Taking Our Talents To South Beach: Part 1 - National Parks

*If you are planning a trip to South Florida, we hope this blog series and our reviews would be helpful in your trip planning.

Every quarter we get together with friends for quarterly budget meetings, so we thought it would be fun to end Quarter 4 by taking our (point) talents to South Florida. Along with spending some quality time with friends, another plus is that we can divide and conquer. Matt and Nick focus on figuring our flights, hotels, car rental and travel budget. Adam is the food connoisseur. And my responsibility is to read reviews, planning the specific details and options available to us, and document our adventure.

I am continually amazed by my husband's and his friends frugal traveling expertise. Flights were booked all on points (plus the Companion pass). Hotel rooms/suites were booked using points, so we stayed for free 4/5 nights while there plus received some free upgrades and parking. We paid for a room in Key West because the hotels are high point redemption, and we would rather save those points for future trips.

One of our goals is to get to all 59 national parks in the country. This is part one of a three part blog series and will primarily feature the 3 national parks located in South Florida - The Everglades, Biscayne, and Dry Tortugas. Combine national parks with LeBron's team, Florida seemed like an ideal place for a group trip. 

The Everglades: We took an Airboat Ride outside of the park, drove from Homestead to Flamingo, and hiked the following trails: Anhinga Trail, Mahogany Hammock Trail, and Pa-hay-okee Trail. The Anhinga Trail was great for viewing wildlife alongside the path. My favorite part about the Mahogany Hammock Trail was the pair of Barred Owls, which I didn't get to hear as the boys were too loud. The Pa-hay-okee Trail had great sunset views. 

Biscayne: This park is 95% underwater and is the third largest reef in the entire world. Unfortunately, the concessionaire went out of business in September, so it is hard to experience the underwater park right now. For us it was merely a stop to get our National Parks passport stamped. 

Dry Tortugas: There are seven islands that make up Dry Tortugas. It is one of the least visited national parks partly because it lies 70 miles off the coast of Key West and only accessible by boat or seaplane. The boat ride there was rough... Expect to get sea-sick on this 2 1/2 hour boat ride. People were throwing up left and right (even after taking Dramamine), including my husband. I was the only one of our group who didn't get sick.

Once you get past the boat-ride, Fort Jefferson is an old fort built in the 1800s on Garden Key - a beautiful place for snorkeling and a popular place for birding. The weather was overcast the day we visited, and the water was rough, so snorkeling wasn't the best, but it was still a gorgeous place. This was by far one of our favorite things on the entire trip. We would definitely return and would love to camp there next time.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. -Psalm 8:1

[Continue reading: Part 2 - Miami & South Beach here and Part 3 - Key West here.]