Recommending a National Park or similar within reach

I confess we%26#39;ve never actually attempted to visit any of these types of Parks before. Now we are on our 6th or 7th trip, I thought we%26#39;d stop chasing the Disney dollar as much, and give it a try.

I%26#39;ve found mention of Blue Springs, Tarpon Springs etc on these forums but, from experience, can anyone recommend a nice place to visit. I%26#39;m considering Tarpon Springs right now as it sounds pretty ideallic but am open to suggestions.

Time will be mid September. We%26#39;ve done the Everglades but frankly did not really enjoy being strapped on the back of one of those noisy air ride things.

Looking for peace, tranquility, wildlife, picnic areas etc. Day trip only. Any ideas gratefully received. Prefer to wear Flip Flops but will consider other footwear.

Recommending a National Park or similar within reach

Over on the east coast around Titusville, just north of Kennedy Space Center is the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge and the Canavaral National Seashore.

These neighbor parks are a great place to visit and see some native Florida wildlife, particularly birds. Watch out for a few gators too.

Recommending a National Park or similar within reach

Have you ever been to silver springs ?

http://www.silversprings.com/

Quite lovely and great for flip flops too.

Went there in August 2005-Beautiful place, huge underground springs and there%26#39;s also the gators swimming under the glass bottom boats.

We found it very relaxing and serene

Down on the west (gulf) coast of Florida near Sanibel is another great nature park called Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

Thanks Guys - I%26#39;ll start Googling. Just looked at that web site Bishop and does look nice. I%26#39;m guessing around 2 hours drive which is pretty much on the limit I%26#39;d allocate.

Took us 90 minutes each wasy to get there and back in a 7 Seater Mini Bus from Kissimmee.

90 mins is fine. I guess there are a lot of ';undiscovered by tourists'; areas out there if we can be bothered to look.

People are always telling me to get out more. Beats Walmart!

Go for it! Good Luck!

There is not a lot of National parks in Florida. But there at lots of ';Stater Parks'; But your Golden Eagle pass wont get you into them. Blue Springs , is only about 45 mins north up I 4 . Turn off just past the Sanford shopping mall onto highway 17 /29 follow to Orange city 8-10 miles.

Then there%26#39;s Wickivia State park and countless others, they all have something special and something worth preserving.

So you could say anything with a ';State Park'; label on it is Worth a visit.

You might be better googling ';State Park'; and they are split into regions. But there at some like the Sunshine Skyway state park with only one speciality. In this case it its only for fishing. The old duel carriage highway which once spanned the Tampa bay has been preserved as fishing piers about 2 miles on the southern side and about a mile on the northern side . A ship knocked the central section down 25 years ago, and rather than demolish the old roadway its now devoted to fishermen. You just pay entrance fee drive up and fish out of the car if you want. Absolutely ideal for disabled people has its all concrete roadway . and it got facilities like shops cafe %26amp; toilets on it . Its still got all its lighting standards so you can fish all day and night as well if you wish.