Skunk Ape Research Headquarters

Everglades National Park


This only-in-Florida roadside attraction is dedicated to tracking down southeastern USA’s version of Bigfoot, the eponymous Skunk Ape (a large gorilla-man who supposedly stinks to high heaven). We never saw a Skunk Ape, but you can see a corny gift shop and, in the back, a reptile-and-bird zoo run by a true Florida eccentric, the sort of guy who wraps albino pythons around his neck for fun.

The little zoo is good fun for kids, with tiny alligators and (non-venomous) snakes you can hold, and various large birds, including a blushing blue-and-gold macaw named Patches, and a screechy cockatoo named Sassy. There's also a 22ft Burmese python and a few tortoises.