Everglades National Park, Homestead, Florida

“There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth; remote, never wholly known. Nothing anywhere else is like them.”

Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Today we headed south of Miami to explore the Everglades. We hadn't been there since early in our marriage and thought it was time for a do over. We went to the southern side of Everglades National Park. This is park was founded on December 6, 1947 and has 1.5 million acres of mangroves, hardwood hammocks, and saw grass marshes and is the largest subtropical wilderness that is remaining in the United States.

Anhinga Trail was out first stop and when we pulled in we noticed most cars had blue tarps over their vehicles. We couldn't figure out why. We locked up the car and started to go on the trail, but when we saw a park ranger we decided to ask. He stated there is bird in the park now, a migrating vulture, that will eat the rubber seals away from your windows and eat canvas tops. He stated it is a good idea to cover your car. So we went back and grabbed a tarp and covered our car. Better safe than sorry. The park provides the tarps and bungees. Now off for our first stop and hike.

This a great trail through a wooded area and also a boardwalk trail over the marshes. There was plenty of bird life as well as alligators to see. The banyan trees were amazing on this trail as well as other exotic plants. We loved watching the young group of school children exclaiming, “There's an alligator.” We were just as excited to see them as they were.

Our next stop was to go see the Nike Hercules Missile Base. When we got out of the car at an airplane hanger, there was a gentleman who was there and telling a group of people about this base. He proceeded to tell us that following the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 there were 140 crewmen here 24/7 to watch over this live Nike Missile. He said, the crewmen including himself ate their meals here, had duty here, and slept here right next to the missile. He stated it was built by the US Army Corp of Engineers when we were protecting ourselves from a Soviet attack. This site is located 160 miles from Cuba. He said they had to practice with rolling the missile out of the bunker, put it in position, and then run like hell to get into the underground bunker while the headquarters command would be ready to launch them. Headquarters was about a mile away. He said it was scary times. The site was closed in 1979. What a fascinating stop.

We stopped many more times going down trails, walking on boardwalks over the marshes, and climbing overlooks to see the vast area of marshes. We were in awe of the vastness of this area. Every stop we made was very interesting. We didn't see any Florida panthers but were told they are there. We were glad we didn't see any when we were there.

We drove to the end of the road where there is a marina where you can rent boats. In the marina we got to see a couple manatees swimming around. It was awesome hearing them come up to breathe. We looked around the ranger station which had a small museum and wonderful views. We learned there are 1392 exotic plant species that make their home in the Everglades. This is where the freshwater in the Florida Bay meets the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico. We walked over to the store and bought a cold drink and sat by the water and enjoyed the beauty of this area. My how beautiful it is here and so peaceful. Till our next visit.