Florida’s National Parks with (neurodivergent!) kids. The good. The bad. The near death-y.
The Plan:
Survive…the drive through Indiana to an overnight stay in Nashville (6 hours) to Ginnie Springs, Florida (9 hours) to Tampa, Florida (2.5 hours) to Key West (7 hours) back up the coast to Hollywood Beach (3.5 hours), sprinkle in a few pitstops to see the Orlando sights and visit family (3.5 hours) then for a quick overnight in Chattanooga (9 hours) before heading back to Shelby (8 hours) + all necessary creature comforts and adventures.
The Sites:
(Warning! This is a long blog – please click the links above to jump to specific sections. Or not.)
As a neurodivergent family (“neurodivergent” refers to individuals whose brain functions differently from what is considered typical, including conditions like autism and ADHD+. It emphasizes that these differences are natural variations, with unique strengths and challenges, rather than disorders to be fixed), we like to have a detailed plan of what we are doing and when we are doing it. It’s good practice for keeping anxiety at bay since the whole family is in the know, so we can all adjust our personal coping mechanisms for often-times long travel in ever-changing and often exciting and intense environments. Like all things in life, this perfect plan never quite goes as planned. On this trip in particular, we veered off the beaten path into an actual paradise, had an encounter with a micro-burst hurricane, ran over an alligator on a airboat, encountered a barracuda, and this mom nearly swam herself to death. Bravery can only happen when we are put in situations to be brave. We didn’t plan for so many opportunities to practice this skill but…. here’s an account of our planned (and not-so-planned!) Florida adventures resulting in a braver bunch of bozos. Let’s hope this benefits are not short-lived for our next adventure!
Ginnie Springs, High Springs, FL
About a week before leaving for vacation, I came across a picture of the most clear watered springs and enticing looking swimming hole I had seen. One of those shots that you click on until you find exactly where that exact spot can be found and add it to your “must see” life bucket list. That was Ginnie Springs. And, it was situated conveniently to be the first real stop as we headed into Florida.
Perfection. Skip past the line waiting, decision making, crowd navigating and sneak around the place until you find the just right springs for your and crew. If you stretch your vision beyond the spring to the very end you will find the Santa Fe River. Home to fish, turtles (many snapping), salmandars, otters…also eels, capybaras (the largest living rodent!) and yes – alligators. MOST Ginnie Springs explorers choose to float the Santa Fe from spring to spring. For this lady, just looking at the Santa Fe from the spring was enough to send me into Olympic swimmer mode straight for land!
Aside from the Hairy One who was raised in Louisiana and used to go waterskiing with the alligators, snakes and goodness knows what else! – the rest of this Indiana crew was in full consensus that we should stick to the springs where the water is too cold for the gators to chill out in. Or so they say…. At the very least, the water was clear enough to see everything heading your way. Which was really just paddlers, swimmers, fellow snorkelers and floaters.
One of the surprising part of the springs was that they are a premier cave scuba diving site. We did our part free diving to see how deep we could make it down.
The kids did the best!
Every now and then a person in full scuba gear would swim up from the abyss. The teeny-tiny cave openings were beyond tight, quite amazing to watch what humans are capable of! The park was peppered with campsites along the river and near the springs. We had about 4 hours there…which was enough for our purposes. But, we all made a mental note that this would be a good place for future camping. It’s not really isolated. In fact, a few of the springs were actual party sites. (We mostly avoided those!) However, when it comes to picking a campsite amongst gators, bobcats, panthers AND bears – the more humans, the better! Which takes us to the “safe” wild part of our this Florida trip:
Busch Gardens
Busch Gardens was the perfect meeting place for our (family!) travel buddies and a good opportunity to see if rollercoasters would be a good fit for our previously not-big-ride fan kiddos. What we learned, the little dudes still did not dig the enormo-coasters. Each kiddo picked one to try and decide. Aside from the dads who spent the day hand in hand skipping coaster to coaster (exaggeration? TBD), the moms and kids preferred the water rides.
Safari experiences,
and, all splash zones – all the time.
Busch Gardens was great because it had so many different choices to match our preferences. My personal favorite was the indoor ice dancing show…it wasn’t just me – the kids liked it, too!
Cousin time commenced and so did our journey down to:
Key West
Specifically, to the paradise which is Oceans Edge Resort and Marina, Key West. We knew our time in Key West was going to be short. It’s the only place to stay when trying to hit Florida’s southern most national park but it’s a bit pricey for much longer than 2-nights (on teacher budgets!) on such a big trip. So we decided to book a very nice stay for the short visit and NOT do too much exploring outside of the resort.
