Exploring the Everglades and The Florida Keys

My family and I love going to National Parks. In May, we went exploring in the Everglades and the Florida Keys for a few days. We saw some incredible places. I thought I’d do a blog post, so I can remember our trip and give details for anyone wanting to take their own trip down to southern Florida!

I’ll elaborate…

The Logistics–

Ya’ll know from previous posts here and here, that I love traveling for free using credit card points. This trip was no different! I used points to pay for our nonstop flight from Columbus to Fort Lauderdale and back. All I paid was the $5.60 tax per person each way. Since we were planning on doing the Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve which are northwest of Miami and Key Largo which is southeast of Miami, we wanted to stay somewhere in the middle but outside Miami. So, I chose to stay at the Hyatt Place East near the Miami airport. It had a great outdoor pool, and we loved watching all the planes coming and going while we swam at night. I used my Chase points to pay for the hotel by transfering them to Hyatt (see highlighted posts above) which covered the cost of all 5 of our nights in a hotel. In case you missed it, we flew to and stayed in Miami for 5 days for free which let us go crazy exploring the Everglades and the Florida Keys!

The Everglades

First, the Everglades are huge and have several visitor centers. So, you need to research which areas you want to see. I knew we wanted to go to the Shark Valley Visitor Center and take the Tram Trolley tour (book early). The airboat rides through the Everglades were also located close to this visitor center. Our first day, we stopped at Coopertown Airboat tours. The airboat ride was awesome, and one of our favorite things that we did. They also had may alligator exhibits, but there were also some wild alligators roaming the grounds! The kids even got to hold a baby alligator! We left there to go to Shark Valley Visitor Center (a 5 minute drive). We walked around a little bit, stamped our National Park book, and caught our tram ride. The tram ride lasts about 2 hours, and at the halfway point you can walk up a lookout tower and see for miles! It was an incredible day, and we would do it all over again!

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Key Largo

The drive down to Key West from Miami is about 3.5 hours. We knew we didn’t have time for that on this trip, but we still wanted to see part of the Keys. I researched and found a glass bottom boat tour at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo that we could take to see the coral reef and the beautiful water. The crew was phenomenal and told engaging stories about the coral reef and all the marine life in the reef. We saw beautiful fish, sea turtles, and spotted rays. The water was stunningly beautiful. It was a bit pricey for all 6 of us, but since our flights and hotel were paid for with points, we could afford to do more experiences! After the boat tour, we took our time driving down about half way down the Keys to Long Key, stopping at pretty beaches and various sites along the way before we headed back up to Miami. We enjoyed some delicious Key Lime Pie, and a fabulous dinner in the Keys before we headed back.

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Big Cypress National Preserve

We had originally planned for our third and final day to be spent at the beach, however, red seaweed was everywhere, and we didn’t want to swim with it. The kids weren’t too upset and said they’d rather see more alligators anyway. So, we headed back in the direction of Shark Valley, but went a little further to Big Cypress National Preserve. We didn’t know quite what to expect other than I could get a stamp in our National Park book. But, it ended up being awesome. There are two visitor centers, but the closest to us was Oasis Visitor Center. In front of the building, there is a large boardwalk and fence in front of a canal. We lost count at how many alligators were there. They were laying on top of each other, swimming around, and we even heard one bellow! The littles received their junior ranger badges, and we went for a hike. It was a really fun, unplanned and unexpected experience.

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Food

We have a few friends who are from the area and we asked them for a few restaurant recommendations. Their favorite restaurant is Las Vegas Cuban Restaurant. It was AMAZING. We loved it so much we went twice! Their Ropa Vieja was a life changing experience. I highly recommend. Their empanadas also made us all groan with delight.

Other Random Exploring

We stopped at Biscayne National Park after we visited Big Cypress. It was a little out of the way, and most of the actual park is underwater. The littles did the Junior Ranger program, and we walked around a little bit. I’m glad we went because I stamped my book, but I don’t feel the need to go back. Then, we had a late afternoon flight home on the last day, so we went up to explore Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. To get there, we took the long way and drove up the A1A (and yes, I did sing Ice Ice Baby)! There are cute streets along the shore with little shops and quite a few restaurants. We walked on the beach and on the pier then, we ate lunch oceanside before we headed to the airport. If we ever come back, we would definitely go there to have a beach day. It had a very family friendly atmosphere!

Final Thoughts from Exploring the Everglades and the Florida Keys

While we didn’t love the traffic in Miami, we had an incredible adventure. And, truly, we probably wouldn’t have done the trip without most of it being paid for with points. We saw incredible sights, had one of a kind experiences, and made awesome memories. It’s been two months and my kids are still talking about it. We highly recommend exploring the Everglades and the Florida Keys! I always say if you’re in doubt…TAKE THE TRIP!!!