Gold Medal Software 2/Gold Medal Software Volume 2 (Gold Medal) (1994).iso/misc/flortrav.arj/FLORIDA.MSC

Text File | 1993-09-04 | 26KB | 507 lines

::Title:    Florida compilation
::Filename:    north_america/usa/florida/florida.misc
::Date:        ** not maintained **
::Type:        Compilation
::Note:        Volunteer needed to maintain this file
::
This and other travel information is available by anonymous ftp from
ccu.umanitoba.ca (130.179.16.8) in the directory /pub/rec-travel.

For more information about the rec.travel archives, contact Brian
Lucas <[e-mail]>.

Please do not send comments, questions, additions to me.  We need a
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========================================================================



From: mwills@su102c (Scott Wills)
Subject: Re: Things to see in Florida
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 22:56:44 GMT
Organization: Harris Corporation, Government Aerospace Systems Division.

Two of our favorite outdoor excursions are canoeing in Ocala National
Forest (Juniper Springs National Park) and day trips to Canaveral
National Seashore (Nature Reserve).

Juniper Springs is on Route 40 (?) about an hour east of Ocala FL,
right in the middle of Ocala National Forest.  The spring water is
clear, calm, cool, and shallow.  The canoe trail is about 3.5 to 4
hours long, winding through the heart of the forest.  You will see
lots of turtles, fish and, probably alligator.  Get there early or
make a reservation two weeks in advance (you have to send a check)
because the run is so popular that they run out of canoes by 9 or 10 am
almost every weekend.  After you finish, the spring-fed swimming area
is a nice place to cool off.  You should take skin-so-soft or DEET
insect repellent for the canoe trip.

Canaveral National Seashore is great if you like wildlife preserves.
Its many winding car and hiking paths including Black Point Drive
take you through a huge expanse of wetlands (swamp) with many variety
of birds, wild hogs, an occasional bobcat, alligator, etc.  Eagles
nest in the reserve (almost?) every year, although they can be hard to
spot.  (We've lived here 6 years and saw our first one about two
months ago.)  Playalinda beach is separated from the mainland by the
reserve and is untouched by comparison to other well known Florida
beaches.  The space shuttle launch site (pads 39a & b) are less than 2
miles from the southern tip of Playlinda.  So from the access road or
beach access boardwalks you can get a great view of the shuttle when
its on the pad (you can see the VAB from all over the reserve).

Edison's home is worth a stop if you're in that area for more than a
day.  It only takes a few hours to see (depending on how much of a
techie you are) but you'll need more time for the beaches of Sanibel.
Of couse you really need to rent a place for a few days on Sanibel or
Captiva.  If you don't have a private beach access, try the public
beaches at the south end of Sanibel, just southwest of the
lighthouse.

Gulf beaches, particularly in the panhandle have a different character
that the Atlantic beaches.  The Gulf side is normally much more
placid, since it is not subject to the rough Atlanic surf.  This
results in less erosion and a more "bath tub"-like calm.  These
beaches are beautiful (particularly Fort Walton Beach/Destin area) but
so are the Atlantic beaches.  It just depends what you're after (or
see both if you have the time :-).

Cocoa Beach and Daytona Beach on the Atlantic side are unique in their
hard packed sand.  You can drive on Daytona Beach.  They halted this
practice in Cocoa years ago, so it's a little cleaner.  Lori Wilson
Park in Cocoa beach is IMHO one of the nicest beaches in the area.

The Clearwater beaches in the Tampa area are very nice and in no way
industrial.  The trouble is that they are so popular, all of Tampa/St.
Pete go there on the weekend.  Traffic on the tiny beach access
roads can be frustrating.  Still, we venture over there for long
weekends about once a year.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M. Scott Wills,  Mail Stop: 102-4844     INTERNET: [e-mail]
Harris Corporation                       UUCP:     uunet!x102a!mwills
Government Aerospace Systems Division    CCMail:   harris.mwills01
P.O. Box 94000                           FAX:       [phone]
Melbourne, Florida 32902                 Voice:    407-729-3283
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Key West Florida - any suggestions
Date: 30 Jun 92 12:58:09 -0500
Organization: Carnegie Mellon Computer Club

The NATIVES know that parking is AWFULLY difficult especially in the OLD
section of town (where most of the action is), so they ride BIKES!!
Bikes are rented throughout the island and you will be surprised to know
that MOST of the island is VERY industrialized and therefore not any
different than where anyone else would live.  The SOUTH part is where
many of the historical buildings lie.  Hemingways House (with 40 cats+),
the Southermost House, the Southernmost Beach (great little restaurant
right there.. can't remember the name)  Also.. tho somewhat touristy..
I enjoyed taking the CONCH train.. it takes you on a great open ride and
shows you all the above points.. and also give you a great overview of the
interesting parts of the island.. I owuld recommend taking this first.. then
going to the places you liked from the tour on your own.

