If commercials and travel guides are to be believed, Florida consists of Disney and Miami but little else. Discover a side of Florida that few are fortunate enough to experience, the Lee Island Coast.

Cities of Florida  Over 100 cities listed.

Orlando, not just for kids. 

Visit Boca Raton  The city of Boca Raton, Florida, with it's more than five miles of publicly owned beachfront property and it's approximately 1,080 acres of parks is situated in Palm Beach County, almost midway between the cities of Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

The Boca Raton Resort And Club sits on 356 acres of beautifully tended well manicured grounds with gorgous gardens, one half mile of private beach, thirty tennis courts, a full service marina, three fitness centers, two championship 18-hole golf courses and much, much more.

Dunedin, Florida is adding a Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites!! The 76-room property is expected to open for business later in November, 2001. It will be located at 975 Broadway, the corner of Alt. 19 and S.R. 580, in quaint and delightful downtown Dunedin, a town of festivals. 

When choosing your vacation at Reunion Resort, Orlando, you must first select how you would like to book- either as a complete package through Reunion itself, where they take care of everything from checking you in to arranging everything you may need or wish for e.g. tickets to attractions etc. Alternatively you can book with a property’s individual owner so that you know precisely what the home looks like, its exact location within the development etc. Either way you are assured of the utmost quality to make your stay memorable.

Decide which size of villa will then best suit your requirements. You can choose from a 3-bedroom villa all the way up to 7 or more (for those travelling with several families). Most of the Orlando vacation villas are well within a 30-minute drive of Walt Disney World (many being even much less than that).

The new Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Clearwater North/Dunedin will feature: guest rooms and suites (including custom Kids Suites), outdoor heated pool and whirlpool, meeting space for 45 persons, and fitness center. The Hotel is located on the famous Pinellas Trail bike path and is within walking distance to Dunedin’s downtown antique district, award-winning restaurants, and the Toronto Blue Jay’s spring training facility at Grant Field. Caladesi & Honeymoon Island State Parks, ranked among the nation’s top 10 beaches, are just minutes away. 

Tony Cacciotti has been named General Manager of the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites.

Florida Tourism  
State of Florida  

Amelia Island  by W. Patrick McSweeney

Background of all my Florida pages is from Lee Island Coast.

Florida State Parks 

The Everglades National Park

This is not that far from Miami, Florida. This historic preserve has been carefully protected to save for all of us a real American swampland full of exotic creatures that are not in zoos but that you can visit virtually face to face, if you have the nerve.

As you visit the Everglades it seems like you are being teleported to another world entirely. The exotic swamp setting has creatures that are wild and strange to most of us as well as plant life itself seems to be from another planet altogether. The trees hang down runners all over the swamp that themselves lay down roots and become new trees. There are flowers with huge blossoms that open wide for you to reach in and sniff. But be careful that you don’t get too close in case it is a meat-eating flower that snaps down on unfortunate insects to fly too close and devours them.

You can get to the Everglades Park by car from Miami. But once you are there, the best way to really experience the exotic animals is to get a guide to take you deep into the swamps. As you glide along in his boat, your guide will point out the slow moving nutria moving along, taking their time as though time had almost stopped entirely. And you will feel as though it did as the rest of civilization disappears and you are surrounded by that primitive swamp with no one but the guide to help you find your way out. You will be glad he is a friendly sort and not the kind to abandon you in these dangerous swamps.

Perhaps he will guide you to the pools where huge swarms of flesh eating fish lie just under the surface. As he scatters tiny bits of meat, you will see a feeding frenzy that makes it look like the water itself was boiling as the tiny fish with their sharp teeth swarm over the morsels to get their meal for the day.

Finally, the time you have been waiting for has come as he tells you to prepare yourself to meet the mighty alligator who haunts these swamps. These are not tame animals trained to do tricks for strangers. As the guide whistles to draw them out, you see nothing more than their snouts and eyes at first. They swim toward you, it seems like dozens of them, to the boat because they recognize his call. He throws bread or donuts to them and you see those mighty jaws open and clamp down to snap up their share of the treats.

Your skilled guide will make sure you get a chance to come up along side of one of these amazing lizards to examine their long scaly bodies as they swim. Their appearance is frightening, repulsive and strangely beautiful. He may even carefully coach you in how to reach out and touch the back of the huge alligator -- some of which reach 23 feet in length so you can know the feel of that strange prehistoric body in its natural setting. This will be a sensation you will not forget for years and perhaps never.

You may feel a sense of relief as your skilled guide maneuvers his craft back to civilization and you see your trusty car again. But you will come away from your trip to The Everglades with a new appreciation for the wonders of nature and the amazing diversity of life God has put on this planet. This is unlike any tour you ever took because you were right out there with those strange, exotic and dangerous beasts. But the rush of excitement of that danger is what makes the everglades one of the most fun and thrilling sights you will see on any of your travels around America.