I mean, 3 pools in a row overlooking the marina with cozy lounge chairs-
and built in table tennis, games and a poolside restaurant and bar. Where else would we want to go anyways?!? We made one journey out for some epic seafood.
Hogfish Bar and Grill was the right choice for these party animals!
And, for we foodies! Sun-kissed, fed and read – we went to bed early to prepare for our early morning 2.25 hour ferry to:
Dry Tortugas National Park
Land ho! The ferry ride to Dry Tortugas was actually quite decent considering the quantity of queasy humans in this (immediate & extended!) family. We did some more reading, napping and kept our eyes focused on the horizon to avoid turning green…er.
I really hadn’t looked into the details of how to best explore the island. (Don’t worry that’s the Hairy One’s purview!) We packed some fresh from the wrapper snorkel stuff, a picnic and plenty of water. The ferry passengers all scurried to claim their perfect spot for our 4.5 hour stop on the fort island. We found the most interesting looking and inviting trees and settled in.
Our spot was ripe for the curious. Literally, crawling with hermit crabs that are sure to put any county fair pet prizes to shame.
We could have stayed in one spot for the day and still had questions about the new plants, birds, sea life and such we were encountering.
However, the enormous brick fort was beckoning so we made our way to Fort Jefferson which was “built to protect one of the most strategic deepwater anchorages in North America. Poised to protect this valuable harbor was one of the largest forts ever built. Nearly thirty years in the making (1846-1875), Fort Jefferson was never finished nor fully armed.”
We walked the circumference of the fort along the top ridge…with caution. (More caution for some than others!)
Meandered through the ward to discover more new plants and old stories on the plaques through-out the park.
“During the Civil War, Union warships used the harbor in their campaign to blockade Southern shipping. The fort was also used as a prison, mainly for Union deserters. Its most famous prisoner was Dr. Samuel Mudd, the physician who set the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth.”
We headed deep into the tunnels of the fort and imagined what it would be like for the prisoners that were kept there. And, the park rangers that inhabit the island. It sure makes for a good game of hide and seek or just lose your kids in the never-ending fort!
After exploring the land, it was time to head to the ocean. Before exiting the ferry, the skipper invited us to head to the east beach for deep waters with good snorkeling or to the west beach through the bird sanctuary for shallow calmer waters. (Try introducing the masked booby to middle school boys without embarrassing them to death!) We, novice snorkelers, decided to head for the deeper waters. Bad plan. It was windy. The waves were strong and we had literally never swam with flippers ever before. We did a quick flip-flop and headed immediately over to the shallow calm waters as seen below. Because the Dry Tortugas are (as previously mentioned) a literal fort, they’re surrounded by a moat. And, since the island can only be accessed by boat or seaplane there are truly only 2 spots that you can access the water via the beach for we swimmers. Time to try out that snorkeling gear again!
Calmer waters = success! Salt water = easy floating! (Which is hysterical since a pair of us are usually made of lead.) Our party initially split up so the Toms could see how far their fins could take them and the littler one and I could continue to fine tune our flipper engines. After about an hour or so, we joined parties and the Toms had discovered a snorkeling treasure trove along the pier pilings around the far end of the fort wall. (The far end of the pier peninsula pic above!) Thinking we were experts, the four of us headed all the way around the ridge to the deep pilings and were awed. Ancient coral reefs, colorful tropical fish, starfish, queen conchs, crabs, lobsters – all of it. Boldly vibrant and amazingly beautiful. I can’t tell you how long we snorkeled this site. What I can tell you is that this lady petered out before the rest of the crew was ready to swim back and attempted the journey back on her own. (NOT RECOMMENDED!) Somewhere between being wonderstruck and land safe. I remembered there were sharks in the ocean and that I was in the deep (ish) water by myself and all of a sudden very tired with no floatation device. I could see my in-laws on the beach waving at me but my body turned back into a bowling ball and my stress response was to ditch the flippers, mask and goggles and maybe I could make it there faster. (Again, NOT RECOMMEND!) I really don’t know how I made it back to land but I did. And, once I got over the shake of starring down death – I made a vow to never snorkel again without a floatation device and to finish the rest of the day as though I were dying tomorrow.
Proof of survival.
#tommygoals
It was a smooth and blissful ride back.
