Speaker 1: Ever since I was a kid, when I would rent
Speaker 1: Jaws from the local video store on a weekly basis,
Speaker 1: the ocean has simultaneously been the most captivating place for
Speaker 1: me and also my worst fear. That's true. I used
Speaker 1: to rent Jaws in and practically every week, and I
Speaker 1: don't know why your parents didn't just buy it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: me neither. We probably wasted like hundreds and hundreds of
Speaker 1: dollars in that rental video and I probably single handily
Speaker 1: kept that video store on life support for for years.
Speaker 1: Well that's really nice of you. Yeah, Well, I was
Speaker 1: just doing my part, I guess. But really it's a
Speaker 1: testament to the ocean and the mystery of that watery
Speaker 1: wilderness that kept me coming back for more. And it's
Speaker 1: part of the fact that it's always been my greatest fear.
Speaker 1: It was something I always wanted to face an experience
Speaker 1: for myself as well, and that's exactly what we did
Speaker 1: in Biscayne National Park in South Florida, the largest aquatic
Speaker 1: park in the National Park Service. Yeah, this is a
Speaker 1: park where getting into the water is paramount. You can't
Speaker 1: come here and not do something at least on top
Speaker 1: of the water, if not under it. After all d
Speaker 1: seventy two thousand acre park is water, and as excited
Speaker 1: as I was to dive in, literally, I was also
Speaker 1: facing a lifetime's worth of built up fear and anxiety.
Speaker 1: But part of your love for national parks is about
Speaker 1: facing fears, even if they're unrealistic as jaws. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna put on my snorkel flippers, sidestep that little bit
Speaker 1: of shade you just tossed my way, and make the
Speaker 1: plunge into this episode on Biscayne National Park, which also
Speaker 1: features a very special guest, Santa Ramos. So stay tuned. Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is park Landia, a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. We sold our loft in Chicago,
Speaker 1: moved into an RV full time, and now we're chopping
Speaker 1: the country with our dog Finn, exploring America's national parks.
Speaker 1: And today we're talking about Biscayne National Park in South Florida.
Speaker 1: As we mentioned, Biscayne National Park covers a little more
Speaker 1: than a hundred and seventy thousand acres in South Florida
Speaker 1: in the Biscayne Bay, just south of Miami. Literally you
Speaker 1: can see the Miami sky line from this park and
Speaker 1: it only takes about an hour to get here from
Speaker 1: South Beach to which is crazy and really awesome. Obviously,
Speaker 1: it's even less if you're in downtown Miami or South Miami,
Speaker 1: so it's super accessible for city dwellers or visitors to
Speaker 1: Miami who might be looking for a change of pace
Speaker 1: from all the South Beach clubs or volleyball competitions he
Speaker 1: might be participating in. Yeah, even though it's only about
Speaker 1: forty miles from Miami, Biscayne National Park feels world's apart
Speaker 1: and that's a great thing to have, such a like
Speaker 1: great getaway so close to that. Yeah, And now I've
Speaker 1: been to Biskey in a couple of times now, once
Speaker 1: with you in RV as part of a Greater South
Speaker 1: Florida Evergates trip which was epic and amazing, and recently
Speaker 1: as well on a solo road trip which I was
Speaker 1: driving through like Miami and the Keys. And on that
Speaker 1: trip I was able to start my morning with coffee
Speaker 1: and pastries in Windwood, this really awesome neighborhood in Miami,
Speaker 1: and then literally like an hour later, I was at
Speaker 1: Biskaying National Park with plenty of time to make my
Speaker 1: voting reservation out to Bocachi to Key, so it's about
Speaker 1: to both worlds. You can have it all. Yeah. Not
Speaker 1: many national parks can claim this kind of convenient proximity
Speaker 1: to major cities, which just goes to show that there's
Speaker 1: always gems in your backyard. Yeah, and Biscayne is an
Speaker 1: absolute gem. Not a lot of people are really aware
Speaker 1: of this one, I think, especially in the context of
Speaker 1: South Florida, where nearby Everglades gets all the attention. I
Speaker 1: think not only is Biskain much smaller size wise convert
Speaker 1: to Everglades, but it only gets about half a million visitors,
Speaker 1: which is nothing to scoff out, of course, but still
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, it's actually a great thing though, since
Speaker 1: this keeps the park less crowded and easier to explore,
Speaker 1: which is important because a lot of the activities here
Speaker 1: require advance reservations and tours for their tours. Plus, since
Speaker 1: we're driving in our v it makes it easier for
Speaker 1: us to get that little parking space. Yes, and that's
Speaker 1: very important too, because the Dante Fascale Visitor Center parking
Speaker 1: lot is really tiny. It is another thing that is
Speaker 1: that Biscayne is a much younger than Everglades as well.
Speaker 1: It was designated in National Park in six years after
Speaker 1: Everglades is made a National Park. Yes, I feel like
Speaker 1: Biscayan and Everglades really have a sibling type relationship going on,
Speaker 1: and Biscayne obviously would be the younger sibling who too
Speaker 1: often gets overshadowed about the popularity and accomplishments of the
Speaker 1: older sibling. I feel that, Yeah, And I'm not just
Speaker 1: saying that as someone who has two younger siblings and
Speaker 1: happens to be very accomplished myself. So that's just a
Speaker 1: coincidence that has nothing to do with this metaphor. I'm sure, Yeah,
Speaker 1: what a coincidence, Um, But it is true enough Biscayne
Speaker 1: does get overshadowed a little bit. It really deserves to
Speaker 1: stand out more though, because it's an entirely different park
Speaker 1: than the Everglades, which is right next doorm. It looks
Speaker 1: and feels nothing like that park. Yes, and most importantly,
Speaker 1: Everglades is absolutely not a park for swimming or snarkling
Speaker 1: or going into the water in any capacity for a
Speaker 1: very good reason. But a Biscayne it's the opposite. It's
Speaker 1: all about literally immersing yourself in the ocean. Sure, there
Speaker 1: are a lot of wild animals here, but you can't
Speaker 1: go swimming or snarkling in areas where there are a
Speaker 1: crocodile else. Um, and definitely aren't any like great white
Speaker 1: sharks here, you know either. Jaws was not filmed here,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. Yes, But do you remember when we're
Speaker 1: out here on our story going trip and after we're
Speaker 1: all back in the boat. I remember there was some
Speaker 1: kids on the tour who asked he like, asked the
Speaker 1: guys if there are any sharks in the area, and
Speaker 1: they said yes, which was pretty or if I'm not
Speaker 1: the answer I expected nor wanted. I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: I'm glad you didn't bring that up beforehand. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's not really surprising though. Um. I think in any
Speaker 1: open ocean water there's at least a possibility of sharks,
Speaker 1: but still nothing too dangerous. Is scary? Sure, I just
Speaker 1: I would rather not think about it. You know. The
Speaker 1: most common sharks here, fortunately, are more docile sharks like
Speaker 1: lemon sharks and the sharks, both of which actually sound
Speaker 1: kind of sweet and even like maternally even. But then
Speaker 1: there have also been sighting some other sharks like hammer
Speaker 1: heads and black tip sharks in bull sharks in Biscayne Bay,
Speaker 1: which are all sharks from my nightmares, but really you're
Speaker 1: more likely to see manatees here than sharks, and worst
Speaker 1: case is crocodiles which live among the shores. But like
Speaker 1: we learned at Everglades, American crocodiles only eat things that
Speaker 1: can swallow things in one bite. Um, so they have
Speaker 1: no interest in people. Great. I'm actually happy to see
Speaker 1: crocodiles from a safe distance, and I would love to
Speaker 1: see more of them, but I definitely do not want
Speaker 1: to be in the water when I do, so, of course,
Speaker 1: I'd like to see them from a boat or from
Speaker 1: the land when I'm on the land. But anyway, let's
Speaker 1: talk more about my nightmares and our storcle trip here
Speaker 1: at Biscayne Trails. So our trip to Biscaine was after
Speaker 1: we spent a few days at Everglades in January. Uh
Speaker 1: this was a great time of year to visit Florida's
Speaker 1: national parks since the weather is most comfortable and you're
Speaker 1: more likely to see wildlife. Yeah, for better or worse.
Speaker 1: But we had planned to drive our r V to
Speaker 1: Biscayne for the day, and we had prebuked a snorkel
Speaker 1: excursion hosted by the Biscayne National Park Institute. They do
Speaker 1: a fantastic job, by the way they do, They absolutely do,
Speaker 1: And this was during the government shutdown, and so there
Speaker 1: was they were just doing such a great job of
Speaker 1: keeping things afloat. Yeah, literally they were, I mean, we're
Speaker 1: floating the boat. And they were also keeping the park
Speaker 1: accessible and safe for visitors like us. So the main
Speaker 1: visitor center when we were here was closed because of
Speaker 1: the shutdown, but the Biscayan National Park Institute made sure
Speaker 1: that people who did make trip reservations like us were
Speaker 1: able to keep them and enjoy their time at the park.
