It's unlike anywhere else in the Sunshine State: No theme parks, no high-rise hotels, and almost no beaches. It's a back-to-nature place and a great one- or two-day drive, a place where, when you get out of the car, you can walk in the woods, fish off a dock or a boat, view wildlife, paddle a kayak, or just lie under the palm trees.
U.S. Hwy. 19 anchors the drive, but it's a little inland so you have to detour off it often to hit the coastal highlights. You drive through tidal swamps, palmetto groves, sea-grape hummocks (called hammocks in Florida), old gumbo limbo trees, and past salt-weathered houses, often built on stilts to survive the high water that hurricanes bring up the Gulf coast.
Coming from the Panhandle, the smell of wood pulp fills the air in Perry for this is lumber country. The Forest Museum tells the story of this city's role as forest capital of the state. In the museum, Terry the Talking Tree (a wood and plaster creation) tells kids the story of lumber.
A little farther south, the coastal time-warp communities of Dekle Beach, Keaton Beach and Steinhatchee are great centres for fishing and boating. And lazing.
Continuing south, we cross the Suwannee River, the stream Stephen Foster wrote about (and mis-spelled), without ever setting foot in Florida. That didn't stop it becoming the Florida state song.
At Inglis, a sign on County Rd. 40 informs us we're on the Follow That Dream Parkway. This recalls the summer of 1961 when Elvis Presley came here to film Follow That Dream, his ninth movie. The actual location is around the bridge over Bird Creek.
(By the way, you're safe from evil in Inglis, for the town council has outlawed Satan!)
Elvis's parkway ends a couple of kilometres farther on, in Yankeetown, at a picturesque dock and boat ramp with a view of several uninhabited keys.
The Crystal River State Archeological Site surrounds six Indian burial mounds in what is believed to be one of the longest continually occupied aboriginal sites in the state (from about 200 BC to AD 1400). Artifacts are on view at the visitor centre. Nearby, visitors take cruises in a spring to watch manatees, attracted here in large numbers by the spring's warm water.
At Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park you can visit the floating observatory to view fresh and saltwater fish and manatees. From an elevated boardwalk you'll see alligators, bears, bobcats and lots of wading birds. At Homosassa harbour nearby you'll always find fishermen eager to show off their catch.
For further information, check the website visitflorida.com/Canada.
2010 Toronto Autoshow: smart fortwo electric driveUpscale Gulf Shores
