so that you could see the difference in landscape. But it primarily traversed the sawgrass prairie. Despite being in the full sun at 89 degrees, with a steady breeze blowing we really weren't uncomfortable.
Our final trail was another loop, the Mahogany Hammock. We have spent a lot of time over the last couple of years visiting hammocks across the state of Florida, but this was a first in that it was a tropical hammock, where Mahogany trees and a number of other tropical plants grow, that can't exist in the rest of the state. Hammocks dot the Everglades, they typically occur at a slightly higher elevation than the rest of the landscape, but the form around deeper pool of water that exists because a gator has made themselves a hole down in the mud and dug out the ground. This particular hammock is home to the largest Mahogany tree in the United States. IT was muggy and felt like a jungle inside and boy were the mosquitos active in there, but it was a neat experience.
Eventually we made it all the way down to Flamingo and checked in for our camping spot for the night. In the winter these glamping tents have chairs and an actual bed, amongst other things, but for summer camping they are empty with just a light and a box fan. The tent itself was really spacious we fit two queen and three twin air mattresses in and still had room to move around. After setting up the kids begged to go down to the "beach." We went down and they discovered a mucky beach, that you sank into and slipped and slided on down into the Florida Bay. It was extremely shallow for a long ways out. The kids got to be a muddy grasses mess, explore around the mangroves near the water, and declared it the worst beach ever. Later on we were told that is what all Florida beaches naturally look like. The sugar sand that we think of when we think of beaches is dredged up from the ocean floor and deposited on the beach for tourist.
We cleaned up in the bathhouse and then Gary started on sausage dogs for supper. He grilled and we ate and other than a copious amount of horseflies everything was peaceful and pretty. Then as we were packing up the food stuff back into the car they hit - the mosquitos! Back when we lived in Clewiston on the Southern shore of Lake Okeechobee we were moving in and unloading a fridge off the moving truck our first night now. When halfway down the ramp they swarmed, we couldn't hardly get it on the ground before running for the house. You could slap and kill a dozen at a time. This was even worse. I had the girls grab up the boys and run for the tent, then Britt and I helped Gary finish loading the food back up.
It only got down to 78 that night but with two fans going we slept fairly well despite three rainstorms that passed over us during the night. The mosquitos the next morning were plastered to our mesh on the tent. Obviously we'd been breathing out carbon dioxide all night and they were trying their hardest to get to us. So we made Rebecca the official door operator. When someone needed to go out, she would whip that zipper around, they would run for it, and she would zip it back up. Gary cooked while the rest of us packed up and loaded the car. We had a great breakfast at the campfire since the smoke kept the mosquitos away for the most part.
Would we camp again in the Everglades? Sure. It was a nice set up and I bet it's even nicer in the winter. That would be an even better time to see birds and wildlife since so many migrating birds stop there over the winter. They have nice RV spots as well as an area for bringing your own tent. However, a word to the wise, be in the tent ahead of sundown, and bring the DEET bug spray, even that only deters them so much.
We hope to make a trip back sometime, maybe over the winter next time and take a couple other longer trails like the Nine Mile area or the Royal Palm area. We also didn't have the chance to do any exploring along the water trails (for kayakers) or check out the old military installation in the park. It is definitely a place we'd like to visit again, If you'd like to make a trip the address to the main visitor center (Ernest F. Cole) is 40001 State Road 9336, Homestead, FL. The Visitor Center is open from 9 to 5 in the summer and 8 to 5 over the winter. However the park can be entered here 24 hours a day.
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