The Everglades is one of 26 World Heritage Sites in danger and according to Smithsonian magazine, is currently "the focus of the world's largest environmental restoration project." It is the only place on earth that has both alligators and crocodiles living side by side. And contrary to what people say, it's a marsh, not a swamp because its main vegetation is grassy, not woody.

I went to the Everglades in March 2003 to go canoeing with my husband. He wanted us to canoe for a day and camp on a chickee, a wooden raised platform above the marsh. I wasn't crash hot on the idea but little did I know that my husband had planned on proposing that night on the chickee. We canoed for a few hours but got terribly lost. We gave up on reaching the chickee and decided to turn back before the sun went down. Needless to say, I didn't get my proposal that night but a few nights later in Key West, right beside the Atlantic Ocean!