It is a well-known fact that New Orleans is a hot-bed for Mardi Gras activity. Every year prior Lent, the city ramps up with balls, parades and parties. Unfortunately, almost all of this was cancelled in 2021 due to COVID, but it didn’t put a damper on the cities lesser-known holiday celebration. Almost every school in the city has the entire week off, so for New Orleanians, this is a great time to travel.
Since the rest of the world is at work and school, places like Disney World and Vale are far less crowded than usual. This year, we decided to join in the fun, and head to a state that has instituted very few COVID restrictions, Florida.
Since I was young, I have been fascinated by the Everglades. The endless rivers of grass, the crocodiles and the manatees have always seemed really unique, and when the opportunity arose, we decided to pull the trigger.
Alyson and I set to planning, and as I have said before, I find planning to be almost, but not quite, as much fun as the actual trip. We decided to leave on Ash Wednesday, and spend three full days in south Florida. In addition to the Everglades, Biscayne National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve are in the area. In terms of hitting National Parks, south Florida was a great option. We are still dying to get to places like Acadia and Isle Royale, but February is not really the right time to go so far north. It is also worth mentioning that the Dry Tortugas is in the same area, but that requires an extensive amount of planning that we did not have time to pull off.
So the plan was to leave, as a family, on Wednesday, but mother nature threw us a nasty curve ball. Alyson and Clara went to San Antonio the weekend prior to visit Alyson’s mom, just in time for a freak winter storm that shut down most of Texas for almost an entire week. They were supposed to fly home on Sunday, but the flight got cancelled. The same continued for the next several days, constantly scheduling and rescheduling flights.
As Wednesday approached, we had to decide how to move forward. Instead of flying back to New Orleans, Alyson and Clara got flights into Miami. Unfortunately, they could not get there until Friday, but we decided that the rest of us should go and move forward with what we had planned.
Eileen, Jonathan and I landed on Wednesday night, picked up our rental car and drove to a Hampton Inn in Homestead, Florida, just outside of the Everglades. There are not a lot of places to stay within the park, but Homestead is really close by. On Wednesday morning, we got up early and headed into the park. The Everglades has multiple visitors centers, and our first stop was the Flamingo.
From here, we set out on a back country boat tour hosted by Flaming Adventures. This took us into the interior of the Everglades water ways, where we saw lots of birds, fish and a few crocodiles. It is worth noting that the Everglades is the only place on Earth where you can find both alligators and crocodiles.
That said, of all the things we did, I think we all agreed this was our least favorite. It was fun, but the way out and way back took the same route, and it got a little boring. However, once we got back to the visitors’ center, a ranger took us out to a spot in the marina where an 11 foot crocodile lives. Then he took us around the dock, where a mother and baby manatee were swimming. This is pretty much what we came for, so getting to see these rare American animals on Day 1 was fantastic.
That afternoon, we drove from the southern tip of the park all the way to the northern end, to Shark Valley. If you are wondering why it is called Shark Valley, as there are no sharks there, so is everyone else. Evidently, this watershed feeds into the Shark River, thus named by a Spanish conquistador due to all the bull sharks present at the time of arrival. It would far more aptly be named Gator Valley.
At the Shark Valley Visitors’ Center, the kids stamped their passports, and we hopped aboard the Shark Valley Tram Tour. This is a ranger led tour that goes along a 15 mile paved road deep into the heart of the Everglades. On the way out, the ranger assured us that we would see more gators on the way back, so there was no reason to stop for everyone.
She was spot on. On the way out, we probably saw half a dozen alligators, but we also spotted birds of probably thirty different species, and the ranger was able to educate us on all different aspects of the park.
At the half way point, there is an old tower that you can climb which offers a 360 degree view of the park. From this view, you cannot see a single building, just a see of grass as far as the eye can see. Out of everything we did, this moment was the most breath-taking.
On the back half of the loop, we probably spotted another thirty alligators, including a group of at least a dozen babies. You might not think it possible, but even alligator babies are cute.
That evening, the kids swam in the pool at our Hampton Inn, and we ate at a Chili’s. For this, I blame my wife. Had she not been stuck in Texas, she would have found a better option. I have discovered that I make the mistake of eating a Chili’s about every three years, and every three years, I remember why it has been so long.
On Day 2, we awoke early and headed for the western edge of the park, which borders the Gulf of Mexico. At this stage, my wife’s next flight, supposed to arrive that noon, had gotten cancelled, but the good news was that she was on a flight to Baltimore. From there, she was set to join us at about 10 pm in Miami.
