Now all that remains of the old steam powered sugar mill is a 40ft limestone chimney, some gears, a few  cooking kettles, the boiler which provided steam to the engine and a hole lined with limestone that was once the location of the cooling vats.

While there may not much here, you will learn a little something about the history of the site from the various displays and interpretive panels that are located through-out the mill.

Across the street is a pavillion that houses 6 picnic tables that are available on a fist come, first serve basis. There are also a few barbeque grills around the picnic area that are first come, first serve as well.

Once you have walked around and made a few purchases you can get on the list for the pontoon boat to take you over to the park.  This is included in your park admission.  It is about a 20 or 30 minute ride along the creek to the park.  There is so much to see along this little boat trip.  Wild life such as birds, gators, ducks, and turtles just to name a few.  The guide is very informative and can answer all of your questions as well as point out several places of interest along this trip.

You arrive at the park entrance and are instantly greeted by enthusiastic employee’s who are more than happy to answer all questions, help you with opening doors or guiding you to where you want to go.  There is a great little restaurant there as well.  The gift shop was reasonably priced so we were able to get something for all the kids as well as a gorgeous stained glass wind chime for my kitchen!!

Now onto the park. WOW! I can not say enough good things about this park.  It was better than going to the zoo.  We weren’t inside for 2 minutes and got to see dozens of gorgeous manatee’s!! My son Austin was so excited!! His school mascot is a manatee so he was very proud!!

There were education centers all throughout the park.  Tons of park benches for your picnicking.  Manatee rehab center, lots and lots of wildlife exhibits!  We were all over that place and it was a blast!  For the little ones there is coloring and sand play and everything.  There is an underwater viewing area where you can see the manatee under water and HUGE schools of fish.  All we heard the entire time in there was… Ohhhhhh wow mommy!! It was super neat!

I am a people watcher so I was constantly paying close attention to peoples faces while there and the only thing I saw the entire time were smiles.  Happy families having a blast! Learning about the environment and about saving animals and about our wonderful state parks.  It was so neat to see all the kids so excited about all of that.

You get to take the same boat back to the main entrance, you can also just take the “trolley” as they call it, that is a truck pulling several seating cars.  We didn’t take that at all, maybe one of us should have so we would report on things you see while on that trip.  We are all such water junkies that we took the boat trip back.  Once back at the main lodge, you can walk around some more or buy one of those amazing art pieces before heading home.

Make this trip, you will not be sorry!! It is definitely worth the drive from just about anywhere.  In the same area you can visit several other State Parks, just use our Park Locator to see what is close by.

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:

1. Yellow River Marsh Preserve State Park Holt, Florida (Santa Rosa County)
2. St. Marks River State Park,  Leon County (Not on our list?)
3. Lake June-In-Winter Scrub State Park in Sebring, Florida (Highlands County)
4. Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park in Jacksonville, Florida (Nassau County)
5. Constitution Convention Museum State Park in Port St. Joe, Florida (Gulf County)
6. John Gorrie Museum State Park in Apalachicola, Florida (Franklin County)
7. Deer Lake State Park in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida (Walton County)
8. Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek State Park in Haines City, Florida (Polk County)
9. Tarkiln Bayou Preserve State Park in Pensacola, Florida (Escambia County)
10. Terra Ceia Preserve State Park, Manatee County(Not on our list?)
11. Letchworth-Love Mounds Archaeological State Park in Monticello, Florida (Jefferson County)
12. Dunns Creek in Pomona Park, Florida (Putnum County)
13. San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park in St. Marks, Florida (Wakulla County)
14. Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park in Islamorada, Florida (Monroe County)
15. Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park in Key Largo, Florida (Monroe County)
16. Dudley Farm Historic State Park in Newberry , Florida (Alachua County)
17. Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park in Okeechobee, Florida (Okeechobee County)
18. Nature and Heritage Tourism Center, Hamilton County ( ? )
19. Cedar Key Museum State Park in Cedar Key, Florida (Levy County)

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if they decide to do the right thing and look to closing our State Parks as a last resort. Hopefully they’ll do the right thing and cut the overpaid employees that are higher up the ladder. why pay them $200k/year ( example ) when someone will do it for 70k ( another example ). and probably do a better job while they’re at it.

Feel free to let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

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.

