Dade City, where I spent most of my time, is a small town in between Orlando and Tampa, in inland Florida. My grandparents lived in a retirement community, which are all over Florida (seriously, everywhere!). The best part of that was having access to a beautiful palm tree lined pool, and taking early evening walks along the streets which bordered on an orange grove (which was later cut down for more retirement communities). There is a fabulous Mexican restaurant in Dade City called El Poncho Villa... very authentic, and very tasty. The first year we went down there, we ate at Kafe Kokopelli. I remember it being very cool inside, and it being the venue where I tried Alligator meat... very chewy, not very tasty. And of course, you can't beat Checkers, which is my fast food joint of choice in the south. Tasty burgers, seasoned fries, and you can get a banana milkshake with your combo! Yumm!
Dade City is a small town, with lots of pretty parks and churches. The town hall and downtown area is very quaint, and I always liked walking around there. Outside of Dade City there are farms and swamps and lots of wildlife. I love driving around that area. There is also a really neat state park called Withlacootchee state park. We did a couple hikes there trying to find some cool wildlife in the swamps. Other than that, we had to drive quite a bit to our other Florida Destinations.
Unlike most families who went to Florida, we did not go to Disney World or Sea World. The most kid-friendly spots we did go to were the Kennedy Space Station, Florida Aquarium and the Edison House. All of them were really cool... we got to crawl all around spaceships, see what a take off would feel like in the control room, and go out to see where the real take off's happen. At the Tampa Aquarium, I got to pet sting rays and sharks. At the Edison house, we got to see what his labs looked like, and what his summer mansion was like (I vividly remember a very old-school swimming pool!). Other than these things (and the numerous mini-put trips), we opted more for natural environment trips and beach days.
We went to Homosassa Spings State Park, where there was a zoo. We got to meet Manatees there for the first time! They are such large and gentle creatures. The park also did a good job educating patrons on the dangers that manatees face in the natural environment, and what precautions we could take to make sure we didn't harm them. It was really neat seeing animals native to that area of North America. Then we go to take a glass bottom boat ride through the swamps, which was also super cool!
One of the beaches we likes was Howard Park, which you had to drive out to on a looooong spit into the gulf of Mexico. I always liked those kind of beaches where you had to drive out on a long spit, with ocean on both sides. I also wondered how terrifying it would be during a hurricane! The beach was very nice, but sometimes too crowded. My parents are always in search of natural beaches and seclusion. The actual beach and ocean bottom of this park was very nice... very clear, not too many things to step on (which was always a concern as a young girl...).
Tarpon Springs is a really neat town. There are a lot of big, beautiful houses there. There is also a main drag where you can buy sand dollars, natural sponges, and other ocean paraphernalia. Also, there is really good Greek food there... I guess they have a strong Greek population.
We also tried the St. Pete's/Clearwater beach once (and only once). There were cars on the beach, lots of obnoxious people, loud music, and raked over sand. Very lame for shell collecting.
I have a great aunt who lives in Fort Meyers Florida, which also had a nice beach. I remember it being very "resort-y", and the bottom of the ocean having lots and lots of live sand dollars, which really freaked me out as a kid. While there, we also checked out Sanibel Island. The water there was very warm and clear, but it dropped off rather quickly. It was nice to drive around and look at all the different beach houses.
The 2nd best beach we went to in Florida was Fort DeSoto State Park. This beach was lonnnng, so you could find a place that was more secluded. There were really awesome sand dunes, and behind the beach was a line of trees and a natural creek that ran through, so it felt very wild. If you walked out, there would be sand bars where you could walk along or lay in the shallow warm water. There was plenty of beach to walk up and down, plenty of shade closer to the trees, and plenty of neat shells and other things washed up from the ocean. It was here that I stepped on and killed a crab. It was also at this point that I decided never to eat crab, because the experience was so disgusting.
The best beach in Florida was Caladesi Island State Park. To get to it, you had to enter Honeymoon State Park and park your car and pay for a small motor-boat ferry across the bay to get to the island. It was the ultimate in seclusion, and I saw some of the most beautiful sunsets from this beach. The island almost felt untouched in that there was turtles, dolphins, and other really neat creatures around. It was small enough that you could walk end-to-end in a couple hours. I remember seeing storm clouds roll in over the gulf from here as well... really cool stuff. The ferry over has a fee, as does admission into this state park, but it is worth it.
Florida, you will always have a place in my heart.
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