Speaker 1: And we had a we had a great time. I'm
Speaker 1: I was so relieved because I didn't know what to expect.
Speaker 1: Everything was kind of up in the air and all
Speaker 1: the parks were handling it differently. So yeah, so it
Speaker 1: was nice. So when we got first got to that park,
Speaker 1: we walked along the boardwalk trail as we waited for
Speaker 1: our tour to start, which was a really great way.
Speaker 1: That was really nice to start it. Yeah, since this
Speaker 1: park is almost entirely ocean, there really is not a
Speaker 1: ton of hiking. I mean there's no hiking. There wasn't
Speaker 1: even a ton of like walking or land activities here,
Speaker 1: but this one trail is awesome and totally worthwhile. It's
Speaker 1: called the Jetty Trail, and altogether it's a little less
Speaker 1: than a mile out and back along this main grove
Speaker 1: line coast and on a boardwalk to this long, narrow
Speaker 1: jetty out to a birding area where you're likely to
Speaker 1: see lots of pelicans and herons and frigate birds and
Speaker 1: morganzas and a whole bunch of others. But that's only
Speaker 1: if the tide isn't too high that it washes out
Speaker 1: the trail, of course, because first time we were here
Speaker 1: it was open and accessible in great last time I
Speaker 1: was there, most of the trails underwater, so it's still beautiful.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I remember the water being royal blue and
Speaker 1: the mangrove forests were just bright green. The colors were
Speaker 1: so vivid, and the trail had several benches lined up
Speaker 1: along the shore, perfect place to sit and just dream. Um.
Speaker 1: It was literally picture perfect, um. And it was just
Speaker 1: beautiful lookout over Biscayne Blay, especially in the morning. Yeah,
Speaker 1: also a picture perfect place to for me to sit
Speaker 1: and contemplate my worst fears looking out for all of it.
Speaker 1: It's right there. Like the mere notion of jumping into
Speaker 1: deep water in the open ocean. It was filling me
Speaker 1: with anxiety and excitement though too, I was kind of
Speaker 1: going back and forth there. Yeah, I'm really glad we
Speaker 1: got to do that snorkel trip though, Um, this is
Speaker 1: our first time doing something like this together. Especially cool
Speaker 1: to do here because not only did we learn a lot,
Speaker 1: but we got to snorkel by the third largest coral
Speaker 1: reef in the world. That's right, amazing, like a fact
Speaker 1: I had no idea about. I didn't know there was
Speaker 1: a coral reef of this size anywhere off the shore
Speaker 1: of the U. S that's for sure. So the Florida
Speaker 1: reef here is the largest of its kind in North America.
Speaker 1: So if I'm going to plunge into my aquatic nightmares,
Speaker 1: I'm glad it was here in a very pretty setting ocean.
Speaker 1: So for that snorkeling trip, we made advance reservations online
Speaker 1: with the Skiing National Park Institute, which works with the
Speaker 1: park to provide great guided trips um to its like
Speaker 1: park islands and into the open waters for things like kayaking, swimming, shipwrecks,
Speaker 1: and of course snorkeling, yes, of course. So our snorkel
Speaker 1: chip took about three hours in total, and it left
Speaker 1: in the morning with a pretty moderate group size, probably
Speaker 1: about twenty of us, all situated on this speedy boat,
Speaker 1: which got us out several miles into the ocean and
Speaker 1: the national park, the Biscayan National Park Institute. They provide
Speaker 1: all the gear, so it's pretty pretty easy and open
Speaker 1: for everyone. So you just make sure to bring water
Speaker 1: and sunscreen, like the basic necessities like that, and plenty
Speaker 1: of adrenaline. Of course you're gonna you're probably gonna need that.
Speaker 1: The guides base their snorkeling location for the day based
Speaker 1: on weather conditions, and for ours, they took us out
Speaker 1: past the keys to the open ocean where the coral
Speaker 1: reef was, and I was so nervous to actually suit
Speaker 1: up and jump off the side of the boat. It
Speaker 1: this is like something that really goes against everything my
Speaker 1: mind is telling me to do. All my instincts and
Speaker 1: like a lifetime's worth of, you know, obsessive watching Jaws,
Speaker 1: because I've been so conditioned from movies like that and
Speaker 1: others like open water and deep blue Sea and White Placid,
Speaker 1: Giant crocodile. So you know, this is not something that
Speaker 1: I'm inclined to do necessarily, but honestly, as soon as
Speaker 1: you jump in and open your eyes underwater, all of
Speaker 1: these ideas, all my fears of Jaws were immediately replaced
Speaker 1: by movies like Finding Nemo. It was suddenly super colorful
Speaker 1: and tranquil and relaxing, and Finding Nemo was obviously much
Speaker 1: less terrifying than Jaws. Really, um, the only fish we
Speaker 1: saw here were small and harmless and beautiful too. It
Speaker 1: was just a rainbow of color. It was a rainbow
Speaker 1: of color. And the fish that you're going to see
Speaker 1: potentially out by the reef for our fish like queen
Speaker 1: angelfish and blue neon gobies and purple sea fans, all
Speaker 1: zipping around between floral shaped coral polyps and sponges, which
Speaker 1: all of this is like swaying and billowing beautifully back
Speaker 1: and forth and the gentle tide, and it's captivating to
Speaker 1: watch and super relaxing. Actually, yeah, And they give you
Speaker 1: like an hour out there to sim around and look
Speaker 1: at it all. But I could have just floated out
Speaker 1: here for much longer. There's just so much to look
Speaker 1: at from the sea grass and algae gardens to all
Speaker 1: these beautiful schools of fish. Literally hundreds of different like
Speaker 1: fish species at Biscayne, more than two hundreds of which
Speaker 1: live in those reefs. Yeah, and a lot of them
Speaker 1: have adorable sounding names, which really helps, like parrot fish
Speaker 1: and squirrel fish and even things like Christmas tree worms,
Speaker 1: so precious is beautiful. But even though they all sound cuddly,
Speaker 1: make sure and keep your distance and not touch any animals,
Speaker 1: including coral. Coral reefs are incredibly fragile. It's very vulnerable
Speaker 1: to human touch as well as just the oils that
Speaker 1: come off human skin too, So keep your distance and
Speaker 1: be mindful of that now. And these ecosystems are super important.
Speaker 1: Um there's some of the most biologically diverse and important
Speaker 1: ecosystems on the planet, and the reefs here account for
Speaker 1: more than half of Biscayne National Parks protected waters. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's absolutely true. So the snorkeling trip just all together
Speaker 1: and our experience in the water, I thought was really amazing.
Speaker 1: Not only was it reassuring and relaxing for me, kind
Speaker 1: of immediately erasing all my anxiety and replacing it with
Speaker 1: the serenity, but we saw a lot and we're able
Speaker 1: to capture a lot on camera because you brought a
Speaker 1: go crow. Yeah, and it was just one of those
Speaker 1: moments where you just realize that you are in the
Speaker 1: ocean and you're being able to watch this this beautiful
Speaker 1: school of fish and all these fish come by and
Speaker 1: the algae and everything is just waving back and forth,
Speaker 1: and you just forget about the world and you realize
Speaker 1: where you're at, what you're doing, and just how immersive
Speaker 1: that experience was. I remember I just literally chased fish,
Speaker 1: like I found one, and I like tried to follow
Speaker 1: up for like ten minutes, and that's all I did.
Speaker 1: And I went from that one. When I got distracted
Speaker 1: like Dory and finding Nemo, I just went another fish
Speaker 1: and I just so I was literally Dory and this
Speaker 1: experience because I just loved just watching it. And you know, now,
Speaker 1: I think I understand why Dory it was such a
Speaker 1: great character as because that's all of us when we
Speaker 1: visit national parks and we get into wildlife, because you
Speaker 1: just you're inspired by the world. So it's not that
Speaker 1: she forgot everything, it's that she saw everything. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: she just has so much pure excitement and there's an
Speaker 1: Innocence Store too. Unfortunately, you have more better memory than Dorry,
Speaker 1: So we're here talking about it. I don't know, sometimes forgetful,
Speaker 1: but I agree with the sentiment, like when you're underwater
Speaker 1: at a place like Biscayan National Park by the coral,
Speaker 1: we kind of washes away, like all your kind of
Speaker 1: day to day mundane stresses and stuff. Like when I
Speaker 1: was out there storm, when I certainly wasn't thinking about
Speaker 1: like oh I have a deadline later, or like oh
Speaker 1: taxis is in three months, you know whatever, like all
Speaker 1: that stuff didn't matter. It didn't I was out there.
Speaker 1: I was just thinking like, oh, I'm here in this
Speaker 1: moment in an environment that is very unusual and foreign
Speaker 1: to me and to most humans. It really is. And Ellen,
Speaker 1: if you ever want to just talk to us about
Speaker 1: fish and wildlife, just let us know. We'll be here.
