Thanks for following CNN's Summer in the Park series. We hope you'll consider visiting a national park, or two, on your next vacation.
Illustration by Stewart Scott-Curran
Drifting through South Florida —
Florida Bay, covering 850 square miles, is located between the mainland and the Florida Keys.
Courtesy National Park Service
Drifting through South Florida —
Sabrina Diaz, supervisory ranger for Everglades National Park, with her daughter, Sierra, at the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center.
Courtesy Glenn Gardne/National Park Service
Drifting through South Florida —
The National Park Service estimates that there are fewer than 100 Florida panthers in South Florida.
Courtesy Rodney Cammauf/National Park Service
Drifting through South Florida —
The River of Grass was allowed to flow into Everglades National Park for the first time since the 1920s after a one-mile bridge over the Tamiami Trail was completed this year.
Courtesy Glenn Gardner/National Park Service
Drifting through South Florida —
The American crocodile has a V-shaped snout, a grayish color and usually prefers saltwater.
Courtesy R. Cammauf/National Park Service
Drifting through South Florida —
The American alligator has a blackish color, a U-shaped snout and prefers freshwater.
Courtesy L Coldiron/National Park Service
Drifting through South Florida —
Cypress trees are flood-tolerant. Two species, bald and pond, grow in the Everglades.
Courtesy Glenn Gardner/National Park Service
Drifting through South Florida —
Nicknamed the water turkey and snake bird, Anhinga birds have broad tails that help them swim.
Courtesy Rodney Cammauf/National Park Service
Drifting through South Florida —
Wading birds gather in the Everglades' Mrazek Pond.
Courtesy Tim Taylor/National Park Service
Drifting through South Florida —
Florida manatees, a subspecies of the endangered West Indian manatee, are primarily herbivores, prefer shallow water and normally surface every five minutes to breathe.
