winter vacation planning drive from Ontario to florida

Hi

planning to break some of the winter blahs and taking a trip from near Ottawa Ontario to Florida. Any suggestions of things to se and do. Plan is to do it at our leisure and take 2-3 weeks there and back.

Gator Farm in FL. Old school side show style entertainment at its best. Plus you can get your ass kicked by a chicken @ Tic Tac Toe. Seriously.

Nice,

If you're going to come to Florida, go all the way. Keys and Key West. Beautiful drive over the ocean, great fishing, some really good food, and Key West is fascinating. Just bring an open mind, there are some alternative life style folks there. I love it there. Ft. Lauderdale, where I live, is fun and has a lot to do and see, Miami is a gorgeous city that I dislike strongly. South Beach is entertaining area that can be very dangerous. Tampa has a lot to offer, besides free beer at Bosch Gardens. That's the best park in the state. A lot of natives do not like Disney for the crowds and plasticness. Cape Canaveral has tremendous history, and the tour there will be very worth while and interesting. Speed traps in some of the small towns. Roads are generally very good- no potholes or frost heaves. PM me if you want more. Lived here 30 years, know a bit about the places.

Garlits Museum on 75 just south of Ocala. If you are a car person you need to see this.

+1 on the Garlits place. Big Daddy never got rid of anything, a lot of great cars there.

Also Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio off 75. Alot of aviation history done well. About the time for a break coming from Detroit.

Also, south of Tampa, Daytona, the only hills are entrance ramps. Roads are flat and straight. Boring. Alligator Alley, I-75 from Naples to Ft. Lauderdale can be interesting. Lots of wildlife. You WILL see gators. Maybe a python or two. No kidding.

Going down 27 instead of 75 or the turnpike you see more of rural fl. I go that way to Homestead and it is a good drive. You also see a few hills where we live in Clermont.

And there is Daytona which the biggest attraction would be the Grassroots HQ. Also there is a very nice lighthouse and museum at Ponce Inlet with some great restaurants.

Last time I went down 27 from Orlando there was so much construction it seemed to take forever.

Depending on your significant others preference; I say the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Corvette Museum, Ruby Falls,Tail of the Dragon,Lake Lure/Charlotte/Asheville/Biltmore NC, Atlanta, Charleston/Savannah, St. Augustine FL....

It depends on what you would like to see.

Nasa is on the list for sure, i want to see the swamp rat too, wifey is really good but has to have a mix of things to see and do. Thinking of hitting Hershey Pa first and after that not sure.

Tail of the Dragon may have to wait till we head down on our bikes

In reply to cwh:

Not at this time. Most of it done.

I think the Coral Castle in s. florida would be a neat place to visit.

racerboy000 wrote: Nasa is on the list for sure, i want to see the swamp rat too, wifey is really good but has to have a mix of things to see and do. Thinking of hitting Hershey Pa first and after that not sure.

After making the wife happy with the tours of the chocolate factory there, stop and see the AACA museum in Hershey also. AACA = Antique Auto Club of America. Interesting museum and displays. Worth a visit. Besides half of Hershey is closed during the heavy winter months. I learned that the hard way last January when I had to spend a month in the area on business and was looking for things to do on weekends. And stop at some other tourist place around there and get souvineers (?sp) of Intercourse, PA. T-shirts, shot glasses, coffee mugs, you get the idea.

Fantasy of Flight, near Orlando. Awesome place for mechanical nerds.

wlkelley3 wrote:

racerboy000 wrote: Nasa is on the list for sure, i want to see the swamp rat too, wifey is really good but has to have a mix of things to see and do. Thinking of hitting Hershey Pa first and after that not sure.

After making the wife happy with the tours of the chocolate factory there, stop and see the AACA museum in Hershey also. AACA = Antique Auto Club of America. Interesting museum and displays. Worth a visit. Besides half of Hershey is closed during the heavy winter months. I learned that the hard way last January when I had to spend a month in the area on business and was looking for things to do on weekends. And stop at some other tourist place around there and get souvineers (?sp) of Intercourse, PA. T-shirts, shot glasses, coffee mugs, you get the idea.

I've been to Hershey for annual vacations to HersheyPark 3 years running, and drive by AACA at least 2 times every trip. Next time I'm either dragging the wife and kids through or (more likely) ditching them for 2-3 hours and doing the museum myself.

Hershey gets decorated very cute for the wintertime, and the Hotel Hershey is a 5-star fabulous place if you have the scratch, but even in the winter it ain't cheap. Chocolate World is free; the tour and the 3-d movie experience (not free) are very Disney but worth doing once. The rest of the place is a giant gift shop with everything Hershey candy you can imagine. You can do everything you want in Hershey in a day - including outlet shopping with no sales tax on clothes the Wife chimes in.

If you like US Civil War history Gettysburg is less than an hour away, but I don't know what's there to see in the winter.

You could spend a day or 2 in Washington DC - Air and Space is a nice museum, lots of other museums and monuments to see. Actually, you could drive to Hershey, spend a couple hours there, and then continue to DC for the night as its only about 2 hours away IIRC. Depends on how much time you want to spend in transit and how much time you want to spend in warm Florida.

Yeah, this is the time of year to come to Florida. Right now we have 82* and sunny. First time I came to Florida it was in August. 90's with 90% humidity. Thought I was going to pass out.

What route are you planning, I am just off the i/s of US 30 and 75, if you want to visit and drink a good micro beer

Check out the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. A little pricey, but very cool. I'll third the Garlits museum because I really want to get there and haven't yet.

Last time we visited the Orlando area, and aside from the Disney world, Busch gardens, etc. attractions, we also did an alligator farm, Cape Caniveral and a swamp boat tour which my 11 year old son REALLY liked... And a walk on the beach. You'll recognize the Canucks, we're the ones wearing shorts and t-shirts in February

GWGarrard Osgoode, ON

The Miccosukee and Seminole tribes have interesting tribal sites with gator wrestling and cultural history stuff, very interesting, not something you will see much of in Canada. Our indians are quite wealthy.

I'll 2nd the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a great stop!

My BF and I are headed to Florida but don't have the time to drive (so jealous)..

Actually all I need to do is pick one of these florida vacations packages and we're set!

Who knows, I might even have the nerve to visit an alligator farm? Yeah right! LoL!