I arrived at 135-acre Hickory Bluff Preserve in Osteen at around 10 AM on a Saturday and had the place to myself. It’s actually two short hiking trails that total about 1.5 miles with the highlight being a great view of the scenic St. Johns River. I saw a white-tailed deer very briefly on the Red Trail. It’s a nice hike and I will definitely be back!
“Welcome to the Roo with a View!” We planned on driving from Ocoee to Fort Myers and back in one day, so I wanted to find a good place to stop for lunch on the way back. So I Googled “Tiki Bar near I-75” and Woody’s River Roo Pub & Grill on the scenic Manatee River in Ellenton came up. A great place by the way (if you can find it)! I thoroughly enjoyed my Ahi Tuna Tacos. It’s the kind of place you can hang out all day and enjoy the view with an ice-cold beer if you have the time.
“Make voyages!—Attempt them!—there’s nothing else!” – Tennessee Williams
Located in a nondescript cinder-block building off a lonely stretch of U.S. 192 in St. Cloud near Lake Lizzie Conservation Area, the Reptile World Serpentarium boasts more than 75 species of snakes (including mambas, cobras and rattlesnakes such as the legendary Eastern Diamondback), as well as alligators, crocodiles, iguanas and turtles. Opened by noted herpetologist George Van Horn in 1976, Reptile World is the real deal. There’s even a venom milking show! It’s a welcome relief to anyone who is tired of waiting in line for over an hour to watch an audio-animatronic dinosaur attempt to eat a jeep at some overpriced Orlando-area theme park.
Harry Crews wrote the uncredited screenplay for The New Kids (1985), a little-known “horror-thriller film” that was directed by Sean Cunningham (Friday the 13th) and filmed in Homestead, Florida; starred Lori Loughlin, Shannon Presby and James Spader; and was billed as “A New Ticket to Terror from the Director of Friday the 13th!”
Here are the contents of a couple of classic signs used to promote the long-defunct Tragedy in U.S. History Museum in St. Augustine:
“SEE Jayne Mansfield’s DEATH CAR … and learn the truth!”
“Inside You Will See: President Kennedy’s Car * Lee Harvey Oswald’s Car * The Ambulance He Died In * His Dallas Furniture and More * The Famous Zapruder Film * Bonnie and Clyde Getaway Car * Jayne Mansfield’s Car * Whistle from ‘Wreck of Old 97’ * Old Spanish Jail Built in 1718 Human Skeletons Inside * Antique Torture Equipment * Bear Traps * Flagler Tragedy * Elvis Presley’s Last Will and Much – Much More”
“Inside Tragedy Museum You Will See!
* President Kennedy’s Car
This is His Washington Limousine
* Jayne Mansfield Death Car
Famous Movie Star & the Truth of How She Died
* Also You Will See the Car Lee Harvey Used to Transport the Weapon that Killed the President
* See His Furniture from His Dallas Apartment
* See the Ambulance that Carried Him to His Death”
We set out from Pompano Beach for Riverbend Park in Jupiter early on Good Friday and it was a dismal, rainy morning. However, the rains subsided by the time we arrived and so we embarked on a three-hour hike through the myriad of limestone hiking, biking and equestrian trails that make up Riverbend Park. We viewed a lot of wildlife such as six deer (including a fawn!), marsh rabbit, raccoon and wood stork. The next morning, we set out for Riverbend Park again to explore the more rugged trails on the other side of the park. We enjoyed a great view of the wild and scenic Loxahatchee River from a kayak outpost and then reached the far end of the park, which was populated with cypress knees. We made our way back to the other side of the park for a quick loop and saw five more deer. All in all, a great time and next visit we are definitely going to do some kayaking here.
“Now, of course, having failed in every attempt to subdue the Glades by frontal attack, we are slowly killing it off by tapping the River of Grass. In the questionable name of progress, the state in its vast wisdom lets every two-bit developer divert the flow into drag-lined canals that give him ‘waterfront’ lots to sell. As far north as Corkscrew Swamp, virgin stands of ancient bald cypress are dying. All the area north of Copeland had been logged out, and will never come back. As the glades dry, the big fires come with increasing frequency. The ecology is changing with egret colonies dwindling, mullet getting scarce, mangrove dying of new diseases born of dryness.” ― John D. MacDonald, Bright Orange for the Shroud (1965)
Wandering Florida 