Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.
Last Updated: May 2026
Leaving Fort Myers after the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, we headed north and inland, trading the Gulf Coast resort strip for something quieter and considerably older. Florida has two state parks that belong on any serious nature traveler’s itinerary — Highlands Hammock near Sebring and Suwannee River on the Georgia border — and we managed to catch both on the same northward push. Neither disappointed.
Last Updated: May 2026
Fort Myers holds a secret that most visitors driving to Naples or the Keys never stop to discover: for nearly five decades, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford spent their winters as neighbors here, on adjoining properties along the Caloosahatchee River. The Edison & Ford Winter Estates preserve both homes, Edison’s working laboratory, an extraordinary botanical garden, and a world-class museum — all on a single 20-acre site in the middle of the city. We spent a full morning here and left wishing we’d given it a full day.
[Read more…] about Edison & Ford Winter Estates, Fort Myers: A Masterclass in American Ingenuity
Last Updated: May 2026
Chokoloskee Island sits at the southern tip of Florida’s Gulf Coast, a tiny shell-mound island connected to the mainland by a single causeway and surrounded by the vast estuaries of Everglades National Park. We found it by chance — looking for a waterfront RV resort to decompress after the sensory overload of Big Cypress — and ended up with one of our most memorable stops of the entire Florida winter. We stayed at Outdoor Resorts of Chokoloskee Island, a community-within-a-resort where most sites are occupied by full-time residents who head north when summer heat makes the Gulf Coast nearly uninhabitable.
Last Updated: May 2026
Big Cypress National Preserve covers 729,000 acres of subtropical wilderness between Miami and Naples in southwest Florida — a mosaic of cypress swamps, wet prairies, mangrove estuaries, and hardwood hammocks that forms the northern watershed for Everglades National Park. What makes Big Cypress unusual among federal public lands is how it was established: when Congress created it in 1974, the Miccosukee, Seminole, and Traditional peoples were granted permanent rights to occupy and use the land in their traditional ways, with first rights to develop income-producing businesses including guided tours. Hunters retain off-road vehicle access. Property owners within the preserve boundary have been allowed to keep their holdings. It is managed as a preserve, not a park — a distinction that shapes everything about how it feels.
Last Updated: May 2026
It had been over 30 years since Michael last visited the Florida Keys. Sandy had never been. We pulled off the Overseas Highway at Bahia Honda State Park on the way down — one of the most beautiful beaches in the Florida Keys system, and a good preview of what two weeks here would feel like. January in the Keys: 80 degrees, open water on both sides of the highway, and the particular quality of light that comes off shallow tropical flats in the afternoon. Amazing that this is still the continental United States.
Last Updated: May 2026
After driving 2,500 miles from Rancho Santa Fe with the motorhome waiting for us in Fort Myers, our first order of business was to see Sanibel and Captiva Islands — a short drive from the city, and a place with its own history for us. We had a couple of days before the RV was ready. We used them well.
