Florida is well known to have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and the longest coastline of 825 miles in the contiguous U.S., however, Florida is more than just beautiful beaches. Florida has so much to see and do you could spend your entire life exploring Florida and still not see and do it all.
As of this post date in 2025, we have had the pleasure of living in Florida for almost four years. We had in the past taken many vacations to this beautiful state and that is what caused us to decide to retire here, the sunshine, beaches and so much to see and do. Year around golf, tennis, pickleball, amusement parks, and nature galore.
The wildlife is a lot different than from where we are from in Washington State, but we enjoy all the varieties of species that are unique to this area. Alligators, which are so misunderstood, manatee, so many varieties of birds, dolphins, whales, sharks, black bear, deer, panther, bobcat, wild monkeys, yes, I said monkeys, opossum, several kinds of turtles and snakes, more than I like admittedly. But every bit of nature is a treat if you are lucky enough to experience any of it.
For More information and reservations on the St. Johns Rivership Co. Paddleboat click on the link here: https://www.stjohnsrivershipco.com/
Silver Springs State Park and Blue Springs State Park are wonderful places to view wildlife near where we live. In the winter hundreds of manatees come into Blue Springs to stay warm in the winter months. Silver Springs has a population of two different types of wild monkeys. We’ve been fortunate enough to see them on one visit. For Hours and ticket information to Silver Springs State Park click here: https://www.floridastateparks.org/silversprings
For Hours and ticket information to Blue Springs State Park Click here: https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/blue-spring-state-park
We’ve taken several airboat rides and seen some very large alligators, some fifteen footers, we’ve enjoyed dolphin tours, we’ve done the paddleboat down the St. Johns River, of course we’ve been to Disneyworld several times, Seaworld, Universal Studios, Legoland and Busch Gardens just to name a few. We’ve enjoyed dinner shows at Medieval Times, and Pirates Dinner Adventure, we’ve visited historic Saint Augustine, climbed several lighthouses, visited the Everglades, Destin, Tampa, and lived in Daytona Beach, World’s Most Famous Beach, home of Daytona 500 Nascar, Bike week, Jeep week and so much more. And these are just some of the highlights.
For ticket and hours of operation information to above mentioned destinations click on links below:
Disneyworld: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/admission/tickets/
Seaworld: https://seaworld.com/orlando/tickets/
Universal Studios: https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/tickets-packages/park-tickets
Legoland: https://www.legoland.com/florida/tickets-passes/tickets/
Busch Gardens: https://buschgardens.com/williamsburg/tickets/theme-park-tickets/
Midieval Times Dinner and Tournament: https://www.medievaltimes.com/orlando
Pirates Dinner Adventure: https://piratesdinneradventure.com/index.htm
Daytona International Speedway: https://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/
Florida is steeped in history; Saint Augustine is the oldest city in America founded in 1565 by Spanish settlers. Juan Ponce de Leon arrived in 1513 and made the first textual records; Jackie Robinson scores a homerun for the people of Daytona Beach becoming the first African American to join an all-white baseball team in 1947 breaking racial barriers. The Blue Angels formed in 1931 and are based in Pensacola Florida. The Kennedy Space Center NASA Facility, located on Merritt Island since 1968, home to the launch operations of Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle, The Artemis program, International Space Station payloads and Lunar getaway. The Cape Canaveral Space complex, Blue Origin manufacturing facility and Launch Complex 39 launch control for Space-X. We have enjoyed over the years watching many launches and viewing a launch never gets old.
As of the date of this writing we still have not visited the Florida Keys, a bucket list item, I would like to see the famous Weeki Wachee Mermaid Show that have been entertaining since 1947 at Weeki Wachee State Park. We also want to visit the Florida Caverns State Park, Marco Island, Anna Maria Island, Naples, Amelia Island, Key West, Sanibel Island, Delray Beach, the only living coral reef at Key Largo, and Dry Tortugas National Park.
Like I said earlier, so much to see and do you could spend a lifetime trying to experience it all.
We have spent time in the Gulf and visited Tampa, St. Pete, Destin, New Port Richie and the Florida Everglades. There is so much to see and do, even though we currently live here we have not had time to do it all, but we continue to plan visits to different destinations across the state and even though we are selling our house to travel full time we will definitely return to Florida to continue touring this great state.
So, grab the family, bring your friends and come on down to Florida for an adventure of a lifetime.
For more ticket information click on links below.
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex: https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/explore-attractions/behind-the-gates/ksc-explore-tour/
Castillo de San Marcos Saint Augustine: https://www.nps.gov/casa/index.htm
Weeki Wachee Mermaid Show: https://weekiwachee.com/mermaid-shows/
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