Speaker 1: We'll be here. And we also were ready to drive
Speaker 1: back into because this trip is so inspiring for us
Speaker 1: that we actually got our own circle gear and went
Speaker 1: so absolutely and I realized I have to shave my
Speaker 1: beard whenever I want to go Snorkeling's for it's a nightmare.
Speaker 1: Talking about nightmares, like that's worse than getting eaten by
Speaker 1: jaws for me, But I'll do it because snorkeling is amazing. Yes,
Speaker 1: it is history, but it's not all reefs here at Biscayne.
Speaker 1: The park is actually divided into four different categories of
Speaker 1: protected ecosystems, including the reef. There's also the shoreline, mangrove forests,
Speaker 1: the shallow waters of the bay, and the keys like
Speaker 1: Elliott Key and Boca Cheeta Key. And keys, by the way,
Speaker 1: different from islands because they are formed in the surface
Speaker 1: of coral reefs, while islands are landmasses that get surrounded
Speaker 1: by water or they're formed by volcanic events. Keys look
Speaker 1: a lot like islands, so easily confused, kind of like
Speaker 1: how alligators and crocodiles can look like at first, But
Speaker 1: when you examine the details and just the geography of
Speaker 1: keys and islands, they difference has become more clear. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and those different like ecosystems are where you're more likely
Speaker 1: to see more of the park's famous wildlife, like manatees
Speaker 1: and crocodiles and sea turtles. Yeah, there's a lot here.
Speaker 1: And there are even a few alligators too that have
Speaker 1: been known to to dabble in Biscayne, but they prefer freshwater,
Speaker 1: which is why you'll primarily see them at Everglades next
Speaker 1: door or most any other waterway in Florida, which is
Speaker 1: kind of chilling. Yeah, So let's back it up and
Speaker 1: talk more about the history here a Biscayne as well,
Speaker 1: because even though there's keys look small, they're actually have
Speaker 1: a surprising amount of human history as well. They do,
Speaker 1: and very surprising. So it all started with Native peoples
Speaker 1: of the Glades culture who first inhabited President Day Biscayne
Speaker 1: a like ten thousand years ago before it was entirely
Speaker 1: filled with water, and then some four thousand years ago
Speaker 1: the quest of people lived on the keys and along
Speaker 1: the shore. They did this until Spanish explorers moved into
Speaker 1: Florida and took over the area. Jokes on them, though,
Speaker 1: because the coral reef here is responsible for lots of
Speaker 1: Spanish shipwrecks, uh, some of which you can explore on
Speaker 1: those snorkeling tours. All in all, they are about more
Speaker 1: than forty shipwrecks within the parks waters. It's a lot,
Speaker 1: and that would be so cool to go back here
Speaker 1: and do like a shipwreck snorkel touring. I've never done
Speaker 1: anything like that, but the keys were eventually used for
Speaker 1: farming things like pineapples and tomatoes weirdly enough into the
Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds, but the areas, hurricanes and Rocky Train just
Speaker 1: made it too difficult to keep doing that, right. My
Speaker 1: favorite thing is what happened next though. Once the keys
Speaker 1: were largely abandoned for farming purposes, they were transformed into
Speaker 1: the next big thing, party mansions. It's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1: We learned about this on the boat ride past uh
Speaker 1: Bocacia Key actually about how in the early rich Miami
Speaker 1: residents started building mansions on the keys as their vacation
Speaker 1: home and party pads. Yes, as one does. And it's
Speaker 1: just so laughably absurd and decadent, which I think is
Speaker 1: why it's so like intriguing and hilarious, which it's just
Speaker 1: like par for the course for humanity. Right. So you
Speaker 1: have people like Mark C. Honey Well who had a
Speaker 1: mansion on Bocacia Key, and he gave this mansion its
Speaker 1: own lighthouse, which you can see today if you go
Speaker 1: to Bocacia Key and it's one of the most photographed
Speaker 1: sites in the park. It's gotten pretty iconic. And then
Speaker 1: there was also the Coco Lobo k Club, which was
Speaker 1: owned by rich party animals like Garfield Wood and b. B. Roboso,
Speaker 1: who was actually close friends with President Nixon. And then
Speaker 1: there's this whole another part of the park called Stiltsville,
Speaker 1: the series of buildings that were built on stilts jutting
Speaker 1: out of northern Biscayne Bay, and this served as a
Speaker 1: gambling mecca and drinking den during Prohibition for a while. Yeah.
Speaker 1: At its height, there were twenty seven different structures only
Speaker 1: accessible by boat, but like most most things in this
Speaker 1: part of the country, hurricanes made it very difficult destroyed
Speaker 1: several of them. Once the remnants of Stiltsville was added
Speaker 1: to the National Park in Night five, there were only
Speaker 1: seven structures standing, and today you can visit them by permit. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And as crazy and ridiculous as all of this lavishness
Speaker 1: and for volity sounds, it didn't stop there. Some people
Speaker 1: in South Florida weren't content with simply having island party mansions.
Speaker 1: They also wanted to string all these keys together to
Speaker 1: form a continuous driveable route from Miami out to q
Speaker 1: West to capitalize more and more on tourism to the area. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Since Key Largo was the first reachable by car, a
Speaker 1: lot of people saw these similar keys and Biscayne Bay
Speaker 1: as neglected or wasted, like they had no value of
Speaker 1: their own, so they wanted to connect them all and
Speaker 1: build homes on them too. And not only that, they
Speaker 1: wanted to dredge up acreage from the bay to create
Speaker 1: a jet port and a seaport, and then even established
Speaker 1: this larger island city called Islandia, which is nuts. And
Speaker 1: even though park Landian Islandia share of suffix, I do
Speaker 1: not approve that, you know. No. Unfortunately, neither did a
Speaker 1: lot of other advocates who wanted to protect the area
Speaker 1: as a national park, including Juanita Green, a newspaper writer
Speaker 1: for the Miami Herald, and even vacuum titan Herbert W.
Speaker 1: Hoover Jr. Who visited the area as a young boy
Speaker 1: and became obsessed with it and really appreciated and valued
Speaker 1: it's you know, natural features, And so because of this
Speaker 1: he tried to persuade government legislators to protect it by
Speaker 1: taking them on blimp tours over the bay and showing
Speaker 1: off how beautiful it was, like, I can't make the
Speaker 1: stuff up blimp tours. No, you really can't. Uh. And
Speaker 1: with the support for National Parks protection rising, these greeted
Speaker 1: developers were getting angry and spiteful, so they decided to
Speaker 1: bulldoze a six Lillon Highway and Eliott Key and hopes
Speaker 1: that if they messed it up enough, no one would
Speaker 1: want to protect it, after all, selfish monsters. It's just
Speaker 1: it's so immature, right, It's like, oh, well, if we
Speaker 1: can have it, then we're just going to mess it
Speaker 1: all up and no one can have it. Horrible, you know,
Speaker 1: the intent which is like such a sore loser mentality.
Speaker 1: But despite all of this, in this ridiculous behavior, Biscayne
Speaker 1: National Monument was first established in thanks to advocates like
Speaker 1: Representative Dante Fascal, who the visitor center is now named after.
Speaker 1: And then even better, that Spite Highway as it's called now,
Speaker 1: which was they tore up to with the intent tarnished.
Speaker 1: The land that's grown over naturally become the park's only
Speaker 1: main hiking trail, and it's this miles long track through
Speaker 1: tropical hardwood forest on Elliott Key, you know. So between
Speaker 1: the party mansions and the gambling shacks and the coral
Speaker 1: reef and spite, I think it's safe to say that
Speaker 1: Biscayne National Park has some of the most colorful history
Speaker 1: of any national park. Yeah, that history is definitely as
Speaker 1: colorful as the reef itself, i'd say. And after this
Speaker 1: quick break, we're gonna talk with our guests for this episode,
Speaker 1: Sandra Ramos. Hi, I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is
Speaker 1: Park Glandia and today we're talking about Biscayne National Park
Speaker 1: in Florida. Yes, and we are bringing on our special guest,
Speaker 1: Sandra Ramos, also known as at National Park patch Lady
Speaker 1: on an Instagram. And Um, we're so excited to talk
Speaker 1: to Sandra because of her deep love and history of
Speaker 1: Biscayne National Park. I mean, she's loves it so much
Speaker 1: that she even has an art exhibit that was featured there,
Speaker 1: her photography exhibit, and she's just such a wonderful resource
Speaker 1: to our community of National Parks travelers. Yeah, she has
Speaker 1: a real kinship with with bis gay now on park
Speaker 1: its teams, and she's friends with the park rangers there.
Speaker 1: She's been several times, so this is like one of
Speaker 1: her spirit parks. It seems like, you know, we all
Speaker 1: have these connections to different to different places, and this
Speaker 1: is a place that she's not only super familiar with,
Speaker 1: but and very experienced with, but a place that she
Speaker 1: is just super passionate about. So we know that she'll
Speaker 1: have a lot of great things to talk about with Biscayne,
Speaker 1: and we're excited to learn more from her and also
Speaker 1: just get more inspired because she's the most inspiring person
Speaker 1: that I think we follow on Instagram, so and we
Speaker 1: can't wait to dive into this. Yeah, we're huge Instagram
Speaker 1: fans and now Instagram friends, and we're so excited to
Speaker 1: have her on this week. So, Sandra, where were you
Speaker 1: before National Parks became part of your life? Oh? Wow?