So far, our little family has visited about half of the National Parks there are to visit and the Dry Tortugas continues to sit firmly in the top 5 best parks for all 4 of us. Now for the longer 5 day stay a bit further inland and half-way between our next 2 parks brings us to:
Hollywood Beach
When planning a 2 week adventure, we find less expensive lodging in the bigger cities nearby our planned adventures. We wanted the beach, beautiful boardwalks, and convenient amenities.
Hollywood Beach and done.
An easy, clean and safe walk to outstanding food.
Beach jungle gyms are perfect plus for these monkeys.
Easy to pick a spot, play, swim and beach.
Before heading to
Everglades National Park
We opted to explore the Florida Everglades by airboat before heading to the national park. There are plenty of airboat tour options. We opted for the one that has since closed down since their skippers were unlicensed so I won’t share the company name. (That’s written on the nice gentleman’s shirt!) This fact will make the events to follow make a bit more sense, actually.
After a brief introduction, the kids were able to touch a baby alligator. Stick their heads in the mouth of stuffed ones and so on.
Knowing we were going to be low-riding in alligator infested waters – there was much conversation on who was going to be sitting on the outside.
Somehow I managed to draw the short straw again! (Bravery is practice. Bravery is a practice. Bravery is a practice.) If I keep repeating it, it becomes true eventually, right?!?
The airboat ride was quite exhilarating! We hovered at fast speeds fishtailing our way to the sites with a few water donuts that may have threatened the safety of the breakfast in our bellies. The real drama was when the boat slowed to a crawl and our tour guide led us to a mama alligator protecting her nest. He gave us the rundown on how alligators communicate when they are threatened which is a hiss/growl…which the gator did as we neared it’s nest. The next thing it will do is make the noise when lunging at you…which we anticipated was the next thing about to happen as the guide RAN OVER THE GATOR WITH OUR BOAT! (The guide said he ran into us but I wasn’t buying it.) Most of my fellow onboard alligator snack humans were giggling about the experience. Tommy and I were plotting the tallest set of shoulders to climb up as we sacrificed our laughing family to save ourselves. Fear does weird things to people. Sorry, honey!
With all of the adventure out of our bones we arrived at real deal. Most of us, dressed for the heat of the summer. Our bug sensitive wildly imaginative ASD kiddo prepared himself with full coverage and army boots…just in case of a mosquito onslaught or a run in with a horsefly. (These things happen…and he’s yet to forget!)
This park was vibrant and thick with sawgrasses, swamps and mangroves. (A tree we will learn much more about at our next park!) We stuck to the boardwalks keenly aware that this is the one place where both American alligators and American crocodiles live in the same place! What we lacked in chompers sightings we gained in bird viewing. Especially the waders like the white ibises, cranes and herons.
We hit the time of the day where our tolerance for nature exploring in depths of a swamp in the heat of the season was worn out. Very thankful that our crew is good at both waving white flags and listening to each other. The best calm to a buzzing brain is often ice cream! It literally cools us right down.
Note to self: please make and/or buy this shirt.
As always, the junior ranger guides help educate our whole family as we enjoy completing the challenges and playfully learning together in a way out of the 4 walls kind of way.
Buzzing brain gleeful returned to bulldog brain upon our arrival at the condo. In the long and hard battle of Tommy vs. the coconut. Only Tommy lives to tell. This is a perfect example of how being differently wired is a next level gift when eyes are open to find strengths over challenges. We are fully away of how good we’ve got it and how much magic can be made with our neuro-spicy crew.
Biscayne National Park
Our final Florida National Park! (Far from out last adventure, however.) Fresh off of our snorkeling situation on Dry Tortugas, this crew was fully stocked with enough floatation devices and pool noodles to keep this made of lead mother (and her singular lead kid!) afloat! Biscayne National Park was simply lovely. Home to many endangered species including manatees that came to say hello within our first fifteen minutes of arriving.
This is the face of a lady who has yet to learn that she may encounter stingrays, barracudas and sharks on her next (safely floating) snorkeling adventure. Eeeek!
Below you will see the architect of our misery adventure smiling and we his victims of adventure adjusting to the skippers “watch out for” headlines. (Bravery is a practice. Bravery is a practice. Bravery is a practice!) Our captain gave us the warning horn break down. If the captain sounds his horn one time, make your way back to the boat at your leisure. No rush. If he sounds the horn 2 times, there’s something cools to see. If the horn is sounded 3 times – real and imminent danger. We had all just magnificently traversed the tall sea grass and discovered the motherload of vibrant tropical schools of fish deeply settled in floating root systems of the mangroves about a mile (or so it seemed) from the boat when you can guess what happened. Yep. Three times. The horn sounded three times.
