At the beginning of summer vacation, we packed up and headed down to Miami for our latest National Park stop! If you haven’t been the victim of a conversation about the national parks with me yet, we have decided to see as many national parks as possible. So far we’ve seen Indiana Dunes, Cuyahoga Valley, and the Smokey Mountains. I know we have a long way to go, but you have to start somewhere. Also, eagle eyed readers may notice that Malcolm is wearing a Cuyahoga Valley Junior Ranger Vest, because there’s no way I’m getting a new one at each park. I do have a nice pin and sticker collection going from each park though and am (not so)patiently waiting for my laser engraved park map so I can start marking our ‘visited’ parks.

So the latest stop was the Everglades. We spent a few days doing nothing but park stuff including a tram ride through Shark Valley, some light hiking, an airboat ride through the saw grass, and, naturally, TONS of alligators. I only brought my camera for one day of the trip, but it was a gorgeous day. Here are some highlights from Shark Valley including our trip up the observation tower and some alligators we saw along the way.