Speaker 1: So I am. I grew up in New Orleans and
Speaker 1: um moved to Los Angeles and uh my junior of
Speaker 1: high school and I got really involved in politics. And
Speaker 1: so I had spent the last twenty years running political
Speaker 1: campaigns from Oregon State to Virginia. UM, and it was
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. And so I sort of bounced
Speaker 1: back between working for government officials and running political campaigns
Speaker 1: and just sort of reached a point where, um, I
Speaker 1: had I had just had enough, and I was just
Speaker 1: exhausted because a lot of people don't realize that it's
Speaker 1: a seven job and you don't really have a life.
Speaker 1: And I really became burned out by it. So um yeah,
Speaker 1: so before national parks sort of took over everything in anything,
Speaker 1: including my house. Um, I was. I was, you know,
Speaker 1: in the trenches, fighting the good fight. That's wonderful. When
Speaker 1: I was in Illinois, I fought for marriage equality. Um.
Speaker 1: And it was one of those things I was telling
Speaker 1: my story of like serving during Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Speaker 1: and it's a battle, and just being an extra person,
Speaker 1: Like I mean, I knocked on seven thousand doors, talk
Speaker 1: to twenty six different state representatives, the government villain at
Speaker 1: two different times, like different things like that, and that
Speaker 1: was enough. Like that was exhausting. I couldn't imagine actually
Speaker 1: running these campaigns and working within the like interweb of them,
Speaker 1: because like you're saying, it's seven, it's exhausting. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: seven goes on for like a year and a half.
Speaker 1: It's not like it's seven for a month or two.
Speaker 1: It's a year and a half. And even when you're
Speaker 1: on the government side doing policy, it's still your phone
Speaker 1: is never turned off, your life is never your own,
Speaker 1: and um, and it can take a toll on you,
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah. But you know, I never didn't believe
Speaker 1: in what I was doing, and I think that that's
Speaker 1: really what drove me for as long as I did.
Speaker 1: Absolutely right. So nowadays you actually we see on your
Speaker 1: Instagram that you hang out National park rangers all the time.
Speaker 1: It's like you're a rock star. It's like they're the
Speaker 1: rock stars. Really, I'm just sort of the groupie. I
Speaker 1: love it because I just love seeing you traveling. You're
Speaker 1: actually talking, You're having conversations with park rangers, and it's
Speaker 1: a lot of people just don't do that, Like we
Speaker 1: haven't really we've done that on tours, um and different things,
Speaker 1: but just it's really beautiful to see you just really
Speaker 1: digging in there and finding out the important parts of
Speaker 1: National parks. Thanks you know for me. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I've spent time, money, money, and energy to get there.
Speaker 1: And um. One of the things I learned really early
Speaker 1: on in my National Parks travels is the park rangers
Speaker 1: are immense resources. And one of the things that I
Speaker 1: sort of developed and in the process was the first
Speaker 1: thing I do is go to a visitor center, find
Speaker 1: a friendly park ranger, and ask one question, which is
Speaker 1: what is your favorite part of the park. Yes, And
Speaker 1: because I'm now getting firsthand from a person whose job
Speaker 1: it is as a steward of that land and knows
Speaker 1: it better than anyone. It. Not only am I engaging
Speaker 1: them personally and wanting to learn about them, which I'm
Speaker 1: sure they don't get very often, but I get to
Speaker 1: learn about the best parts of the park that most
Speaker 1: people don't ask about. Absolutely so, so it's become a
Speaker 1: ritual of mine. And it's really how I've formed bonds
Speaker 1: with um, really amazing people with a wealth of knowledge
Speaker 1: that I couldn't even scratch the surface on. And and
Speaker 1: these folks are just so enthusiastic and wonderful um and
Speaker 1: so it's really been a pleasure to meet them and
Speaker 1: become friends. And I'm just honored that did I get
Speaker 1: to hang out with them? Yeah, you just actually change
Speaker 1: the way I think we visit national parks because when
Speaker 1: you go up, we asked like the normal questions, and
Speaker 1: you know, we don't. I think there's a there's an
Speaker 1: art art of conversation really is like it's kind of
Speaker 1: like when you're sitting down at a restaurant and you
Speaker 1: can either just order your food and not look at
Speaker 1: the waitress, or you can turn your whole body to
Speaker 1: that waitress and ask her different questions about our life
Speaker 1: and just simple things like how's your like, how's your
Speaker 1: day going, but like that true eye contact to where
Speaker 1: they actually feel like you're talking to them versus it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, we've made that mistake where we're just like
Speaker 1: we go into a National park and we're like, where's
Speaker 1: the map? Like where can I collect this? You know,
Speaker 1: where can I collect my patches? Right? Right? But you
Speaker 1: can really just change that conversation by like, you know,
Speaker 1: the way that you approach a park ranger. And I
Speaker 1: think that that's probably what you're really great at. I
Speaker 1: can see that within you. It shows through in your
Speaker 1: Instagram at National Park patch lady, and so I just
Speaker 1: really really love that. And where did actually that come from?
Speaker 1: Where did National Parks patches? Good question? Oh, it's so
Speaker 1: it's it's sort of embarrassing. Um. So when I started
Speaker 1: this journey, part of so, I have a really weird
Speaker 1: o c D where I just you know, collect things,
Speaker 1: and and so my house is sort of a hodgepodge
Speaker 1: of collections. And one of the things in National Parks
Speaker 1: that I really dug where the patches, you know, you
Speaker 1: see them on people's backpacks and whatnot. So I just
Speaker 1: started this collection and throwing me in a box. And
Speaker 1: a friend of mine had come over and we were
Speaker 1: talking about it one day and and he decided to
Speaker 1: create a meme of a photograph that a friend took
Speaker 1: of me and sort of a dark bar and a
Speaker 1: dark leather chair with just sort of like a spotlight
Speaker 1: sliver of light coming through the window, and and he
Speaker 1: the meme said National Park Patch Lady on the History Channel,
Speaker 1: and he posted it and my friends were like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, we would totally watch that. And because I,
Speaker 1: you know, I sort of became this nerd of history
Speaker 1: because of my love of politics and sociology, and it's
Speaker 1: one of the things that I that really drew me
Speaker 1: to the parks, right, was was all of the things
Speaker 1: that I missed about being in politics once I retired. Um,
Speaker 1: but I didn't know how to sort of have that outlet,
Speaker 1: and so so they just sort of laughed at me
Speaker 1: because I always get these weird you know, oh my god,
Speaker 1: this is my new obsession. Only the only this one
Speaker 1: has carried on for seven years now, so there's sort
Speaker 1: of like, oh, I guess she's in for the long haul. Um.
Speaker 1: So yeah, So it started as a meme um of
Speaker 1: a friend of mine trying to mock me. Well, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank your friend for us, because well, yeah, so it's
Speaker 1: sort of funny. So yeah, so I sort of adopted it,
Speaker 1: and then a really beautiful friend of mine in Denver
Speaker 1: created a logo and then it just sort of took off.
Speaker 1: So it's um yeah, wow, I love that. Thank you. Well.
Speaker 1: I have a question for you, and this one before
Speaker 1: we kind of talked about Biscayne in that park, was
Speaker 1: I know that you have a special connection with Getty's
Speaker 1: very in particular. I remember when we were talking about
Speaker 1: on an Instagram when Gettysburg episode came out, and then
Speaker 1: I saw a mention of it when I was at Biscayne,
Speaker 1: and I saw your photography exhibit, which we'll talk about
Speaker 1: later too. So I know you how it seems like
Speaker 1: you had a pretty formative experience there, is that, right?
