A Quick Exploration of the Everglades
You are probably thinking… a quick exploration?! The Everglades National Park is a 1.5 million acres wetland preserve! How do you visit it quickly?! Well, here is a great way to see a snapshot of the Everglades if you have limited time and money.
My mom’s birthday is today (Happy Birthday, mom!) and she wanted a quick weekend getaway to see some places she’d never been. So this past weekend, we threw together a quick itinerary to drive to the southern tip of Florida to explore a bit of the Everglades and the Florida Keys. Needless to say, we did a lot of driving! However, it was the perfect trip for us as we wanted to see a good bit without spending a lot of money. If you want to explore a bit of the Everglades, only have a day (or 1/2 a day), and you are going to be near Miami, here is what we’d recommend…
First, there are 3 main entrances to the park (in 3 different cities): 1) Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center (which is the main entrance) and is located on the south-side, 2) Shark Valley Visitor Center (located more north of the main entrance), 3) The Gulf Coast Visitor Center entrance (which is closest to Naples). So, if you are going to be near Miami, the first two entrances will be the ones you want to explore. After a little research, we decided to enter through the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center Entrance - near Homestead (the main entrance to the park).
But on the way, we stopped at the famous “Robert is Here” Fruit Stand! This is a cute little fruit stand that offers unique fruit smoothies and milkshakes. (They are unique in that they offer a wider variety of fruits to choose from - some of which were new to me!) The milkshakes looked the best to us, so we gave them a whirl. Mom tried the blueberry and blackberry shake, I tried the banana and strawberry shake, and Sam (a little more adventurous) tried a key lime, coconut, and strawberry. Personally, I thought mine (a classic!) was the best… I’d give it an 8/10. Mom’s was good too! Sam’s shake… I thought it was the worst shake I’d ever tried. I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of key lime. However, even for Sam - it was pretty terrible (he rated it a 2/10). Maybe we just got a bad one… but man, the key lime flavor was way too much and totally overpowered the entire shake. BUT, I’d still recommend the shakes! (Just veer away from the key lime flavor.)
We’d say the “Robert is Here” Fruit Stand is a must-stop! It was cute - offering a place to relax, see (and feed!) some animals and birds, try some exotic fruit, and if you’re feeling hungry- you can buy a Cuban sandwich. While we weren’t hungry enough to try the cuban, we did buy some ugli fruit. The description said it was a mix between a grapefruit, orange, and tangerine. We thought it was pretty good. The flavor is more subtle, but nice and citrusy.
From there we drove to the Ernest F. Coe Visitor’s Center (less than 15 minutes away!) The Visitor’s Center was well-maintained and had several staff members available who were helping visitors plan hikes and various outings.
We knew we didn’t have much time to hike so we chose two easy trails - the Anhinga Trail and Mahogany Hammock Trail. We chose these because they were short, easy to get to, and we read they each offered a “different look” of the Everglades. The Anhinga Trail offered more of what you’d expect of the Everglades (very open, tall grass, lots of gator sightings) while the Mahogany Hammock Trail offered more of a jungle feel.
We’d highly recommend the Anhinga Trail. It is an easy 0.8 mile, boardwalk/paved trail that loops around. It is definitely what you’d expect when you think of walking though the everglades and we were able to see several alligators that were right next to the trail (almost on the trail!)
We weren’t as impressed with the Mahogany Hammock Trail. It was neat to see a different look of the Everglades - more shaded and jungly… but we didn’t see any wildlife. However, perhaps we just went at the wrong time of day. Many other visitors have been known to see owls! Even still, it is an easy 0.5 mile boardwalk trail that is worth your time! Maybe you’ll be luckier than us and see some baby owls that are known to live there!
So for those of you who want to see a quick snapshot of the Everglades, this is a great 1/2 day adventure. If you have more time, we’d recommend continuing on Main Park Road which will lead you to the Flamingo Visitor Center! There are a number of other trails along the way!
