Hitting all national parks in FL!
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We’ve been to Florida together before, but last time we stayed in Orlando and visited Disney World. Now that we’ve started exploring more national parks, we decided to return to Florida with the goal of visiting all three national parks in the state: Everglades, Biscayne, and Dry Tortugas. Except for Everglades, the other two are only accessible by ferry or speedboat, which gave us some unique experiences we hadn’t had anywhere else in the U.S.
On March 15, the first day of our spring break, we began our trip by taking the Peoria bus to O’Hare and then catching a flight to Miami—a journey that took nearly the entire day. After arriving in Miami, we picked up a rental car and drove to our Airbnb in Homestead. We chose to stay in Homestead because it’s conveniently located near all the national parks we planned to visit (except for Dry Tortugas, which is in Key West). Exhausted but excited for the days ahead, we went to bed early—our adventure was set to begin at 3 a.m. the next morning!
On March 16, to catch our ferry at 8AM in Key West, we needed to start from Homestead at 3AM. However, the drive to Key west in the early morning was actually not too bad as there were just a few cars along the roads, and we could just listen to our favorite podcasts. We then arrived at Key West and paid $50 (still haunting me till these days) for a whole day parking. We walked a bit to the pier and got our wristband then took off! The idea of ferry sounded very fun to us, but it actually took more than 2 hours to get to Fort Jefferson, where the visitor center of Dry Tortugas is located. We had a nice nap and woke up again when the ferry stopped at the island.
As you can see in the pictures above and below, the weather that day was absolutely perfect, which made the whole experience even more enjoyable. We started by strolling around the fort, admiring this beautiful structure that, despite never having been used in battle, was remarkably well preserved. Inside the fort, there was a green space with a few benches where people could sit and sunbathe.
After picking up a souvenir from the visitor center, we decided to have lunch before continuing our adventure. Lunch was already included with the ferry tickets and was served on the ferry itself, so the island staff wouldn’t have to deal with trash. We had sandwiches from Jimmy John’s, which were pretty good—actually, it was my first time trying them!
After lunch, we grabbed our snorkels and fins and jumped into the sea! We had a wonderful time soaking up the sun and enjoying the refreshing water. And just like on the way there, we napped all the way back to Key West.
On March 17, we visited the second national park of our trip—Everglades National Park! Our first stop was at Gator Park, which offers airboat tours every 15 minutes. The tour turned out to be unexpectedly thrilling and fast-paced—the driver was even drifting through the wetlands of the Everglades! Along the way, we spotted alligators up close, soft-shell turtles, and a variety of water plants and flowers.
Although the airboat tour was fairly short—less than an hour—we also attended the wildlife show included with our tickets. During the show, the caretaker introduced us to several dangerous animals, including spiders, scorpions, and both baby and full-grown alligators. It was an exciting and memorable experience overall!
After exploring the private section of the park, we headed to the area managed by the National Park Service. There are several trails available for visitors to explore—more like leisurely walks than strenuous hikes—but the most popular one, and our personal favorite, was the Anhinga Trail, named after a species of birds that inhabit the area. The trail was well-maintained and easy to walk, making it perfect for enjoying the scenery. Along the way, we spotted even more alligators—bringing our total count for the day to about ten!
Here comes the last day of our trip, March 18.
At the end of the spring semester, I attended a number theory conference in Dallas for a week. After the conference, my fiancé flew in to pick me up, and we took a trip to Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas! We hadn’t originally planned it, but once we realized how close Dallas was to the park, we decided to go for it. Without the conference, we probably would never have considered visiting Arkansas, given its distance and how far it is from other national parks. We really enjoyed the thermal baths there and hope to return someday!
Although the University of Illinois has some cherry blossoms near the Japan House, we thought it would be fun to visit Washington, D.C. to see more blooms around the Tidal Basin. However, catching these delicate flowers turned out to be more challenging than we expected. We booked our flights based on historical peak bloom data, but still missed the peak—wind and rain had swept through just a few days before we arrived. Despite the timing, we thoroughly enjoyed other aspects of D.C., especially the art galleries, museums, and the (long-awaited return of) giant pandas!
Skiing has become one of my favorite sports since I moved to the U.S. I first learned how to ski back in prep school, and this year, we planned our very first skiing trip together. We chose Chestnut Mountain in Galena, a small town in Illinois. Surprisingly, the terrain there wasn’t as flat as most of the state. That’s where Poy had his first skiing experience—taught by me, a first-time coach! (That does sound scary.)
We started this year by traveling to Seattle as part of the JMM conference. Although we have been to Seattle before, but we only visited national parks here not the city itself (despite the fact that we flew to SEA-TAC airport). For this reason, while I was attending the conference, we then also spent a little bit of our free time exploring this lovely city together. To our surprise, we could fit so many attractions in this business trip. The city was so charming and, more importantly, walkable!