Speaker 1: I did? Um? So about nine years ago I retired
Speaker 1: from my political career for a variety of reasons including, um,
Speaker 1: it just battered me physically and emotionally. UM. I ended
Speaker 1: up on the verge of of manic depression and bipolar disorder. UM,
Speaker 1: and so I had to leave a situation I also
Speaker 1: developed an alcoholic problem and um, and so I knew
Speaker 1: that I needed to get out and get healthy, and
Speaker 1: I didn't know how to do that. UM. And at
Speaker 1: the time, I had just moved back to Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: Which is sort of the epicenter of politics, and trying
Speaker 1: to retire from politics and being in the epicenter of
Speaker 1: it is you know, not exactly a healthy environment. But
Speaker 1: I really had no choice at that point. Um. And so, UM,
Speaker 1: trying to navigate Washington, d C. While not being in
Speaker 1: politics is really really difficult and sort of didn't help
Speaker 1: my my mental state. And a friend of mine who
Speaker 1: I had worked with on the Hill was going to
Speaker 1: go out to Gettysburg and Antietam and invited me to
Speaker 1: sort of tag along, and you know, and and I
Speaker 1: didn't really think anything of it, And honestly, I didn't
Speaker 1: really even want to go. But I will tell you
Speaker 1: that I arrived, and um, it was everything that I
Speaker 1: didn't know I needed in my life. Is really the
Speaker 1: only way to explain it. Um. It was nature, it
Speaker 1: was open space, it was history. It was the love
Speaker 1: of our country. It was being a patriot. It was
Speaker 1: the everything that I wanted. UM. And I started crying,
Speaker 1: and we spent twenty four hours in Gettysburg and we
Speaker 1: went on to Antietam, and again it was this powerful
Speaker 1: emotional connection for me. And I was really embarrassed because
Speaker 1: having been a congressional staffer, I had never really paid
Speaker 1: attention to the National Park Service. And I sort of
Speaker 1: beat myself up over it now, thinking there was so
Speaker 1: much I could have done in that position to help
Speaker 1: the parks, but I just didn't. I just didn't have
Speaker 1: the awareness. Um. And so when I got back home
Speaker 1: to d C, I researched the National Park Service and
Speaker 1: realized at the time, I think there were four d
Speaker 1: eight National Park sites, and realized that that was an
Speaker 1: amazing mission to sort of give myself. And it's sort
Speaker 1: of filled a void of of a lot of things
Speaker 1: that I needed in my life. And I will tell
Speaker 1: you that the parks have really saved me it. Um.
Speaker 1: Nature is a place for us to relax. Nature is
Speaker 1: a place for us to connect with our humanity and ourselves,
Speaker 1: and um had I don't think if I had connected
Speaker 1: and found the National Parks when I did, UM, I
Speaker 1: would not be where I am today. I would not
Speaker 1: be in a healthy emotional space where I feel like
Speaker 1: not only am I learning and growing as a person,
Speaker 1: but I am able to to be in nature. I'm
Speaker 1: literally cry because because that's it, Like what what these
Speaker 1: national parks bring us? I mean, I swear that you know,
Speaker 1: for for us, it didn't just bring us close together.
Speaker 1: I believe it truly just saved relationship, uh and our
Speaker 1: marriage and everything, you know, And it's just beautiful to
Speaker 1: see how these national parks save us from ourselves from depression, anxiety,
Speaker 1: from relationship issues too, being just like swamped in everyday
Speaker 1: life and everything you just said was just so spot on.
Speaker 1: It was, yeah, I mean yeah, and there's so much
Speaker 1: stigma around mental health issues, right, but when you're when
Speaker 1: you're in nature and when you're in the parks, you
Speaker 1: don't have that, and all of a sudden, all of
Speaker 1: those panic attacks you have and all the anxiety just disappears,
Speaker 1: and for for a brief moment, you can just be
Speaker 1: who you are and you know, every I don't know
Speaker 1: anyone who's never felt magical in a park? Have you?
Speaker 1: Have you all ever met anybody amazing in a park?
Speaker 1: And so it just I think it just brings out
Speaker 1: the best in us. And I really want to believe that. Um,
Speaker 1: And so you know, for me, the parks are everything,
Speaker 1: and and all of this is not about anything other
Speaker 1: than I want more people to enjoy the parks, particularly
Speaker 1: the smaller parks that that don't get as much attention.
Speaker 1: Absolutely yes, And that's one of our biggest goals is
Speaker 1: to introduce all these different parts outside of the big
Speaker 1: national parks. The sea shores, the monuments. Oh yeah, all
Speaker 1: of those are just so gorgeous. And that's why we
Speaker 1: brought Season two to be a national park, a national
Speaker 1: sea shore National park, to mix it up and just
Speaker 1: really show people that there's nature in their backyard. They
Speaker 1: just have to look right. Yeah, and I think this
Speaker 1: is actually perfect seas. The thing I was proferencing earlier
Speaker 1: was you had a photography exhibit at Biscayne National Park
Speaker 1: and I saw it. I was. I went down there
Speaker 1: and I saw it. Luckily, I think I was there
Speaker 1: like the last week. I think you mentioned that I
Speaker 1: was running and that was the topic of this exhibit
Speaker 1: where these last renowned national parks, and I thought that
Speaker 1: was so wonderful to see them highlighted, and not only
Speaker 1: were the photos gorgeous, but like so much fascinating information
Speaker 1: helpful information, incredible insight. So I would love to hear
Speaker 1: more about that exhibit and how you compiled it and
Speaker 1: what kind of you know, led to that happening in
Speaker 1: at Biscay National Park in particular to please sure well,
Speaker 1: thank well, I appreciate you visiting and thank you so
Speaker 1: much for the kind runes about it. Um, it was
Speaker 1: really a labor of love. You know. I've been traveling
Speaker 1: to national parks for seven years now, and UM, it's
Speaker 1: you know, I've always sort of had a camera in
Speaker 1: my hand, but I never took it seriously until I
Speaker 1: retired from politics and didn't know what I wanted to
Speaker 1: do with my life and so UM, so I just
Speaker 1: had this collection of photos and three issue years ago
Speaker 1: got up enough nerve to start an Instagram account, um
Speaker 1: and start putting them online and have made tremendous friends.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's how we met, which I'm extraordinarily grateful for. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, and in that process, you know, had conversations
Speaker 1: with people about, um, the stories of these parks and
Speaker 1: and what direction I wanted to do, and that was
Speaker 1: really important for me. Is a history geek and a
Speaker 1: sociology geek, and all of those things at the park
Speaker 1: that I really love about the parks. I wanted to
Speaker 1: share those stories, and so that's sort of my goal
Speaker 1: is to to talk about those and so UM a
Speaker 1: few years ago, when I was down in Biscay National Park,
Speaker 1: I had met ranger Gary Bremen, who has since become
Speaker 1: a very dear close friend of mine, and he um
Speaker 1: graciously asked if I wanted to exhibit my work at Biscayne,
Speaker 1: and I think I started crying and then I went
Speaker 1: into denials, like no, you don't really want my work,
Speaker 1: and it was like um, and then UM then sort
Speaker 1: of really thought about it. And one of the passions
Speaker 1: that he and I both share is the passions for
Speaker 1: the smaller parks, right the historical parks, the national landmarks,
Speaker 1: the national monuments, the national sea shores, because those to
Speaker 1: me really represent America. I mean the big sixty one.
Speaker 1: You can you can ask anyone in America and they
Speaker 1: can probably name three or four big national parks. But
Speaker 1: if you ask them about a monument, a military park,
Speaker 1: a battlefield, you're that number is going to get significantly smaller.
Speaker 1: But there's so much more to me, Um, what the
Speaker 1: real national park is to me, That's what really. I mean,
Speaker 1: they have the nature and the sweeping landscapes, but they
Speaker 1: also have so much more UM and so I sort
Speaker 1: of decided on beyond the icons and really focus on
Speaker 1: parks that are maybe some some of them were big
Speaker 1: sixty one parks for sure, but are lesser known like
Speaker 1: Guadalipe Mountains, like Big bend Um, but also talked about
Speaker 1: you know, places like New Orleans Jazz. Who knew that
Speaker 1: the entire city of New Orleans was a National historical
Speaker 1: site to in fact, if you cautage on Lafitte National
Speaker 1: Historical Park right UM. You know places like Maggie L.
Speaker 1: Walker National Historical Park in UM Richmond, Virginia, which is
Speaker 1: my favorite national historical park. UM. It's about a woman
Speaker 1: who was the first president of a bank in the
Speaker 1: United States shortly after the Civil War, African American woman
Speaker 1: in the seat of the Confederacy, who fought for for education,
Speaker 1: who fought for financial freedoms for these folks who didn't
Speaker 1: have that access. Who was you know, who was a
Speaker 1: a a peer of people like W. E. B. Du
Speaker 1: Boys who but you never hear her name, and the
Speaker 1: keep and the park keeps her story alive and keeps
Speaker 1: her family alive um and so those kind of places
Speaker 1: just really fascinate me. And so that's what the exhibit
Speaker 1: was about, was really highlighting smaller parks that have amazing
Speaker 1: stories that we should all know. Yes, I think the
Speaker 1: wildlife and ecology of the sixty one are huge, but
Speaker 1: then there's so much more of the history of who
Speaker 1: we are as human beings in America that really are
Speaker 1: highlighted in outside of that sixty one. And that's exactly
Speaker 1: what you know, we found. Um we recently we just
Speaker 1: went to um I'm gonna slaughter this name Oak McGhee, yeah,
Speaker 1: ok Malgi sorry, Okamogie, which is a National monument and
Speaker 1: it was about the Native American history and heritage before
Speaker 1: you know, these lands were taken and then afterwards the
Speaker 1: digging of it, in the archaeology behind it, and it's
Speaker 1: it's been inhabited by people for seventeen thousand years, and
Speaker 1: it's like it's just this beautiful piece of history that's like,
Speaker 1: we need to shine more lights on those. Um and
Speaker 1: when we find our parks and realize that there's like
Speaker 1: four nineteen now right, yeah, I mean and and and
Speaker 1: the folks who you know, the caretakers the park rangers.
