November 26th, 2008
Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park is a small historic site that would make for a great picnic. 
There are no entrance fees for this park and the park hours are from 8:00am until sunset all year long. Basically this is just the remnants of a once thriving and prosperous 5,100 acre sugar plantation that was deeded to David Levy Yulee during the spanish occupation. The mill provided sugar to southern troops during the Civil War between 1851 and 1864 until it was abandoned during the Civil War after Yulee’s plantation home was burned.
Read More about our trip to Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park
November 23rd, 2008
If you’ve been following, you know that on November 11th we visited Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. 
This is definitely one of our favorite parks and we will almost certainly be going back. Once arriving at the visitor center off of US Highway 19, you are greeted with a huge lobby filled with alligators, a vacationing manatee complete with a “boca-raton” button down shirt, and a beautiful gift shop. Lots for the whole family to see. There is an art gallery with gorgeous paintings and photography all for sale. We fully plan on going back and purchasing several pieces.
Read More about our trip to Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
November 15th, 2008
This past Veteran’s Day we headed up to the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park located in Homosassa Florida (article coming soon. subscribe to be notified) to take some photos and enjoy the day. We were also excited to learn about the addition of Weeki Watchee Springs to the list of parks.
Sadly on this same day, a day when entrance fees were free to all people, the Department of Environmental Protection announced that in order to meet Gov. Charlie Crist’s budget cuts, the Division of Recreation and Parks proposed closing 19 of our state parks temporarily all because Gov. Charlie Crist asked all state agencies to cut 10% of their operating costs for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
Even though this has been proposed, and could very well happen, it still has to pass legislature during the next legislative season which opens in March. If it happens the parks will be closed temporarily and according to a state parks spokeswoman, Florida would reopen the parks when the economy improves.
According to the Gainesville Sun, the parks under consideration for closure are:
Read More about our trip to 19 Florida State Parks Closing?
November 10th, 2008
Weeki Watchee Springs in Spring Hill, Florida has been a tourist trap for years. A roadside attraction located on US Highway 19 that is known for it’s mermaid sightings. That’s right, Mermaids. Weeki Watchee Springs has been putting on Mermaid shows for it’s visitors for over 60 years now. Located at the famous spring head of the twelve (12) mile Weeki Watchee River is Florida’s newest State Park. That’s right we said it. On November 1st 2008, The Department of Environmental Protection announced it’s newest State Park making it now 160 on the list.
We’re pretty sure that we’ll cover this one really soon as we’re pretty excited about it. Only about a 30 minute trip from us, you can be sure that we will be writing about here in the near future. So if you’re looking for something to do this weekend and thought real live Mermaids were an old tale told by the sailors of yesteryear, you should check it out as well.
There are no entrance fees for this park and the park hours are from 8:00am until sunset all year long. Basically this is just the remnants of a once thriving and prosperous 5,100 acre sugar plantation that was deeded to David Levy Yulee during the spanish occupation. The mill provided sugar to southern troops during the Civil War between 1851 and 1864 until it was abandoned during the Civil War after Yulee’s plantation home was burned.
