Miami/Everglades National Park/Biscayne National Park/Islamorada. Feb. 2019

National Park Count 7,8

I might have mentioned at the beginning of the blog that I would try to keep everything in some semblance of order. Done pretty well so far! However, I forgot this one. And it’s going to be a short one. The FIRST trip of a very travel heavy 2019. The friend I went to Colorado with in 2018 had his 50th at a restaurant in Islamorada, one of the northern Florida keys. He, his wife, some friends and family made the 6 hour drive from the Tampa area on Saturday and were to come back the very next day.

I went ahead and left Friday morning with the intent to stay in the Wynwood area of Miami. Think of a grungy industrial, craft brewery area and you got it! I also was meeting up with a former student of mine from many years ago who works in Miami now. He lives in a high rise in an area of Miami called Brickell, so we cabbed it down there and checked out some cool spots for the evening. Miami is NUTS. It’s huge. I had been down there once or twice when I first moved to Florida and its either grown like crazy or I just forgot. Anyway, Saturday morning I got up and tid a tandem drive by of two national parks near Miami.

I first went to Biscayne National Park and to be fair this visit is not really even a visit. I walked around outside along the shore a bit and checked out the visitor center, but the bulk of the park is off shore in the waters and islands off the coast. I simply didnt have the time it was going to take to get out to the islands and …. walk around them like any other offshore island in Florida.

Some may not know this, but the entrance to Biscayne National Park is literally like 30 minutes from the entrance to the Everglades National Park. So I zipped it over there real quick like! I went in, found a visitor center and found a short hiking experience down the road a bit and called it a park. I had been there once before is some fashion…and to be honest? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…Florida is not that varied really. Once you have seen one swampy alligator infested marsh you’ve seen em all!

Off to the 2 hour drive to Islamorada. I have done this drive all the way to Key West before, and it is very pretty. The water is gorgeous! If it were not so far from me I would go down there much more often. The Fish House is a super awesome place to go if you like seafood! I apparently did not take many pictures on this trip. Weird. But it is what it is!

Overall impressions: Pros: The water down in this part of Florida is great! The keys are cool for sure. Two national parks (ho hum as they are for me) are within a stones throw of Miami. Cons: The scenery is not very good unless it’s the waters around the keys. It’s not easily accessible from me. The keys themselves are still a good ways from Miami and the traffic is a nightmare.

The Adventurer Final Word:
3 Stars.