Speaker 1: One of one of my favorite experiences was going down
Speaker 1: to Cane River Creole in um Nacodish Louisiana and talking
Speaker 1: with um and oh God, I'm gonna I'm gonna totally
Speaker 1: mess this up. He isn't and throw e throw wait
Speaker 1: and throw Ethno archaeologist UM ranger Dusty fou Quad down
Speaker 1: in Cane River and he took me through the collection
Speaker 1: and it was just amazing. And I grew up in
Speaker 1: New Orleans and so I thought I knew Louisiana history. Man.
Speaker 1: Learning about that kind of stuff was just just soul shaking.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was just beautiful because you know, they
Speaker 1: have they've excavated parts of the old plantation and they
Speaker 1: really keep those stories of of the locals and and
Speaker 1: the settlers alive, and it's just really beautiful and so
Speaker 1: so yeah, I mean, the small parks just can have
Speaker 1: so much if you just take the time and open
Speaker 1: your eyes and slow down and really learn and and
Speaker 1: be open to it. Absolutely and for sure it there
Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks, so now we know definitely
Speaker 1: where we're going. Give range your Dusty ring, Hey Dusty, Hey, Dusty, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you got a friend around me? Sounds great. Make make
Speaker 1: him buy you nakadish meat pies. That's where it's nakadish
Speaker 1: meat pies. You just won Matt's heart over because oh,
Speaker 1: I know, I know what I'm doing. I just want
Speaker 1: to learn a little bit more about you. So tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit about yourself. Yeah. So I'm currently
Speaker 1: based in Fort Worth, Texas. I just moved here this
Speaker 1: past year from spending fifteen years in Austin, and I
Speaker 1: am the education director at Fort Worth Camera, where I
Speaker 1: create and put together and teach classes on photography of
Speaker 1: all sorts um and also including workshops in the National parks.
Speaker 1: We're going to Big Bend in Washington, d C. And
Speaker 1: a couple of other great spots next year. So, um,
Speaker 1: if you happen to want to join us, fort Worth
Speaker 1: Camera dot Com is the place to find us. Um,
Speaker 1: you know. And and I've got lots of friends. I
Speaker 1: was just gonna say briefly, I've got lots of friends
Speaker 1: in other parts of national park stuff. And so if
Speaker 1: y'all are really interested in photography, I would also suggest
Speaker 1: y'all look at um National parks at night. They do
Speaker 1: some really great astro photography stuff, and so that's kind
Speaker 1: of how I learned my astro photography. So, um, yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I just think that National parks are just so beautiful
Speaker 1: and Biscayne there's so much to unpack their. Um, what
Speaker 1: what are some of your favorite parks National Park? Oh, Biscayne. Um.
Speaker 1: I had the beautiful experience of camping out on Elliott
Speaker 1: Key one night. Um, but you don't get to do
Speaker 1: very often, and so that was really great. Um. I
Speaker 1: love going out to Jones Lagoon. So my friend ranger
Speaker 1: Gary got married there with his beautiful husband Roger um
Speaker 1: and um, and so Jones Lagoon, paddling out there is
Speaker 1: always one of the one of the highlights. But you know,
Speaker 1: even just the boat trip out to Boccaci h. I was.
Speaker 1: I was going through my photos the other day, and
Speaker 1: I think that I have nineteen different ways that I
Speaker 1: have photographed the Hallowell Ornamental Lighthouse on Boca Cheetah and so,
Speaker 1: you know, So for folks who go to a park
Speaker 1: and say, Okay, I've checked the box, I would like
Speaker 1: to argue that there is something to be said for
Speaker 1: going back to a park again and again and really
Speaker 1: experiencing it in different ways, in different times of the year,
Speaker 1: in different days of part of part of the day,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, um, and just really enjoy the park
Speaker 1: as opposed to sort of checking the box absolutely as
Speaker 1: a flag. It's not about the box. It's about the experience.
Speaker 1: And you know, Um, I'm fortunate to have made friends
Speaker 1: with a park ranger down there who was just amazing
Speaker 1: and um, but I think I would go back again
Speaker 1: and again regardless. Yes, as soon as you go. Once
Speaker 1: you learn a surface level, right, you go back, you
Speaker 1: get another layer, and then you realize, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: there's more there, and then it just keeps on going
Speaker 1: and going and going because there's just there's so much
Speaker 1: history and culture there that you can dedicate your whole
Speaker 1: life to a single National park and still not know everything.
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, I've been. I've been to Biscayne. I think
Speaker 1: I counted seven times, and I still haven't snorkeled the
Speaker 1: Maritime Historical Trail. I still haven't been on Adam's Key.
Speaker 1: I still haven't you know, done a lot of things
Speaker 1: that I would love to do. And so I know
Speaker 1: that Biscayne is going to be one of those places
Speaker 1: that I'm going to continue to go to, particularly in
Speaker 1: January when there's a lot less bugs and um, I
Speaker 1: highly recommend South Florida Parks in January February. Um less people,
Speaker 1: you your bugs hands down, um bis water and you're
Speaker 1: telling me that there's still more to learn. There's still
Speaker 1: more to learn. Yeah, uh and that's just one one
Speaker 1: of are beautiful national parks. Yes, I'm ago. How many
Speaker 1: have y'all been to? Oh? We actually we're talking about
Speaker 1: this that we needed to sit down. We have an
Speaker 1: Excel sheet that we go through. We haven't updated it
Speaker 1: in a year. So embarrassed. It's going to be real bad.
Speaker 1: I'm disappointed. Right, you know what, we don't collect parks.
Speaker 1: We experienced them totally burned. Fair enough, fair enough. I'll
Speaker 1: just say that, Oh that's amazing. Yes, I mean yeah,
Speaker 1: because I am that nerd. That's good. No, that is
Speaker 1: really good because we've been talking about it, but we're
Speaker 1: just like, you know, there's just so much like I
Speaker 1: just love it because when we get home, we just
Speaker 1: research more, um and more, and then we go back.
Speaker 1: I mean, you've been to Carl's bad four well cars,
Speaker 1: but I think for yeah, it's like my most visited
Speaker 1: and yeah, it's one of those things where I totally
Speaker 1: agree with you, Like I could go back time and again.
Speaker 1: And even if I am doing some things that I've
Speaker 1: done before, it's not like I'm tired of it by
Speaker 1: any means I could. You're still learning happily. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: just as excited as my first visit. I love it there.
Speaker 1: It's endlessly inspiring and just like kind of floods me
Speaker 1: with happiness and delight. It's it's great. Yeah, even even
Speaker 1: just the thought of going to a park will do that, right,
Speaker 1: even endorphin rush. Next week, I'm gonna be able to
Speaker 1: spend a day in Glacier National Park, which I've never
Speaker 1: done in winter, and so I'm really excited and looking
Speaker 1: forward to experiencing that. So, yeah, we haven't really done
Speaker 1: any like winter national parks. We've been to some in winter,
Speaker 1: but they're done in the South, Like you're saying Biscayne
Speaker 1: and ever Glacier or something like that. But like going
Speaker 1: to Glacier nothing snow. That is a goal, Like Yellowstone
Speaker 1: visiting that in the winter is that. But right now
Speaker 1: because the r V and like its freezing, and you know,
Speaker 1: there's just so many things. So we're just like, you know,
Speaker 1: when we're done with the r V lifestyle, Well, you
Speaker 1: will then jump into like going during the winters and
Speaker 1: actually experiencing these these beautiful parts of nature, um sometimes
Speaker 1: like how they're intended to be, like it just revisiting,
Speaker 1: relearning and learning new survival techniques, what the wildlife and
Speaker 1: ecology is in the winter versus the summer, and how
Speaker 1: the everything changes and it all works together. So right,
Speaker 1: I mean, if if I had like a big outside goal,
Speaker 1: it would be to go to every park in all
Speaker 1: four seasons, right, But you know that's just that's a
Speaker 1: little much. So I'm just gonna say I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: what I can on that. Yeah, all right, right, we
Speaker 1: just endless resources. Well exactly exactly right, Hello lottery. Um.
Speaker 1: So yeah, So I mean for me, traveling to a
Speaker 1: national park is good any time of the year. Um,
Speaker 1: I really prefer this smaller parks in the summer when
Speaker 1: the larger parks get super crowded. Yes, you know, it's
Speaker 1: sort of a tip for people traveling. Um And but
Speaker 1: you know, big parks in winter are just heavenly, you know,
Speaker 1: because it's the silence, and it's the you know, it's everything.
