On our annual trip to Florida, a local man told my husband, Robby, that we had to see Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in Homosassa, near central Florida's Gulf Coast. We're sure glad we took his advice–it's like no other state park we've ever visited. Read the rest of this entry »

Exhausted by the frantic pace of central Florida's theme parks? Gatorland is a delightful change of pace–and only minutes away from those better-known attractions.

This 37-acre wildlife preserve is home to more than 1,000 alligators, 200 crocodiles and thousands of birds. It features a three-story observation tower overlooking a 10-acre breeding marsh and a 2,000-foot boardwalk leading through a cypress swamp to the Everglades' headwaters.

We were surprised to find the African Queen, the steamboat immortalized in the 1951 movie of the same name, docked in a canal in Key Largo, Florida.

Built in England, the 36-foot steel-hulled boat was originally named Livingston and toiled as a ferry on Lake Albert. Read the rest of this entry »

Flea markets abound in Florida, but Webster's extravaganza–among the state's oldest and largest–astonishes even seasoned flea market goers like me. Read the rest of this entry »

Entering the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame in Hernando, Florida made me feel like a kid again, listening to Boston Red Sox games on my grandmother's Philco radio and hearing the crowd go wild as "The Splendid Splinter" steps to the plate. Read the rest of this entry »

The city of St. Augustine in northeastern Florida is among the oldest settlements in America. And just a short drive away, you can take a free ferry to see little-known Fort Matanzas, built by the Spanish in 1740 to protect the city. Read the rest of this entry »