Like i said, we’re not quite sure yet but we’ll let you know where we ended up as soon as we can so be to sure to bookmark us and check back with us soon. You could also subscribe to our news feed and be notified by email as soon our write up is published.

The Florida State Park Locator that we have been working on is now up and running and you can find the State Parks in your area with ease. It’s as simple as entering your zip-code and selecting a radius to show parks within. That’s it! the Park Locator will do all the dirty work and even show you where the parks are on a map. How cool is that?!

So if you’re looking for somewhere to go or something to do this weekend, use our nifty new tool and find a Florida State Park to visit in your area.

The beaches were gorgeous.  Beautiful white sand as far as the eye could see.  And, even though we got there fairly early, I think it was around 8am or so, it surprised me how empty the place was.  We walked along the beaches for quite some time, picking up a shell here and there, when we came upon some men fishing out in the water.  It was a lucky coincidence that one of them made a great catch just as we were walking up with the camera. You can view the Photos in the St George Island Photo Gallery

The restrooms are very large and very clean.  We did not notice any sort of store or snack area but there were plenty picnic tables for your family and friends to gather around.  Many of them covered.

We drove around the park and came across the camping area, very nice.  Boat launches and canoe rental are also over on the camping side of the island. The camp sites were nice and large, so plenty of room for your tents or RV or both from what we saw.  The rest rooms and showers there were very clean.  There was a lot to see on our journey over to the camping area.  I was quite surprised to find a small pond with a gator in there.  Lots of signs around warning of the gators and that little guy didn’t want anything to do with visiting with us so I wouldn’t be alarmed by this fact.  I am sure they keep to themselves as long as the park visitors leave them alone.

This island has a lot to offer, if you are a romantic couple just wanting to watch the sunset and walk along the beach, or a family wanting camping, fishing, picnicing or boating.  The scenery is gorgeous.  We even had the luck to come upon a bald eagle just as we were driving out of the park.

It goes without saying but you will be at a beach so make sure you bring some good suntan lotion to keep you from burning. You might also want to bring a bucket or two for your little ones so that they can collect shells on the beach as it is covered with them. The beach is really rocky and it does hurt your feet so bring water shoes for you and the kids otherwise there’s likely to be some complaining about feet hurting although once in the water you can walk along without worry as it’s sandy and most of the rocks are on shore. We would also definitely recommend that you bring a beach umbrella and maybe a beach chair or a blanket to sit on.

There aren’t many shady spots on this island at all so be prepared for that. While shade isn’t necessarily a necessity especially when you consider that you are going to be at a beach swimming and sun tanning, It’s still nice to sit and eat your lunch while in the shade instead of the hot sun. and man was it hot yesterday!. There is also the Honeymoon Cafe that is located on the park and even though we didn’t get a chance to eat there i am sure that they have a nice spot to sit and relax while you eat. We would probably recommend that you eat there instead of picnicking like we did. There is hardly any picnic tables at the park i think we only saw one down by the beach where we went swimming. We spent about 15 minutes driving around seeing the island while looking for a nice spot to stop and eat before deciding that we were going to go over by the Caladesi Island ferry ticket booth. There is a nice little pavilion there but unfortunately it’s just a waiting area for the ferry and there are no picnic tables there. Just benches.

Speaking of the ferry to Caladesi Island, we missed the last ride out by about 30 minutes. Their last ferry ride to the island runs at about 3:30pm so make sure that you get there before then if you want to head over to that park. Ferry rides are $10.00 per adult and $6.00 per child 12 and under and include the return trip back to Honeymoon Island.

After we ate our lunch we headed over to the Nature Center to check it out. Once to the main deck of the Nature Center you can view the whole island and really appreciate how beautiful it really is. They also keep a telescope on a tripod out on the deck for visitors to look through and see things off in the distance. I thought that was really cool. Once you make your way inside you will learn a lot about the island and the history behind the park through the many displays that they have. You will learn about some of the animals that inhabit the island as well as see some of the things that can be found around the island. Shells, sand dollars, bones and fossils. There’s a loggerhead skull there that is about the size of a cantaloupe. That was one BIG turtle!

A hint for you shell hunters that was given to us by a good friend of ours; Most of the stuff on the beaches has been picked through quite a bit so if you’re hunting for the good stuff you might want to park over near the pet beach and walk up the beach a couple miles where not a lot of people go. We were told that this is where you find the little treasures that the park has to offer though we can’t confirm it. Perhaps one of you can?