Speaker 1: It's it's everything. It's the pristineness, it's the the wind,
Speaker 1: it's you know the light. Oh yeah, it's stunning. I
Speaker 1: cannot wait. So sound your where, um, where can people
Speaker 1: find you? Like your social media websites things like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you can find me at National Park patch Lady
Speaker 1: dot com. Or you can find me on Instagram at
Speaker 1: National Park patch Lady, or you can find me on
Speaker 1: Twitter at NP patch Lady. I'm also on Facebook, and
Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't think I do anything else
Speaker 1: that the kids do these days. That's probably about all
Speaker 1: the places you can find me. You're not on TikTok,
Speaker 1: and I think you're gonna have a great trip when
Speaker 1: you go to Glacier. And I can't wait to follow
Speaker 1: you at National Park Patch Lady because it's just there's
Speaker 1: just so many beautiful things that you bring, and there's
Speaker 1: so much value bring to the National Parks and the
Speaker 1: community of National park goers. And that's what this really
Speaker 1: is to me, is like like getting the chance to
Speaker 1: actually talk to you in person versus just like I
Speaker 1: g direct Instagram messages or you know, things like that.
Speaker 1: It's it's really beautiful to just learn more about our
Speaker 1: community of National park lovers and all these people are
Speaker 1: passionate about our parks. Um, the stories that the stories
Speaker 1: that you've shared today are going to go beyond helping
Speaker 1: and inspiring others. Um. It inspired me, and I know
Speaker 1: by looking in Matt's eyes that inspired him. But I
Speaker 1: really really appreciate you coming in sharing your story, your
Speaker 1: love for national parks, your tips. Uh, they've all been
Speaker 1: so beautiful. Thank you. I mean, I'm now I'm crying.
Speaker 1: Um wow. I mean you guys, you guys are at
Speaker 1: such an inspiration and I really appreciate the opportunity. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm extraordinarily grateful to to sort of share what I
Speaker 1: can and hopefully, you know, inspire others to just get
Speaker 1: out there and you know, experience America. Thank yeah, that
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, yeah, thank you so much. We were
Speaker 1: both like geeking out with excitement to talk to you today.
Speaker 1: So you've been listening to park Landing podcast. We'll be
Speaker 1: right back after a quick break. Hi. I'm Matt and
Speaker 1: I'm Brad. This is park land in. Today's episode is
Speaker 1: on Biscayne National Park in Florida, Key. Speaking of Biscayne,
Speaker 1: you got to do a solo trip down there, which
Speaker 1: I was jealous. Why don't you tell us a little
Speaker 1: bit more about that. Yes, I did. That was more
Speaker 1: recently than our trip to Biscayne together when we first went,
Speaker 1: and this was part of a trip that I did,
Speaker 1: just the road trip to like Everglades, Miami and the Keys,
Speaker 1: and I definitely wanted to go back to Bisken and
Speaker 1: explore more of it because obviously there's a lot more
Speaker 1: to do and see here. So what I did was
Speaker 1: I booked another tour this time instead of doing a
Speaker 1: snorkel trip, I booked a island trip to Bocacheta Key
Speaker 1: again with the Yeah again with Biscayn National Park Institute,
Speaker 1: because they do so many amazing tours and they're phenomenal,
Speaker 1: phenomenal from our snorkel trip there, so I knew I
Speaker 1: wanted to go out with them again and Bocachi Ta
Speaker 1: Key was something that I really want to do. And
Speaker 1: initially when you and I were bucking the snorkel trip,
Speaker 1: I was considering like between snorkeling and Bocacia Key because
Speaker 1: it's so iconic. This is the one with that lighthouse
Speaker 1: that Mark I knew well built in the thirties, iconic
Speaker 1: and it just looks spectacular and really unique and it's
Speaker 1: the most visited key in the National Park, so it
Speaker 1: was way up there for me on my list of
Speaker 1: two dudes. Yeah, I remember seeing that a lot of
Speaker 1: like private boaters in that area as well, So you
Speaker 1: don't even have to have a tour if you have
Speaker 1: your own boat, you can go out there by yourself. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's anyone. Anyone who you know has a boat can
Speaker 1: go out there. And the day I was there, it
Speaker 1: was a weekend. It was a Sunday, so there's lots
Speaker 1: of private boaters out there at the marina seemed like
Speaker 1: it was pretty full and it was a beautiful day.
Speaker 1: It was sunny and quite warm, so lots of people
Speaker 1: out there just kind of lounge you on their boats,
Speaker 1: cooking out relock saying. It wasn't too like loud or
Speaker 1: like a party scene or anything like that. It wasn't
Speaker 1: like South Beach, but it was definitely like filled and bustling.
Speaker 1: So that was definitely different to see and experience that
Speaker 1: aspect of the park and that scene. You know, there's
Speaker 1: many different ways to visit our park, yeah, right, and
Speaker 1: I think some people out there were also camping. You
Speaker 1: are welcome to camp out here in Bocutio Key if
Speaker 1: you can, you know, get yourself there again. And that's
Speaker 1: an intriguing option. That would be cool too, because I'm
Speaker 1: sure at night, obviously most of the voters go back
Speaker 1: to the mainland to go back home. Really awesome if
Speaker 1: you could, like you know, have your own boat, go
Speaker 1: camp there, then go to your own snorkeling with our
Speaker 1: own equipment, and you know, that sounds like a little
Speaker 1: dream trip to But right, I mean, we just got
Speaker 1: to get our own boat. That's the main Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: not a big deal, right, No, not at all. That's
Speaker 1: you know, that's the drive. I would be open and
Speaker 1: driving a boat. It's it's like open ocean out here,
Speaker 1: so I'm less word, there's no I'm not afraid I'm
Speaker 1: gonna like run into something necessarily like that'd be pretty
Speaker 1: hard to do if you did, that'd be embarrassing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So the key was really fun. We're only out there,
Speaker 1: like wandering around for like an hour. It's a really
Speaker 1: small key, so an hour it seems like it's plenty.
Speaker 1: But the first thing we did was go to the
Speaker 1: lighthouse and the our guide let us up. So normally
Speaker 1: whenever when there's no tour happening on the key, the
Speaker 1: lighthouse is shut and locked to preserve it from you know,
Speaker 1: random people who might want a party in it, which
Speaker 1: which makes sense, I guess. But we got to go
Speaker 1: up the lighthouse, up this series of like winding narrow stairs,
Speaker 1: and then from the very top, it's such an amazing
Speaker 1: view looking out over the Key and the ocean, and
Speaker 1: you get a really nice panorama of the Miami skyline
Speaker 1: in the distance too, a little a little hazy, but
Speaker 1: it's clearly there and kind of kind of wild because like,
Speaker 1: it only took me an hour to get from South
Speaker 1: Beak to Biscayne, and it looked like it's way off
Speaker 1: in the distance, looks like it would be a longer drive.
Speaker 1: But oh yeah, that was great. So after the lighthouse,
Speaker 1: there's no rare like hiking trails or anything like that.
Speaker 1: But like I kind of wandered around the perimeter of
Speaker 1: the of the Key along some of the there's like
Speaker 1: beaches on the north side of it, or the east
Speaker 1: side of it rather, and those were some of the
Speaker 1: prettiest beaches I've ever seen. The waters like turquoise and
Speaker 1: like white sand, and there's like patches of mangrove mangrove
Speaker 1: trees kind of spurting out of the water along the shore,
Speaker 1: so nice. I had my bathing suit on, so like
Speaker 1: I was ready to go swimming, but the water was
Speaker 1: surprisingly on the chili side, so I didn't really want
Speaker 1: to do. I also didn't have a towel, so was
Speaker 1: it clear water? It was really clear, So if I
Speaker 1: had snorkel equipment, I probably would have been more inclined
Speaker 1: in a wet suit too. Definitely the wet suit. So
Speaker 1: just a gorgeous, gorgeous little key out here and some forests,
Speaker 1: some really bright green forest to wander through, and yeah,
Speaker 1: that was wonderful. And I also learned about there's not
Speaker 1: obviously a limited amount of wildlife out here, but the
Speaker 1: guide told us shockingly though there are raccoons, which I
Speaker 1: don't understand how they got there, but he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: they're everywhere, and I'm like it's kind of true though, Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then also animals called wood rats, which get water
Speaker 1: from coconuts. They get fresh they need like obviously they
Speaker 1: can't drink salt water, so their water source in the island.
Speaker 1: They kind of like not their way into coconuts and
Speaker 1: drink coconut water. So when we were initially there, like
Speaker 1: we mentioned. It was during government shutdowns, so the visitor
Speaker 1: center was closed. There was no exhibits we could see,
Speaker 1: there was no park movie, so I was eager to
Speaker 1: check that out for the first time. And it was great,
Speaker 1: Like did not disappoint a huge visitor center. It never
Speaker 1: does so much to see and learn about, especially pertaining
Speaker 1: to the copious amounts of wildlife here and the different ecosystems,
Speaker 1: and the animals that live where, how long they've lived
Speaker 1: here just and then the changing geography of the of
Speaker 1: the park over the past several thousand years. Lots to
Speaker 1: discovery and read about. And then I saw the park movie,
Speaker 1: which was in the same room where Sandra's photography exhibit was,
Speaker 1: So around the like perimeter of the room and then
Speaker 1: like the hallway outside of it were her beautiful photographs
Speaker 1: and you could read all about those and look at them,
Speaker 1: and then sit down and watch this excellent park movie
Speaker 1: hosted by a ranger who's kind of guiding you through
Speaker 1: the different keys and showing you and pointing out the
Speaker 1: different wildlife and plant species and talking more about the history,
Speaker 1: especially like Spite Highway and how it's a hiking chill now.
