Tag Archives: Florida Road Trips

Florida Road Trips

How To Experience Kissimmee If You Don’t Love Theme Parks

In college, I lived oh-so-briefly in Kissimmee. It was quite the experience.

The Kissimmee Experiment (1994)

Despite attending UCF (go Knights!), I moved to the Kissimmee area because I had a part-time job at Disney and the commute from my apartment in Winter Park to Lake Buena Vista was not... ideal. Orlando, the saying goes, is an hour from Orlando — and neither Winter Park nor Lake Buena Vista were technically in Orlando. In the early- and mid-90s, Kissimmee had a lot of "dinner-and-show" experiences, likely spurred by the popularity of Medieval Times. I never set foot in any of them while I lived there.  Kissimmee was close to my part-time job (which, at the time, was a lot more fun than some of the courses I had to take outside my major), and that was all that mattered. On occasion, I would meander outside the touristy areas. I remember...

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Florida Road Trips

Big Cypress: Snakes, Swamps, and Staying the Night

At the start of this year, I said I wanted to take more Florida road trips in 2024. This worked out well, because for my birthday, El Cap arranged a swamp walk and two-night stay in Big Cypress. Specially, at Clyde Butcher's place, where they not only offer swamp walks, but bungalows where you can stay. A few weeks ago, we set out, cutting across Florida on US 41 (one of my favorite stretches), arriving later than we'd hoped. If you've driven across US 41 from Naples to Miami (or the other way around), you've passed Clyde Butcher's gallery. It's a relatively small outpost in a relatively vast expanse of swamp, and while I've often stopped to drool over his gorgeous black-and-white, better-than-anything-Ansel-Adams-ever-did landscapes, I had no idea that, right behind this gallery was a hidden place to stay in the middle of...

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Florida Road Trips

Hidden Sarasota: Things To Do There

A couple of weeks ago, my Florida Spectacular cohost Rick Kilby and I talked about Sarasota and things to do there. Sure, everyone knows about the Ringling, the St. Armand's Circle, and camping at Myakka River State Park, but these hidden Sarasota gems are a don't-miss for your next Florida road trip. Here's a few of our favorites from the show, and why we like them.

Hidden Sarasota: Places to Eat

Owen's Fish Camp is a rustic yet elegant restaurant that's always packed, so it's not hidden at all if you're local to Sarasota. The boil on the menu's amazing, but don't sleep on two of my favorites there: boiled peanuts and deviled eggs. Rick raved about the Bali Hut Tiki Hut, because, well, all things Tiki. Not many of these left, so stop in when you can.

Hidden Sarasota: Outdoors and...

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