147 What Else Is There To Do In Florida?
Recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau’ Relaxo.
Since all the major Florida theme parks are requiring masks you might be looking for Florida vacation alternatives.
Earlier this month Disney released its Star Wars-themed Galactic Starcruise hotel pricing.
Get this - a two-night stay, costs
$4,809 for two guests in a cabin,
$5,299 for three guests (two adults and one child) and
$5,999 for four guests (three adults, one child).
Have no fear, entertainment, food, and beverages are included No doubt about it people will flock to this.
It’s also possible that your wallet might also be looking for Florida vacation alternatives.
So that’s the topic tonight, what else is there to do in Florida?
By now you know I love numbers
In 2019 21.48 million people were residing in Florida
In 2019 Florida had 131.4 million visitors
In 2020 Florida had 86.714 million visitors, not bad for the year of the pandemic
As of May 2021, there were over 455,000 hotel and motel rooms in Florida spread over 4,269 properties.
Many don’t know this, but Florida is home to numerous conventions, and I bet you didn’t know but the Orange County Convention Center is one of the top 20 largest convention centers in the world.
From their website - In recent years, the Center provided approximately $3 billion in economic impact to Central Florida annually. The OCCC has averaged nearly 200 events, including 115 conventions and tradeshows that attract more than 1.5 million attendees to the region each year.
Looking back over the past 20 years, and I’ve attended no less than 6 conventions in Florida.
But most of the visitors visited at least one of the big four -
The Mouse House - over 20 million each year
Universal Studios- around 11 million visitors each year
Busch Gardens - 4 million
Sea World - more than 4.5 million
But there’s more to Florida, well beyond conventions and major theme parks, actually, there’s a lot more.
First, we need to talk about the 500lb elephant in the room, or shall I say “The State”, the Florida mindset. Now I’m the first to pick on Florida, and why not? We have our own vocabulary.
Florida Man - describe bizarre or idiotic Floridian behavior.
Florida Happy Meal - beer, cigarettes, and lottery tickets.
Florida Fuel - Meth
Florijority - Think elections, as Florida has significant influence.
Flogrown - You were created and raised in Florida.
For instance just last month this was a headline - A 32-year-old Florida man is accused of wrestling with an alligator that he stole from a miniature golf course and later trying to hurl it onto the roof of a cocktail bar. You can’t make this stuff up.
In my humble opinion, Florida is like no other state. The northern part is really no different than south Georgia. The west coast is heavily monied, The east coast and central part are where the north retires to. South Florida is the wild wild west, and the Keys is full of pirates and those with a past looking to escape. Then throw in the fact that between June and November it’s hurricane season, and that’s a yearly roll of the dice.
Back to our theme - What Else Is There To Do In Florida.
Here’s another number 663, which’s the number of miles along the Florida coastline that has beach access. Some of which is public, some of which is private.
I’ve lived in Florida off and on, for over 25 years, and I’m a pasty white melanoma survivor so take my beach advice with a grain of salt. If you’re a surfer visit the east coast, think New Smyrna or Juno Beach as well as the Ponce Inlet.
If you’re like me and you enjoy a sunset accompanied by a cigar and adult beverage consider Naples or Grassy Key.
While I could do a complete episode on the Keys here’s my take. The Keys are very hypnotic. In my youth, we’d make runs from south Florida to Key West for the weekend. And we’d stop at the big 4 Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, Big Pine Key for a shot along the way. Like I said hypnotic. Then by Sunday afternoon all of us would have discussions along the lines of - “We should stay down here and recycle aluminum cans and make palm fronds hat for a living” by 9:00 AM Monday we were all back to slaying the dragon.
If you make it to Ket West make sure to check out the evening sunset celebration filled with street performers and live music.
While in Key West you can visit the Key West Garden Club and see a garden paradise on the site of a former Civil War fort. It’s free.
For a tour of Key West take the Conch Train.
If you’re a treasure hunter take the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum tour.
Then there are endless sources for fishing as well as snorkeling.
If you drive to Key West, as most people do set aside some time, or an evening for a stop at Bud N’ Mary’s on Isamarado. Watch the boats dock at the end of a day on the water while you enjoy an adult beverage.
One of my favorite trips to the Keys was in the mid-90’s.
That about covers the Keys.
If you’re a hiker you’re in luck.
There’s the 1100 mile Florida Trail. Beginning at the Big Cypress Oasis Visitor Center just west of Miami and terminating at the Fort Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore just a bit south of Pensacola.
If you’re in the Southwest part of the state check out Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. A relatively easy 2.3-mile hike, most of which is on a boardwalk. Bring your camera for pictures of birds, gators, and cypress trees.
Not that far from Chateau’ Relaxo there is the Black Bear Wilderness Loop Trail. This is a 7-mile hike, but they do offer camping, but it requires a free permit.
We do a lot of day trips as well as overnight trips and often times those trips are focused on the Florida Antique Trail. If you’re a picker or just like visiting antique stores there are over 110 posted stores on the trail.
If you didn’t know there are over 30,000 lakes in Florida covering more than 3 million acres of land. Next, add in the coastline and canals it’s real easy to say that Florida is water-centric.
If you want some water entertainment visit these two YouTube Channels Wavy Boats which focuses on boats navigating Haulover Inlet or Miami Boat Ramp focusing on people trying to dock their boats and then back down a boat ramp.
If you’re into the aquatic life that doesn’t involve an outboard or inboard engine there is still plenty to do.
There are no fewer than100 places where you can Kayak, Canoe, and Paddleboard. This doesn’t include Kayaking, Canoeing, and Paddleboarding in the canals that are alongside almost every road in Florida.
