Customer Reviews

30 Eco-Trips in Florida: The Best Nature Excursions (and How to Leave Only Your Footprints) (Wild Florida)

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Two days ago we returned from a trip to Florida that we planned around animal encounters and nature experiences for our 9 year old daughter. This book was an invaluable resource in planning our trip. We went to four state parks in Florida's excellent network (as we discovered, it's the only state to twice win the national gold medal for the best state park system). The book had accurate, up-to-date information that helped us get the most out of our visit to Caladesi Island where we saw armadillos cross our hiking trail. On the last day of our trip, we checked out of our motel in Clearwater Beach and visited Hillsborough River State Park northeast of Tampa, following the driving directions in the book. Our one-hour canoe trip along the river was a magical experience, gliding through the primeval greenery of a cypress forest where we saw many turtles and an alligator. In spite of the mind-numbing overdevelopment of the state, nature is still alive and well, and this book is the best guide for anyone who would go looking for the wonders of outdoor Florida.

As the headline states the most glaring omission is a map keyed to the eco-trips.
I am a Florida resident and very familiar with the state and had a huge problem understanding where areas mentioned were located and placing them mentally.
It would be so easy to have even ONE map showing areas with numbers so that one could reference it when reading.
Or each chapter could have an overall map of the greater area with various spots located.

I found it very useful on our recent trip to Titusville to see the Atlantic shuttle launch (wonderful) and then visited the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge's scenic drive on the north end of the island. Very nice even though many of the birds had been scared off by the shuttle. The roseate spoonbills were there though to make it worthwhile.