florida

Cypress Woods & Fort Myers: Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve & Buckingham Hydroponic Farm

April 17, 2017 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 2026

Fort Myers became a recurring anchor on our first Florida winter — a practical hub for RV service, resupply, and the kind of administrative tasks that accumulate when you’re living on the road. This was our second stay at Cypress Woods RV Resort, this time for a combination of outstanding warranty work (three days at the RV dealer) and the annual reckoning of tax season. Not the most glamorous week on paper. But the area around Cypress Woods delivered, as it had before, with a nature preserve and a farm worth a dedicated visit.

Jake Huntley at Cypress Woods RV Resort, Fort Myers, Florida

Walt Disney World, Orlando: Four Parks, Four Days & One Soggy Splash Mountain

April 8, 2017 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 2026

Walt Disney World opened on October 1, 1971 — five years after Walt Disney himself died from lung cancer in December 1966, before a single acre of Florida swamp had been broken. The project he initiated in secret, buying up 27,000 acres of Central Florida land through shell companies to prevent land speculation, was completed and opened by his successors. The resort is roughly the size of San Francisco, employs more than 62,000 people making it the largest single-site employer in the United States, and draws approximately 48 million visitors annually across its four theme parks. We visited all four over four days in early April, arriving at the tail end of spring break and ahead of the summer crush. It was 92 degrees and humid every day, and we had a genuinely excellent time.

Crystal River, Florida: Three Sisters Springs, Gopher Tortoises & Life at Rock Crusher Canyon

March 30, 2017 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 2026

Crystal River sits on Florida’s Nature Coast, a stretch of Gulf shoreline north of Tampa where spring-fed rivers empty into shallow bays and the development pressure of the coasts hasn’t quite arrived. The town is best known as the winter home of the West Indian manatee — hundreds gather in the warm spring water of Kings Bay each winter when Gulf temperatures drop — and for Three Sisters Springs, a crystalline system where visitors can swim or snorkel alongside them. We came for the manatees, needed the wifi, and stayed a week. The week did not go entirely as planned.

Crystal River waterway, Florida Nature Coast

Cedar Key, Florida: John Muir’s 1,000-Mile Journey End, Civil War Salt Raids & Sunrise Ospreys

March 25, 2017 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 2026

From Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, we made the hour-long drive southwest of Gainesville to Cedar Key — a cluster of islands on the Gulf of Mexico named after the eastern red cedar that once blanketed the surrounding coast. The population is only about 700, though on weekends the numbers swell considerably with tourists, motorcyclists in particular. Cedar Key runs on two things: tourism and aquaculture. Farm-raised clams and oysters are a thriving multimillion-dollar industry here, and the waterfront is genuinely charming. The town is compact and easy to explore on foot or by bicycle — and we found ourselves staying longer than planned.

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Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, Florida: Bison, Gopher Tortoises & Why Florida’s Cowboys Were Called Crackers

March 19, 2017 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 2026

From White Springs and the Suwannee River, we headed south to Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park — a 21,000-acre savanna in Micanopy, Florida, just south of Gainesville. Florida acquired the land in 1970 and has been steadily restoring it to a more natural condition ever since. With over 270 species of birds, wild bison, Florida Cracker horses, and one very patient gopher tortoise who finally decided to show itself after three months of teasing us with road signs, it turned out to be one of the more educational stops of our entire winter.

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White Springs, Florida: The Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center, Carillons & Early Spring Blooms Along the Suwannee

March 7, 2017 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 2026

The Suwannee River runs through the northern Florida interior with quiet authority, draining the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia and making its slow, dark-watered way to the Gulf of Mexico some 240 miles away. “Way down upon the Suwannee River” — the opening line of Stephen Foster’s 1851 song “Old Folks at Home” — made this otherwise obscure waterway the most recognized river name in American popular music. We’d already visited Suwannee River State Park at the river’s confluence with the Withlacoochee; now, heading back south through the Florida Panhandle, we stopped in White Springs — a small town the river bends around — and found more than we expected.