Highlands Hammock State Park

Saying good bye to the Florida Keys was quite the ordeal. No one wanted to leave. There were tears. Everyone wanted to stay another day. So much so that when Elizabeth started to wake up for the day, I heard Max whisper to her, "if you pretend to be asleep we won't have to leave." Not quite buddy. But I bribed them out of the lodge (and Key Largo) with the promise of donuts once we got to the mainland. I went to turn in our lodge key only to find the office locked with this note (below) in the window. So fitting.

On my list of possible things to do in Florida was Highlands Hammock State Park. It sounded really neat and I was convinced it would be the perfect add to our trip to Florida, however it was out of our way. Highlands Hammock sits in the middle of the state, two hours from Miami, two hours from Orlando, making it so we would have to drive out of our way. The minis disappointment in leaving Florida worked in favor of visiting Highlands Hammock because we got to have "one last Florida adventure." 

This state park is a must if you're in Florida! There are numerous trails around the park (a lot of them connect so it's easy to park in one area and walk the trails) and each trail has such diversity unlike any we've experienced hiking. While the trails were flat, we hiked among huge oak trees, palm trees, cypress swamp, and kept our eyes out for a wide range of wildlife.

We started at the Highlands Hammock Museum to pick up a trail map and ask a few questions. We wanted to get the most out of our visit since we were on limited time. The park ranger was extremely helpful and as a result, we got to see everything we wanted to.

The drive to the park wasn't anything special, but orange trees (farms) surround the park. After driving through Florida, orange and other fruit farms are the norm. I was surprised by the amount of dairy farms we saw throughout Florida.

We were shocked to learn that the park has black bears, Florida panther, alligators, frogs, deer, snakes, lizards, and more roaming around. We saw an alligator poking up from the swamp, but the oldest mini was on high alert while hiking. 

Our first trail we hiked was the Big Oak Trail to see the oak trees to Hickory Trail to the Lieber Memorial Trail to see the swamp. The Cypress Swamp Trail was closed for renovation but the Memorial Trail also goes into the swamp. Since this area is so swampy, a lot of the trails are boardwalks over the swamp....and who knows what could be right under you!

There were lizards crawling all over the oak trees. The boys tried to climb the tree a bit, but kept putting their hands on lizards!

This oak tree had broken in half at some point and now there's another tree growing out of the top! There's some really cool things to see in this park if you pay attention.

Someone got scared about the possibility of black bears around. Thankfully the fear didn't last long because as soon as they saw this "cool hiding spot that could a bear's hideout!" the middle and youngest mini tried to crawl right in! Thankfully there were no sleeping bears in there, just a hollowed out oak tree.

The oldest mini being so serious and so scared about all of the wildlife lurking in the park. We had to reassure him the entire time were we hiking. Of course as soon as we left he said, "that was really cool! We'll have to come back again!" 

When the minis saw the fallen tree they asked to climb on it. It wasn't until the first mini was on the tree trunk that I was reminded of a picture we took in the summer of 2016 on a fallen tree along the Grotto Falls Trail in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The more things change the more they stay the same. Two of our most favorite vacations right here.

The boardwalk over the swamp. Luckily it was pretty dry in this area at the time, but I can only imagine hiking this when the swamp is high. I might have been a tad more apprehensive walking on that boardwalk then.

Another hollow tree.

Cypress swamp all around. 

There were still tears and pouting as we left Highlands Hammock because "Florida is really over!"

The one thing from this whirlwind Florida trip that I'll forever be grateful for is that we got to experience all of Florida. All ecosystems, all types of wildlife, all terrains, etc. My kids will never think of Florida as just a beach place or an amusement park capital. They'll know that there's beaches, oceans, swamps, wetlands, big cities, islands, different cultures, fruit farms, and everything else we got to experience. Highlands Hammock State Park was the icing on the cake for our trip and a fantastic way to end our time in Florida (even though we weren't quite ready to leave!).

Parasail The Keys

Everything has a way of working itself out. Everything happens for a reason. Those two statements run true to my life and once I breath, have faith in each statement, and let go, things really do seem ok and work out. That couldn't have been more true for March 15th, 2018, day 9 of our epic road trip. We had made reservations on a ferry to go to Dry Tortugas National Park. Something we were all looking forward to. While in Miami, I received notification that our reservation had been cancelled because of overbooking (and when you're a large group who were one of the last bookings for that day, you're the first to get kicked off). I was really disappointed and I broke this news lightly to my travel partners.

We didn't really have a plan for that day, other than we had thought parasailing sounded really fun. We had spoken about it and the boys said they "really really want to do it!" I had assumed the Elizabeth wouldn't want in on the action and would be an observer in the whole adventure (or a rider as the parasailing places call it). But once Dry Tortugas was canceled and parasailing was moved to the top of the list, Lil Miss was convinced she would be flying too. I was none too eager to pay $100+ per person for parasailing, so I shopped around a bit for the best prices. On day 8 of our trip, on our drive down to Key West, we stopped at Robbie's to feed the tarpon and a brochure for parasailing caught our eye.

Not only did we instantly like the atmosphere at Robbie's, but the parasailing prices were tough to beat. $69 per person seemed more than reasonable to me (plus an extra $43 for our guide to take pictures, but that's optional. We went for the picture package so we could fully enjoy ourselves).

The next morning we arrived back at Robbie's and given the chilly temps of the morning (hello 50 degrees as we sailed over the ocean), we were promptly lead to a boat and taken out onto the great Atlantic ocean. Our captain and guide were WONDERFUL! They were helpful, knowledgeable, and more importantly great with the minis.

The oldest mini was terrified going up. Before the parasailing began and we were riding on the boat, our guide started hooking everything up and getting Harrison into his life jacket and gear. Panic set in and Max started saying, "no, I don't want to." We knew he would have regrets about not going, so we sent him up anyways. Wouldn't you know it, he LOVED it! The middle mini was ready from the get go. He was extremely disappointed that it wasn't warmer out because they had wanted to "dunk our butts in the ocean" (when the captain lowers them into the ocean). However, since it was so chilly out and the water was cold, the captain and guide didn't think it was a good idea to get the kids wet, but they did lower them enough to dip their toes.

She looks terrified, but I swear she was laughing and talking the entire time. She was REALLY cold (right before we went she was wrapped up in our guide's warm coat because she was shivering) and not scared at all! In fact, all she can talk about is going parasailing again so she can "dunk my butt this time!"

A few things to keep in mind about parasailing (especially with kids):

• Check age and wait minimums and maximums
• Find a place that will do tandum or triple flyers. I wouldn't have felt comfortable with my kids going by themselves. 
• Depending on location and time of year, book your parasailing trip in advance. A lot of places (especially in the Keys) have excellent deals on parasailing, snorkeling, jet skis, and scuba diving if you book it all together.
• Wear swimming suits, but also dress in layers and bring towels to cover up with.
• Things to bring: towels, sunscreen, sunglasses, waterproof camera, GoPro (we failed to bring the correct attachments so Hubs could wear it while parasailing, so we missed out on that one)
• Even if kids don't want to fly, most places have a riders fee, so they can still come along and watch.
• Take cash and tip your captain and guide at the end.

One of the places we looked into was Fury Ultimate Adventure. It looked awesome, but we decided the minis weren't quite ready for something like that. Parasail The Keys was AMAZING and I can't recommend them enough!

Ironically, for initially being disappointed about day 9, it wound up being our very favorite day of vacation. A day that truly seemed unbelievable from start to finish.