What sold us on the location where we built Chateau’ Relaxo was a kayaking trip through Rock Springs Run eleven years ago. We’re about 3 miles from the launchpad and this is truly a stretch of water that makes you forget that you’re no less than 40 minutes away from the madness of the Mouse House and Universal Studios.
Another great hangout nearby is Wekiva Island. In episode 67 I spoke about one of our visits -
At first appearance, Wekeiva island will remind you of a cross between the bar in the movie Porkies and Flora Bama. But don’t let that fool you.
Yes, we were drinking before 11:00 AM. Bloody Mary for the CEO and this Florida Man was drinking a Cigar City Florida Man Double IPA.
Being situated right on the water there was plenty of canoe and kayak traffic, but that didn’t stop the egrets and the otters from putting on a show. The bar wall was stocked with what makes Florida, Florida. Several alligator skins mixed with deer and fish mounts. This is the kind of place that John Anderson sings about.
If you’re not much of a bar-fly-guy or gal there had to have been 25 Adirondack chairs stationed along the seawall just waiting for you to sit in and enjoy the morning sun.
If you’re not much of a human-powered watercraft person but enjoy swimming, have no fear there is an almost endless amount of springs throughout the state.
Two of my favorites, Rainbow Springs in Dunnellon which offers Geocaching, hiking, swimming, and camping. Another local favorite is Wekiva Springs Park where you can hike, camp, swim, and bike. Take it from a local, this place hits capacity early on the weekends and holidays.
If you love to fish there’s an equal mix of offshore as well as inshore opportunities. For offshore there’s drift boat fishing where for as little as $50.00 you and about 20 other people have a 4-hour fishing trip with everything provided.
If you’ve got a bigger budget you can book a sportfishing charter starting at around $400.00. Do your research as you want a charter that can put you on fish, and there’s no guarantee of that, but read some reviews before you book.
One of my favorite saltwater trips was out of Isalndmarada on a fly-fishing day trip. Went spent a few hours off the Atlantic coast chasing tarpon with absolutely no luck. For the afternoon we went under the bridge to the Gulf side strapped on steel leaders and absolutely slayed the barracudas. Passing boosters thought we were crazy.
If inshore fishing is your thing you’re in luck. I grew up bass fishing the lakes and canals of South Florida. And while there’s still plenty of bass and there’s also a handful of other crazy species.
Peacock Bass were introduced from Brazil in the 1980s and they’re absolutely beautiful with green, orange, red, and yellow marking and they put up an amazing fight when caught.
The Snakehead - I strong, aggressive, and highly predatory, These showed up in South Florida about 20 years ago and are probably the most invasive freshwater fish in Florida.
Clown Knife Fish - Are some of the craziest looking freshwater fish around. They have a metallic silver body with black dots similar to a redfish. Its pelvic fin runs the length of its body and there is not really a tail fin to speak of.
Oscars or Cichlids are all over the place and they come from people’s home fish tanks. Either they’re moving or just get tired of feeding them so they empty their fish tank into the local canal. They put up a great fight, especially on ultralight tackle.
Geocaching - If you’re not familiar with geocaching here’s the cliff notes -
It’s treasure hunting for the 21st century. It started with a handheld GPS receiver, a set of coordinates that tell you the location of a cache. Then you go out and look for caches of goodies hidden by other geocachers. If one of the goodies in the cache strikes your fancy, you can take it--provided you leave another goodie in its place.
In addition to the goodies, caches nearly always contain a logbook of some sort so that you can record your thoughts and scribble a note for future cache visitors.
Since then it’s evolved, there’s now an app for your phone since all smartphone has GPS and most caches just contain a logbook that you sign indicating you found the cache.
Florida offers its fair share of caches, and geocaching is something you can do with minimal planning. Open the app submit your location and nearby caches will be indicated. It’s something that the CEO and I will regularly do when we’re traveling. As I mentioned earlier many of the state parks contain caches.
If you’re a foodie and a fan of Triple D there is north of 70 destinations for you to visit. When it comes to food here’s my take….. If you insist on dining strictly 4 or 5 stars where they fold your napkin when you excuse yourself to go to the restroom… then God bless you. I love that stuff especially when someone else is paying.
For most of us, we want a solid meal at a realistic price and I’ve visited at least 20 of the Florida Triple D destinations, unfortunately, many have closed such as Havana Hideout, some of the best tacos around. Benny's Seafood amazing mofongo closed. Still, open there is the Whale’s Rib, make sure you get some of their whale juice and Sonny’s Hoagies in Hollywood serves some of the best steak and cheese sandwiches I’ve tasted.
Still a foodie and looking for a step up from Triple D’s?
Berns Steak House in Tampa is worth a trip just to visit their desert room. -
Charley’s Steak House also in Tampa, order the pork chops.
Todd English’s BlueeZoo - Located inside the Swan & Dolphin, hands down the most expensive meal I didn’t have to pay for.
Terra Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse which translates to Gaucho Land Brazilian Steakhouse is in Jacksonville. And if you don’t have a pair of loose-fitting gauchos at least wear something with an elastic waistband
Other things to do -
In the Bahamas, you can swim with pigs, and in Crystal River Florida you can Swim with Manatees starting at $60.00.
There are all sorts of airboats trips you can take.
If you’re near Titusville they’re still launching rockets since SpaceX took over the launch pads at Kennedy Space Center.
If you want to shoot machine guns you can visit Machine Gun America and do just that. As one would guess, it’s not cheap.
If you enjoy touring lighthouses there are 29 lighthouses up and down the coast.
If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/
Leave a message onAnchor, or shoot me an email atTravelFrick@gmail.com.
As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.
Thanks for listening.
What Else Is There To Do In Florida? - Travel Stories, Episode 147