The park also offers a couple trails that we saw for hikers as well as a pet beach for you animal lovers so if you have a dog that loves the water grab a Frisbee and bring him or her along for the adventure. All in all the island is beautiful and a great place to go with the family if you’re prepared for it. Make sure you have your sunscreen, deet if you’re prone to some insect love, beach shoes for the rocky beaches, and an umbrella and chairs or a beach towel to sit on.

I think that about wraps it up for this park though we’ll be back to visit Caladesi Island State Park another time.

The museum is gorgeous and loaded with Florida’s history. A trip around the museum at the price of $1 per person will teach you and your little ones how people used to live off of the land in Florida back in the mid-1800’s and into the beginning of the 20th century. The museum is dedicated to Florida’s forests and shows how beautiful and productive they are now and have been in the past. Austin really learned a lot about how life used to be in Florida at the turn of the 20th century and how they used the forests to survive. “it’s really pretty cool”, he said.

Aside from the museum there is also a “Cracker” Homestead that was built in 1864 and donated to the park by Senator Pete Gibson’s family in 1972. The yard has no grass and is swept clean to help reduce the risk of fires which were a common occurrence in the pine woods of Florida. The house itself is a “breezeway” or “dogtrot” design which was a distinctive architectural style in Florida during that time period.

The park itself isn’t that big in size but we would definitely recommend it to anyone who has kids or just wants to check out a little bit of Florida’s forests and thier history.

You can also head on over to their HUGE swimming pool that located in the middle of the park almost. a beautiful place to head on the weekends. The price is $2 per person to get into the swimming area. even if you’re not swimming, you still have to pay the fee so be prepared.

Personally, the $4 (per car load of up to 8 people) to get into the park and the $2 per person to get into the swimming area is definitely worth it. You’ll have no problem finding a parking place and there’s not an overwhelming number of people at the pool side. At the pool you will also find the park’s gift shop and consessions. The food looked pretty good even though we didn’t try it. also, they have tables with flat iron grills placed in the center. I’ve never seen that before and found that to be really cool as well. We dont know what they use them for or anything but perhaps one of you might know and be able to drop us a comment and let us know. It would be interesting to find out.

After checking out the pool and swimming for a little bit we headed over to parking lot #3 to eat lunch and relax whiile the kids played on the playground. There is plenty of covered picnic tables for you to sit at but you might be surrounded by buzzards. yes i said it, buzzards. there were probably a good 30 buzzards just flying around and perching themselves on top of the pavillions. This could have been just that day that they decided they wanted to hang around i’m not sure but to me, they looked pretty comfortable as if it were their meeting grounds. After we finished our lunch we headed down the trail towards the suspension bridge. This thing is awesome!. It’s definitely beautiful and would make a great destination for photographers. In the evening light with my Nifty Fifty (50mm f/1.8), I walked away with some amazing photos. could have used a little fill flash but even without it the photos were awesome and the colors were bold and vivid. We will be going back with some models and some strobes here in the near future. It’s a perfect place for beautiful portraits to say the least. All though i would recommend some type of insect repellant with deet in it. You all know how Pam is if you have read about any of our past adventures and this holds true here as well. If there’s a bug that bites, it’s bound to find her. and they did! the mosquitos were pretty bad in this area but that’s to be expected with any type of wetlands around so be prepared. While we were out on the trail I didnt notice any deer flies or anything but when we were pulling into the park I did get attacked by one as it flew into my head through the open window, lol.

Now if you don’t know, the Hillsborough River is one of the only rivers in Florida with rapids and the section through Hillsborough River State Park is home to the only Class II Rapids in Florida. To me this is pretty cool. Me being a Florida native i’ve never really seen rapids. Especially not in my own state. So when I had the opportunity to go and photograph some, i got overly excited and left my tripod at home. I’ve always wanted the ’silky water shot’. Even though i still dont have it 100% because you need a tripod for that type of shot and i left mine at home, i do know where to go to go and get it… and I will be going back tripod in hand. If you’re not up for a long hike just to see the rapids, don’t fret. It’s only a  3 - 5 minute hike from parking lot #2. The rapids are closed off to kayaks, canoes, and boats but you can enter your canoe or kayak down stream and enjoy a day on the river.

I think that is about it for this adventure to another one of Florida’s beautiful State Parks so unless we forgot something, Thanks for reading!.