Getaways to the authentic Florida
The Everglades Seafood Festival in Everglades City brings fresh local seafood, country music, carnival rides and arts and crafts to this historic outpost on the edge of the Everglades. This year, the festival, which has been free for many years, is asking for a minimum of a $10 donation.
One of the best ways to see Florida’s Everglades is via the Tamiami Trail to the Shark Valley entrance, home to a terrific bike trail and abundant wildlife. Visitors have been reporting outstanding wildlife viewing during holiday visits.
Lake Wales Ridge State Forest is for explorers – folks who like to find places that aren’t in the guidebooks. Here you can hike for miles in the woods, hear only nature and have a chance to spot wildlife, including bear, bald eagles and endangered scrub jays.
The island of Palm Beach is the exclusive winter home of billionaires. For the rest of us, it’s a fun place to gawk at mansions and their ficus hedges sculpted into works of art. The town is full of history, too, from Henry Flagler to JFK to Donald Trump.
Smallwood Store is an exceptional slice of Florida history at an end-of-the-road site overlooking Chokoloskee Bay near Everglades City.