We left a cold Massachusetts in February for a reprieve from winter down to South Florida and the Everglades. On our way to Flamingo Point where we would have a tasty lunch including the best ever key-lime pie, my wife and I were utterly amazed by such a different world in Everglades National Park. We saw giant white oaks and dangling Spanish moss drooping with wild pineapples and pink orchids and spiraling vines of strangler figs. And then we stared at twisting snake-like roots that thicken into smooth trunks of Banyan trees like we were somewhere in central India. Royal palms rustled in balmy winds from a warm sea of glistening lime, and nearby gumbo limbo’s smooth and curving trunks pointed high in a purple sky. Dark sap oozed from poison wood while a jet-black alligator basked in humid heat. All of a sudden roseate Spoonbills rose to glide over a marshy lake flapping their wings in a tropical noonday sun. We tried not to think about returning to a snowy driveway back in frozen New England!
Sincerely,
Everglades National Park
One of the largest wetlands in the world, this iconic "River of Grass" protects 1.5 million acres of subtropical wilderness in South Florida.
State(s): Florida
Established: 1947
“they have a great calming effect on the psyche.”
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Greetings from Everglades National Park
I ran my first ever half marathon in Everglades National Park. It was an amazing experience to run through the poetically termed River of Grass while the sun rose. Seeing the wildlife and the vast expanses of unbroken natural beauty is something I will never forget.
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Greetings from Everglades National Park
Years ago after spending a great deal of my life being a Florida native, I visited Everglades National Park. I remember being in the southern most tip of the swampy mass at the Flamingo park headquarters. There I had a conversation with a ranger who had ultra white long hair…
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