Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve

Everglades National Park– We visited the Everglades on a few different days. We first took an airboat tour which is must in the area. The tour was so much fun, our driver “drifted” in the water with the air boat doing 360’s and sliding around the corners. It was a blast! We also saw a few alligators. We used Groupon to get discounts on our tickets.

In the south part of the park, we took a few of the pretty boardwalk hikes.

The most memorable hike was the Anhinga Trail. There are so many alligators – too many to count! It was unreal to be so close to them on the trail.

Big Cypress National Preserve – While not one of the 63 national parks, this park was on our route, and we are happy we stopped! We saw lots of birds and manatees. We spotted the manatees in the river near the visitor center. The hiking was easy, and we loved all the cypress trees.

On the same trip, we also visited Biscayne National Park and Dry Tortugas National Park.