[Layaway Queen]

Hello everyone,

What an informative forum this is and all you guys are just a great wealth of information. I am having the other couple we are going to Florida with over for supper tomorrow night and we are planning more and more about our trip. I think tomorrow night is the renting of the van. So I will be happy to share with them the wonderful suggestions you guys have given me so far.

Now one more question, we are going to be down for 1 month and renting a house in the village of Amelia. I was thinking we would travel to St. Augustine to see the town since it is suppose to be so old and I believe we are going to St. Petersburg to view the Holcaust Museum that is there or we may drive down to the Keys to see them. We are not doing Disney as we did that on our last trip. Does anyone have any other suggestions that we could travel and see that might even be better than the ones I planned? My friends are so impressed with all the info I have received so far, would love to hear from you guys on the topic.

Thanks to all that have written so far. Appreciate everything. Now I know that I can eat when and what I want, can go and exercise it off and to keep me on track even take in my WW meetings. So if you could tell me some great spots to see that I shouldn't miss --------would truly appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Layaway Queen

[swrinfla]

Layaway:

Even though I have been here 5 years, I haven't been to any of your possibles!

That said, St. Augustine has a wonderful reputation as an historical place to visit, as well as a friendly one.

The whole St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Tampa area has any number of fascinating venues.

If you're plotting your route and itinerary, please be sure that you note that St. Augustine is well northeast of The Villages, while the Tampa Bay area is 65-70 miles south-southwest of us.

Point: maybe stop at St. Agustine before you get here. Then plan a visit to Tampa Bay later.

The same would apply to a Key West visit. Better than 300 miles south of TV, but well worth a visit,or so I hear!

SWR

[l2ridehd]

A few others are Mt Dora for arts, antiques and places to eat. Cedar Key, Homosassa state park, and the Butterfly museum in Gainesville.

[Russ_Boston]

How about Ocala State Forest for horseback riding.

Or a tour of Daytona if you're into NASCAR.

Or a tour of the space center if you've never seen that.

While in St. Augustine how about the nearby Golf Hall of Fame.

Cedar Key mentioned by L2 is a great white sand beach.

There are numerous places to take an airboat ride.

All of these are easy day trips from TV.

[KathieI]

One of the loveliest places is right here near the Villages. Its the Carriage Museum of Weirsdale, that has the most beautiful property, and a great place to visit and just enjoy the natural environment of Central Florida. They have 400 acres of beautiful natural scenery and offer carriage rides through the tall oaks around beautiful gardens and koi ponds. They have beautiful horses and offer horseback riding and carriage rides. Here's a link that I think will help you.

http://www.fcmr.org/wordpress/?page_id=6

I visit there often just to relax and enjoy nature at its finest.

[gabby]

Homassa springs to see the manatees. Clearwater for the beaches and a boat trip to see the dolphins. Hard Rock casino in Tampa. Must see Miami Beach on the way to the Keys! Swamp boat ride in the Everglades (loud). Have fun!!!

Please take a look at Rainbow Springs. It is about 45 minutes away and it beautiful. You can rent a canoe or kayak and go on an inlet and river that is very calm and one of the largest spring fed inlet and river in the state.
You can look down from your canoe, etc. and see the bottom at 20 feet. We tried it and were surprised. You can also swin there if the weather permits.

[Bryan]

Two suggestions - one is to visit Tarpon Springs and see the sponge diving. The second is visit the local AAA office in TV and look at their day trips and maybe even overnight trips. A lot of the things mentioned here are AAA trips also. You can sign up for the trip at AAA and let them do all the driving while you talk with you friends on the bus.

[Layaway Queen]

Thanks everyone who wrote me with their suggestions. I googled every one of them and saw that some of them looked like myself and hubbie and our friends would really like to do. I never would have thought of Mt. Dora or seeing the Manatees in their natural habitant. So now my friends are all impressed with how much information I have been given, so I say a big Thank You to all who wrote.

Thanks again.

Sincerely,
Layaway Queen

[Donna2]

Bump....Thought this would go good with another thread.

[JohnN]

homosassa springs was great, get there early too! there's another thread here on day trips

[DebbieMc]

I believe there are only 4 shuttle flights left, if there are any scheduled while you will be in Florida you might want to look into that. We went to one which was sadly scrapped at the last minute but hearing that "T minus 7 and counting" was pretty thrilling anyway. Also, once you leave the Space Center there is a place right off 95 called Dixie Crossroads (Titusville) which has great seafood, you must check that out.