Our Generation Florida

By Sandra Friend

Since it lies offshore between Tea Table Key and Lower Matacumbe in Islamorada, few motorists driving US 1 to Key West give it a second thought. But for those who plan ahead, a morning at Indian Key can be a fascinating ramble on a lonesome 11-acre island where you might be the only visitor. Read More »

By Sandra Friend
With summer comes thoughts of cool water and cool breezes and just plain staying cool, which you might think would nix most outdoor activities in Florida, but you’d be wrong. There’s a cool corner of our state that feels a lot like Appalachia, with high bluffs overlooking swift rivers and shallow waters riffling over rock rapids. It’s Blackwater River State Forest, more than 190,000 acres of forests, marshes, and waterways between the Alabama state line and the towns outlying Pensacola, and a prime outdoor destination for our Florida summers. Read More »

By Sandra Friend
In 1936, Winter Haven resident Dick Pope knew he had a gold mine when visiting servicemen showed up to see this new-fangled idea called water skiing that his wife, Julie, choreographed and his kids and their friends put on. Pope mined that vein for all it was worth, creating the first Central Florida theme park, Cypress Gardens. Read More »

By Sandra Friend

Sitting in my rocking chair on the second floor veranda, reading with a good book as live jazz drifts up from the front porch below—it doesn’t get more relaxing than this. Well, okay, maybe it does, when I can take an afternoon nap as the lightly-draped windows let in a salt-scented breeze. Apalachicola is a timeless beauty, and it’s somewhere you can get lost in time. But I’m on a mission, too. I’m in search of the Holy Grail, the oyster. There are none better than those that come from Apalachicola, or so I’ve discovered from years of haunting seafood restaurants along the Gulf. Now, I’m finally at the source. Read More »

By Sandra Friend

While Tallahassee likes to brag about its high concentration of antebellum plantation homes (more than 70 within an hour’s drive), Ellenton (in Manatee County, just south of Tampa Bay) can crow about being the home of the southernmost remaining plantation in the United States. Flanked by 300-year-old oaks, the grand entrance to the Gamble Plantation Historic State Park (www.floridastateparks.org/gambleplantation) is reminiscent of a scene from “Gone With The Wind.” And like the mythical Tara, the last remaining antebellum plantation in South Florida played an important role in the last days of the War Between the States. Read More »

By Sandra Friend

In Central Florida, a delightful sign of winter’s wane is when azaleas burst into bloom. On residential streets in the downtown neighborhoods of Orlando and Winter Park, the displays of pinks and purples start in late January but are most spectacular throughout February, when a simple drive-by isn’t enough. As azaleas wane, the vivid greens of spring come into their own, making these locales a pleasant retreat. Read More »