In the meantime, we took another boat excursion called the Ten Thousand Island Tour. This adventure explored a vast set of islands, some that can be camped upon, off the west coast of Florida. The tour was far more quite exciting than that of the previous day. The guide was able to locate several dolphins, and after a few tries, succeeded in getting them to trail and flip in the wake of the boat. We also saw countless birds, including several Magnificent Frigatebirds and one Bald Eagle.
We ate lunch at the Island Cafe in Everglades City, which, to be frank, is nothing special. It was a Friday in Lent, and they had fried seafood, so it is hard to be too critical. From there, we drove back the way we came to one of the two Big Cypress Visitors’ Centers to get our passport stamps, and headed into the preserve.
It is hard to really mark a difference between the Everglades and Big Cypress, but I guess I can say that Big Cypress was less water and more passable land. That said, the are is quite swampy, and definitely distinct from the Glades in its own way.
In the early afternoon, we met a guide from Big Cypress Swamp Tours, who took us on a buggy tour through the park. This was the tour that I was looking forward to the most. We boarded a very unique, six-wheeled, two-story vehicle that rolled through the soggy, bumpy ‘paths’ checking out the local wildlife.
In addition to the guide being great, filled with great information and local color, we were able to see gators, birds, snakes and the ever-so-rare white-tailed deer. The guide also noted that he saw a black bear a few days prior, and in his six years, had seen a panther seven times. Having done a good bit of research, I cannot think of a better way to have experienced Big Cypress than this type of tour.
That night, we swam again and ate at Mamma Mia’s Pizza in Homestead. It wasn’t the greatest pizza I have ever had, but I have no complaints. And again, mozzarella sticks and cheese pizza hit the spot on a Friday night in Lent.
From there, we crossed our fingers and headed for the Miami airport. Lo and behold, only 45 minutes late, my wife and my 7 month old emerged from the baggage claim, and our family was together again. While Eileen, JR and I had been having fun, there was definitely something missing, and it was very gratifying to have our family made whole again.
We had one more day to make the most of our trip, and primarily, to give Alyson and Clara a good experience, one great day. After getting breakfast at the hotel, we headed for another of south Florida’s National Parks, Biscayne. This park is over 90% water, so we booked another boat tour, this one provided by the Biscayne National Park Institute. We took the Heritage of Biscayne Cruise, which took us to several different islands.
At the furthest end of the tour, we disembarked and toured an island with an old lighthouse, an old church, and a really cool, almost hidden trail. The island is called Boca Chita Key, and if you leave the recreation area and go behind the old garage, there is a semi-enchanted entrance to a really cool trail. Less than a 20 minute loop, there is a tiny, hidden beach that would be a great place for a picnic. As you progress, there’s a place where you have to cross an old, broken down bridge. You do have to get wet here, but it was fun, and an adventure that the big kids thought was really exciting.
From there, we headed back to the Everglades. This was not the initial plan, but since Clara and Alyson had not been to the park yet, we did not want to leave without giving them the experience. It was a bit of drive, but we decided to head back to the Flamingo Visitors’ Center to try to see the wildlife. We were lucky enough to see the big crock again, and this time, a whole herd of manatees.
Following that, we drove to the east end of the park to the two best walking trails available. We combined the Anhinga and Gumbo Limbo Trails, for about a total of 1.5 miles. These two trails were great, and really provide unique, well-rounded cross-sections of the Everglades.
On the way back to the hotel, we found the Miami Brewing Company. The beer was typical, and the food was nothing to go into detail about, but it was a great, relaxing way to end our vacation. We flew home the next day, and the long saga of getting my wife and infant out of Texas had finally come to an end.
For the National Park lovers our there, I highly recommend this trip, and if you have time, to add the Dry Tortugas. We plan to get there someday soon, it simply wasn’t in the cards for this trip. That aside, getting the full experience of the Everglades was great. This is a truly unique park that offers so multiple, startling ecosystems. I will say that it is not quite as awe-inspiring as the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone, but it is a piece of Americana that everyone should experience.
I also learned that a family vacation is not the same without the entire family. Eileen, JR and I were all just a little heartbroken that we were experiencing these parks without Alyson and Clara. I am really not sure what we can do differently in the future to keep this from happening, but hopefully, none of us will ever miss out on our family adventures again.