A majority of our boat friends turned tail and glided in the right direction at record speeds…including Charlie. Thank goodness! This lady’s panic response of removing the snorkel gear and start gulping the ocean water while moving as slow as possible resurfaced. The little T tried to help but moving this anchor was quite difficult. Mercifully, the largest of Toms happened to be sailing by when I was able to grab a flipper and be taxied safely (for the meantime!) back to the boat.
We made our way to land just in time for a little old micro-hurricane to wallop the ocean and those of us inhabiting it for the time-being. Good news, it was kind of fun…since we survived. Additional good news, no more snorkeling with the barracudas that did decide to show themselves as the storm started to roll in. Eeek!
The captain had to wait for the “all clear” to safely bring us back to the port. It gave us plenty of time to explore Elliot Key and learn of the old Gatsby-esque parties that used to ensue for the super rich who would boat in all the glitz and glam and have the island all to themselves to lavish in. The space is now public and free for the rest of us plebeians to enjoy and dream about.
“Looking quite windswept and ravishing, madam.” “Why thank you, sir. I dressed for the occasion.”
It’s amazing how the space between serene and seriously scary can change on a dime…and the general look of things in a matter of minutes.
The boys final badge of the trip and full-stop to the refuel station before the Fun-tastic leg of this epic Florida trip.
Volcano Bay Waterpark
In the world there are waterpark people and there are the not waterparks people. We are born splashers. I’ve had bookmarked in my brain that Volcano Bay was the waterpark to visit when in Florida. It exceeded our expectations! There are not very many pictures of this park since we were pretty much always in the water. A fun new technical advance of this particular place was that each guest received a waterproof watch (ish thing) that they could use to check-in at attractions so you’d never have to stand in line for long. It was SO HELPFUL! We were able to ride all of the attractions we wanted (which were many!) without wasting a minute.
While most of the crew enjoyed the waterslides and water rollercoaster. (It’s a thing!) This lady LOVED their adventure river. The lazy kind is typically my preference but their adventure river was without tubes and quite fast. I could actively swim all over the place with the help of a strong current and plenty playful features throughout the long course.
We swam until all fingers and toes were irreparably pruned then headed home for a night of rest before heading to the piece de resistance.
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
We made a deal with the dudes when they were quite small. We did Disneyworld then and would come back for Universal when they were over 10. They’d been waiting for this for quite some time. As a family, we made it through 4 of the Harry Potter books and movies. We’re not die-hard HP people. But we enjoyed the story and have heard magical things about the world Universal created bringing all things Hogwarts and beyond to life. Just wow!
This was one of those days at a big park where the crowds were around but never in your way. We made a plan and hit all the fan favorites.
And, were eteranlly surprised by how enjoyable just standing in line was. There was so much to take in, I often wanted our fast moving lines to slow down so we could catch it all.
We said yes to the wands. And, the butterbeer.
And, the chocolate frogs (obvisously!). Before making our way to perhaps the best ride ever to be created in the history of rollercoaster experiences for non-rollercoaster people, Hagrid’s Motorbike! With the best of the best enjoyed and accounted for, we hit whatever other ride felt right at the moment and made some excellent choices.
And, stopped for some nostalgic photo ops with the uncle and cuz.
While evading death by dinosaur. We’d had enough death on this trip!
The final stop of our adventure came to a close at “Aunt Linda and Uncle Roger’s” house where the cadance of our adventure slowed to a crawl.
for a moment! These are the moments we treasure more than any theme parks.
We filled our arms with hugs and hearts with love before sipping our way through Chattanooga.
Just the four of us and some fancy beer.
/root beer.
When I look at the quantity of what we explored in 2 weeks time, I know it’s enough to overwhelm many. As we are all wired differently, I ask myself…
“Was I pooped or pumped?” The answer is pumped. “Was I distracted or present?” Definitely, present. “What about Tom and the kids? ” I’d say same, same. But we’ll check in with each other before our next vacation and re-evaluate. We always do. “Did we miss things that we would have been able to enjoy if we had stayed longer in one place?” For sure. “Does that bother me?” Not a lick.
“The things that make me different are the things that make me.” — Temple Grandin
Here’s to making the most of busy schedules and brains.
Dirt on Kids 