Speaker 1: So that was cool. To see and learn more about
Speaker 1: from that direct perspective. Yeah, I really feel that Biscayne
Speaker 1: is mostly about the wildlife and the ecology because there's
Speaker 1: just so many layers, from the ocean to the keys,
Speaker 1: um even to the mainlands. There's so much too really
Speaker 1: dive into their yeah, you're yeah, I mean literally dive
Speaker 1: into it. And even if you're just walking around, if
Speaker 1: you're in one of the keys like I was, it's
Speaker 1: you're you're still immersed in it, and it's incredible in
Speaker 1: a very inspiring place and the type of place where
Speaker 1: I could totally see and I agree with Sandra like
Speaker 1: I could come back time and again and never ever
Speaker 1: get tired of it, certainly, and always have something new
Speaker 1: to new to see, new to do. It's just one
Speaker 1: of those very special places, my favorite. All right, now,
Speaker 1: it's that time of the episode where we share with
Speaker 1: each other our favorite parts of Biscayne National Park. We
Speaker 1: haven't told each other our answers, so it's all a surprise. Matt,
Speaker 1: what was your favorite thing to do here? Well? I
Speaker 1: think it is pretty hard to be snarkling, especially for
Speaker 1: someone like me who's terrified of that type of thing,
Speaker 1: or who was terrified my entire left of that type
Speaker 1: of thing in this setting. So it was not only
Speaker 1: really fun, but it had that another level of meaning
Speaker 1: to me being able to do that and jump off
Speaker 1: a boat and how I was just so pleasantly surprised
Speaker 1: by how quickly everything kind of clicked into place, and
Speaker 1: I instantly felt calm and excited and just like, yes,
Speaker 1: this is wonderful, and I could just do this all day.
Speaker 1: I could do this time and again, and it was mesmerizing.
Speaker 1: So I would say that was my favorite thing absolutely
Speaker 1: times a million agree, because when you just jump in
Speaker 1: that water and you get into it for your first time,
Speaker 1: you're just in it. You're it's like you're in a movie.
Speaker 1: It's like you're in in this beautiful, beautiful experience of
Speaker 1: like experiencing wildlife for the first time, and you can
Speaker 1: see it all happening in front of you. It's like
Speaker 1: it basically goes into a fish eye lens where you're
Speaker 1: like you're just seeing everything happening, and like I was
Speaker 1: saying earlier about chasing different fish and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, distracted and there's another one. Um. It was
Speaker 1: just such a fun experience because there was no other
Speaker 1: worries in the world. Now you're so focused on one fish,
Speaker 1: Like that's what I was focused on and what was
Speaker 1: happening around it and just seeing how this uh wildlife
Speaker 1: is wild. Yeah, I remember that that's an important part
Speaker 1: to the the intense focus. And I felt that with
Speaker 1: very specific things like all of a sudden, the only
Speaker 1: things I'm concentrating on our breathing correctly, you know, like
Speaker 1: you need to remind myself okay, and then making sure
Speaker 1: water is not going into my snorkel, my mask and stuff.
Speaker 1: And then just aside from that, looking at everything and
Speaker 1: experiencing it and being you know, completely captivated. So it's
Speaker 1: just from like my normal life as as a creature
Speaker 1: who lives on land like this is completely different and
Speaker 1: forces you to just recalibrate and focus entirely on different things.
Speaker 1: And for days like literally there was just like therapy.
Speaker 1: Yeah it is. It is therapy. Um kind of like
Speaker 1: Sando saying, you know, National Parks, when you're in it
Speaker 1: and you're you're really in it, it just relieves all anxiety,
Speaker 1: all fears, all depression, all everything, and all you get
Speaker 1: to do is focus. Yeah. Yes, so let's talk about
Speaker 1: things that you should bring into biscayde National Park if
Speaker 1: you're planning on visiting reservations. Yeah, that's the number one
Speaker 1: because unless you're lucky enough to have a yacht or
Speaker 1: a boat or something, you you absolutely need that. Even then,
Speaker 1: even then, take get a reservation and go on one
Speaker 1: of these tours because you're gonna learn so much. The
Speaker 1: guides are really well educated, they know what they're talking about,
Speaker 1: and they're going to know the best places to go. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is one of those parks where there isn't a
Speaker 1: lot you can do unless you have a reservation to
Speaker 1: do something an activity, a tour, because there's very limited
Speaker 1: things on on the mainland. There's that jetty trail and
Speaker 1: excellent visitors center, but you're really missing out if you
Speaker 1: don't go out, and you need to go out, you know,
Speaker 1: cute away. It's like miles out to get to the
Speaker 1: keys and then beyond that to go Snorkeley. So reservations
Speaker 1: are important and as far in advance as possible. They
Speaker 1: weren't difficult that we made ours like a week in
Speaker 1: advance or whatever, and it was it seems totally fine,
Speaker 1: but still obviously I can't hurt And then bringing us
Speaker 1: sunscreen but like waterproof sunscreen is huge. Um. And then
Speaker 1: learning how to apply water um, waterproof like sunscreen, because um,
Speaker 1: I've made a mistake where I like, you know, I'll
Speaker 1: put it on and then I'll jump right in the
Speaker 1: ocean and you have to let it like basically cure
Speaker 1: for a couple of minutes to really actually just sink
Speaker 1: into you so that we're not getting burnt. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: And then if you have any wet suit stuff, by
Speaker 1: all means bring that. It would save you some money
Speaker 1: so you don't have to rent those in addition or
Speaker 1: be like us, And we bought our own Now after that,
Speaker 1: I never ready. Yes, we have our own fins which
Speaker 1: are really cute choofin I know, I want to wear them,
Speaker 1: walk around with them. They're so cool wet suits. And
Speaker 1: we even have the snorkeling life fests with a whistle
Speaker 1: just in case, because it's always better to be prepared, um,
Speaker 1: And that whistle is more you know, anything goes wrong
Speaker 1: and you might need it, and most of the times
Speaker 1: we're in a very safe environment, but it's always better
Speaker 1: to be prepared. So yeah, and then this isn't so
Speaker 1: much a thing to bring but something to bear in mind,
Speaker 1: and you touched on this a little bit. But if
Speaker 1: you're going snarkling and you're like you and you have
Speaker 1: facial hair, then yes, you might not be expecting this.
Speaker 1: But like, what what did you wind up having to do? Oh?
Speaker 1: I had to put vaseline like all over my face,
Speaker 1: all around the eyes and everything, and it still didn't
Speaker 1: even work that great. So when you want to go snorkeling,
Speaker 1: you definitely want to um shape. You want to have
Speaker 1: as bare face as you can so that way you
Speaker 1: can the mask can properly seal to your face. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the vassilin helps with that. So basically, if you're
Speaker 1: if you look at Dumbledore, you probably should not go
Speaker 1: snarkeling because you need a lot of vassaline. If you're
Speaker 1: like a wizard, yes, yeah, wizards beware. Yeah right, probably
Speaker 1: not the activity for you, but good, good to know.
Speaker 1: So I think it's safe to say that, in addition
Speaker 1: to having some of my favorite slash most ridiculous history
Speaker 1: of all the National parks, this gain holds a very
Speaker 1: special place in my heart for helping me overcome my
Speaker 1: irrational fears. All my fears are irrational. You've come a
Speaker 1: long way from your Jaws fearing days. I mean to
Speaker 1: be clear, I'm still terrified of Jos, but this game
Speaker 1: is basically the emotional training wheels I needed to help
Speaker 1: me take this new leap, both literally and figuratively. And
Speaker 1: we've barely even scratched the surface here, because truly it's
Speaker 1: of this enormous and beautiful place is below the surface.
Speaker 1: You've been listening to park Landia, a show about national parks.
Speaker 1: PARKLANDI is the production of My Heart Radio, created by
Speaker 1: Matt Carouac, Brad Caro Wak and Christopher hasiotis produced and
Speaker 1: edited by Mike John's. Our executive producer is Christopher hasiotis
Speaker 1: our researcher. It's Jecelyn Shields. A special things goes out
Speaker 1: to Gabrielle Collins, Christal Waters and the rest of the
Speaker 1: park Landia crew. And Hey listeners, If you're enjoying the show,
Speaker 1: leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps other
Speaker 1: people like you find our show. You can keep up
Speaker 1: with us on social media as well. Check out our
Speaker 1: photos from our travels on Instagram at Parklndia pod and
Speaker 1: join in on the conversation and our Facebook group Parklandia Rangers.
Speaker 1: From our podcast, My heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
Speaker 1: and as always, thank you for listening.