The Florida Explorer

In our quest to preserve and make available as many Florida writings as possible, here’s a public domain piece from Florida Enchantments, dated 1915.

I don’t expect this post to be of much interest to too many people outside of my family. Basically, I want to keep an official tally of all the state parks that we have been to and I figured the blog is a good place to do that. And I hope, just maybe, it inspires others!

In our quest to preserve and make available as many Florida writings as possible, here’s a public domain piece from Florida Enchantments, dated 1908.

In our quest to preserve and make available as many Florida writings as possible, here’s a public domain piece from Florida Enchantments, dated 1908.

In our quest to preserve and make available as many Florida writings as possible, here’s a public domain piece from Florida Enchantments, dated 1908.

In our quest to preserve and make available as many Florida writings as possible, here’s a public domain piece from Florida Enchantments, dated 1908.

In our quest to preserve and make available as many Florida writings as possible, here’s a public domain article from Florida Enchantments, dated 1908.

In our quest to preserve and make available as many Florida writings as possible, here’s a public domain article from Florida Enchantments, dated 1908.

In our quest to preserve and make available as many Florida writings as possible, here’s a public domain article from Florida Enchantments, dated 1908.

Recently, one of my favorite manliness blogs published a piece entitled Car Camping Is The Worst. Huh? The article went on to outline how terrible car camping is and why nobody should ever do it. Let’s right this terrible wrong.

In our quest to preserve and make available as many Florida writings as possible, here’s a public domain article from Florida Enchantments, dated 1908.

Years ago we camped at Oscar Scherer because we couldn’t get into the Myakka River campground (which was flooded). I returned here with the kiddos to get our stamp and to get reacquainted with the park, plus 3/4 of my kids never visited here.

I was pleasantly surprised by this little known state park, situated on the Gulf. No white sandy beaches here! Instead it was filled with springs, mangroves and hiking trails.

Everybody needs a quest in their life, mine is to visit all 175 Florida State Parks. This has been a goal of mine since the first time I set foot in Hillsborough River State Park (my first park) and realized that these places still have the old magic.

Myakka River State Park is one of the biggest (37,000 acres), oldest (established February 18, 1941), and best (see article below) Florida State Parks to visit and camp at.

We must have been insane to camp here during the middle of the summer. The campgrounds were flooded, the no-see-ums were horrendous and we slept terrible, but still…

Since I obtained the state park passport book I’ve been revisiting a lot of state parks I’ve been to in the past in order to collect the stamp and to enjoy the park once again.

The First Citrus Bank is offering $100 bonus when opening a new checking account and this is one of the easiest bonuses to earn that I’ve seen. This is an easy $100 to add to your FL exploring fund.

Every year cardholders for Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and U.S. Trust get free access to a selection of free museums on the first full weekend of every month. Just provide your credit or debit card along with a photo ID. Check ahead to confirm dates / hours. Let’s take a look.