Mile Markers on My Side: Everglades Holiday Park

EverGlades Holiday Park

The Everglades are a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed.

The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee.

Water leaving the lake in the wet season forms a slow-moving river 60 miles (97 km) wide and over 100 miles (160 km) long, flowing southward across a limestone shelf to Florida Bay at the southern end of the state.

The Everglades are shaped by water and fire, experiencing frequent flooding in the wet season and drought in the dry season.

Writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas popularized the term "River of Grass"

to describe the sawgrass marshes, part of a complex system of interdependent ecosystems that include cypress swamps, the estuarine mangrove forests of the Ten Thousand Islands, tropical hardwood hammocks, pine rockland, and the marine environment of Florida Bay.

Human habitation in the southern portion of the Florida peninsula dates to 15,000 years ago. Two major tribes eventually formed in and around Everglades ecosystems: the Calusa and the Tequesta.

After coming into contact with the Spanish in the late 16th century, both tribes declined gradually during the following two centuries.

The Seminoles, a tribe of Creeks who assimilated other peoples into their own, made their living in the Everglades region after being forced there by the U.S. military in the Seminole Wars of the 19th century.

Draining the Everglades was first suggested in 1848, but was not attempted until 1882. Canals were constructed throughout the first half of the 20th century, and spurred the South Florida economy, prompting land development.

However, problems with canals and floods caused by hurricanes forced engineers to rethink their drainage plans. In 1947, Congress formed the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project, which built 1,400 miles (2,300 km) of canals, levees, and water control devices.

The South Florida metropolitan area grew substantially at this time and Everglades water was diverted to cities. Portions of the Everglades were transformed into farmland, where the primary crop was sugarcane.

Approximately 50 percent of the original Everglades has been turned into agricultural or urban areas.^[1] When the construction of a large airport was proposed 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Everglades National Park, an environmental study predicted it would destroy the South Florida ecosystem.

Restoring the Everglades then became a priority.

As we drove to Florida and we passed a part of the Everglades my husband got excited and told me he had always wanted to see the Everglades and alligators. We then had to cross a toll. A three dollar toll I've learned to always keep change in the car since we never know when one of those tolls will come up.

For example we went on another side of town that we weren't familiar with. A man at the stop light was asking for money and so my husband gave him all the change we had. Then on our way home we took a wrong exit and got stuck in a toll with no money. I hurried to look in my purse and every part of the car. The toll was only fifty cents but we only had thirty. What to do???

The man was nice enough and let us pass!

Since we've been in Florida we haven't been able to explore that much. I really couldn't let us leave without my husband seeing an alligator. So I looked into Everglade tours. My heart sank when I saw tours for $400-700 dollars. I'm sure it's a great 2-3 hour excursion. Got excited when another Vivint wife told me about Sawgrass tours that was actually only about ten minutes away. I found the website and the website even had coupons. Then a few days later Groupon sent me an e-mail that had a Gator Boys tour special. Basically buy one get one free. On animal planet the network has a show called Gator Boys and the park is where they film most of there episodes. We had never seen the show until the evening after we came back from our tour. Kind of funny!

A friend let us borrow a tv for our last two weeks and it's been fun watching cable.

As we drove to the park which isn't that far from our home Al started to get really excited. We haven't had a date together in awhile and so it was VERY much needed. After our boat ride Al mentioned I haven't seen you this happy in awhile.

(Waiting for our boat # to be called)

(The Boat is made in the park out of steel scraps and runs on two Cadillac Motors.)

(The man behind me was all the way from Paris, France.)

The Florida gator is an ancestoral dinosaur.

Our driver was Kat and she was fantastic I really liked her and she made sure we saw plenty of wildlife and alligators.

We got lucky it was a beautiful sunny day but not over bearing hot.

Pearl branches that eat the mosquitos. She also told us the dragon flys eat the mosquitos.

Then we got to see an alligator show. They wanted to charge $8 for a picture with a Gator Boy and $5 to hold an alligator! I passed and got some good pictures of the Alligators.