Florida fling: vacation possibilities abound in every corner of the Sunshine State

Travel America, Jan-Feb, 2005 by Vivian Holley

WHEN IT COMES TO FUN IN the sun, it s hard to upstage family-friendly Florida and its subtropical bounty of attractions and activities for adventurers of all ages. Coast to coast, the variety is astonishing and the getaway possibilities grand. Not even the 2004 visitations by unwelcome blowhards named Charley, Frances, and Ivan could dampen the appeal of the unsinkable Sunshine State.

In Florida's northern reaches, you can't help but notice the contrast of past and present. There's easygoing Amelia Island in the northeast corner where eight flags have billowed over time--scarcely a skip from the thoroughly modern bustle of Jacksonville. Then there's St. Augustine, the oldest continuously-occupied city in the nation. Take a look at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum and its interpretation of the maritime history of the old port where the Spanish erected a watchtower at the end of the 16th century. Be sure to check out St. Augustine's World Golf Village and its newly redesigned World Golf Hall of Fame.

Amble across the top of the state to Gainesville to eyeball the exotic beauties that populate the new Butterfly Rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Then make tracks for the stunning powdered sugar sands of the Northwest coast. Kids in the car? They'll be the first to spy the enduring recreational lures of Panama City--soon followed by serene towns that have quietly evolved from quaint fishing villages.

Track the sun-sparkled emerald waters to Pensacola, where the National Museum of Naval Aviation at the Pensacola Naval Air Station is a stilting sight with its assemblage of 170 vintage airplanes--plus a Blue Angel flight simulator to sample.

Head southward along Florida's Atlantic-lapped coastline, and you'll find it tempting to simply spread a towel somewhere on the 23 sandy miles of Daytona Beach and stay put. But then you would miss the blast-off excitement of the Space Coast, where a tour of the Kennedy Space Center is a must, and the pulse-pounding motorsports celebrated at Daytona Beach USA, where you can design and video-test your own racecar.

In contrast, the serene state parks of West Volusia and Volusia counties provide peaceful retreats and a taste of the state's heritage. At Blue Spring State Park, the landscape is much as it was when populated by the Timucuan Indians. It's a place for up-close looks at manatees--Florida's gentle giants--November through March from platforms along Blue Spring Run. Open for tours is a restored house built in 1872 for handy access to the St. Johns River--Florida's longest at 310 miles from its origins south of Cape Canaveral to its mouth in Jacksonville. Meanwhile, in DeLeon Springs State Park, you can explore circa-1800s Spring Garden Plantation and its sugar mill powered by spring water.

More treasures await. If you're a horticultural buff, you'll want to linger at Veto Beach in Indian River County, where McKee Botanical Garden spreads 18 acres of waterways and ponds wrapped in subtropical plants and trees.

If it's bird-watching you want, consider Martin County, where you can paddle your own canoe and spy on hawks and great blue herons, ospreys and egrets, spoonbills and brown pelicans. Along the way you can drop anchor for an island picnic, or pull up to a choice restaurant, or stop to shop in the restored downtowns of Stuart and Jensen Beach. (Narrated boat tours are available as well.)

Is diving your dream? Check out the breathtaking barrier reefs and beneath-the-sea citizenry on view in St. Lucie County--Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie, and Hutchinson Island--where there are centuries-old shipwrecks to explore. At the St. Lucie County Historical Museum, you'll see Spanish treasure from these vessels, along with a re-created Seminole Indian encampment. The St. Lucie River is a prime spot for paddling a canoe and training binoculars on wide-ranging birdlife and the antics of playful river otters.

Arguably, there's no territory anywhere that sports the entertainment quotient of the state's midsection--home to Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, and endless water-themed escapades from swimming with dolphins at Discovery Cove to submerging in a dive cage at SeaWorld.

Kissimmee, only a skip from Walt Disney World, boasts its own array of attractions, from themed dinner theaters to the Monument of States, made of stones collected by residents from every state and numerous foreign countries. Here in the midsection's bastions of "Old Florida," you can not only kayak wild cypress swamps and haul in a prize-winning bass but saddle up for an authentic cattle drive.

One of Florida's oldest (it opened in 1936) and best-known attractions--Cypress Gardens, just south of Orlando in Winter Haven--reopened in late 2004 after being closed for just over a year. Born again as Cypress Gardens Adventure Park, the site's signature botanical gardens beckon as much as ever, but today they form a backdrop for a $45-million makeover that includes 38 rides plus concerts, laser and fireworks displays, and a village of shops and eateries. Still prominent in the lineup are the choreographed waterski shows.