Everglades National Park

Everglades National Park is in South Florida, about an hour from Miami. It was the first national park created to protect an ecosystem rather than a scenic wonder: a slow moving River of Grass and the largest subtropical wilderness in the country, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The mix of subtropical and temperate life exists nowhere else in the United States: the only place where alligators and crocodiles live side by side, anhingas diving underwater to spear fish, roseate spoonbills flashing pink, and hardwood hammocks where orchids and bromeliads grow on the trees themselves. Best season is the dry season: December through April concentrates wildlife in shrinking pools, with fewer mosquitoes and pleasant temperatures.