If you like WATER.. there are TONS of places who will teach you how to SCUBA
and/or rent you SCUBA or snorkeling equipment.  Also there are LOTS of
reef touring boats that have glass bottoms and allow you to view the fishes
and coral without diving at all.  Do watch out for the sun tho.. VERY STRONG!

Other interesting places here...  Calvin Kleins house (can be seen from CONCH
train. - forgot to explain that this is REALLY a trolley ride), Margaritaville
( a Jimmy Buffet store), Sloppy Joe's (VERY FAMOUS.. on the main OLD TOWN
drag.. Hemingway supposedly hung out here).

Interesting food of course ranges from EVERY kind of seafood to such delicacies
as CONCH chowder and KEY LIME PIE!!

Hope even this info helps you some to enjoy it.. It was AWSOME!!



From: [e-mail] (Richard Newman-Wolfe)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re: Orlando without Mickey
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 12 Jan 93 20:52:23 GMT
References: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
Organization: Univ. of Florida CIS Dept.
Lines: 71
Nntp-Posting-Host: chameleon.cis.ufl.edu

Orlando is Florida's attempt to create California driving conditions ;-)
There are some excellent things to do there, including:
    Theme Parks -
        SeaWorld (fun for the whole family - animal acts and displays)
        Cypress Gardens (great water-ski shows, variety of gardens)
        Universal Studios \ / these have "movie rides" like a monorail
        MGM Studios       / \ on which you are grabbed by King Kong.
                    I have been to neither.....
        Wet and Wild - fun in the water
        Epcot Center - mock-ups of international locales, not as
            hokey as DisneyWorld, get reservations for dinners.
            Also many technical displays in a theme park format,
            such as 21st century agriculture, communications, etc.
    Music, etc.
        Lake Buena Vista - part of the Disney thing - has many top
            notch jazz, blues acts.
        Church Street Station - a street set up like turn of the
            century New Orleans, lots of variety in music,
            food, shopping.
        Pleasure Island - part of WallyWorld Complex, I believe there
            is one cover charge and half a dozen nightclubs with
            a wide variety of music.  My brother-in-law loves
            this place.
    Food - Orlando has some excellent restaurants.  A favorite
        Indian resaurant is the Darbar (go west on Sand Lake
        road about a mile past I-4, turn right on Dr. Phillips Rd.
        and take an immediate left into the Marketplace (?) shopping
        center.  Head for the clock tower, and the Darbar is next
        to it.  Somewhat pricey for Indian, but .85 probability of
        excellent food and .6 probability of good service).  The
        Indian faculty here have a high opinion of the place.
    Water - There are several large springs near Orlando, including
        Wekiva State Park (a little north), Homassasa Springs, and
        Weeki Watchi (both private and to the west), Silver Springs
        (private, 1.5 hours to the north).  These have various ways
        of "enhancing" the natural beauty of the springs and
        activities you can do (ride a jeep through wild animal park,
        ride a glass-bottom boat over the springs, see reptile
        shows, mermaid shows, etc.).  The springs themselves are
        incredible, and the water is around 70 degrees F year round.
    Beach - Due east is the Atlantic, which is still pretty cold this
        time of year (in the 50's or 60's, I expect).  There are a
        string of beaches along the Atlantic shore between Cocoa and
        Melbourne.  Many are public and have good access.  Just take
        the Beeline Expressway for the 30-40 mile shot to the shore.
    KSC - The Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral is a fun place,
        check to see if there are any shots going on while you are
        in the area.
    Birding - If you are into birds, just north of the Cape is the Merit
        Island National Wildlife Refuge/Canaveral National Seashore.
        There are large numbers of waterfowl in the area.  Bring
        binocs and a guide book.  The shore parts are closed for
        a month before any launches, but the inland waterway parts
        remain open.  Besides, near the south entrance to the park
        is the Dixie Crossroads Seafood Restaurant, reason enough
        to go there!
        Within Orlando, there is the well-hidden Audubon House,
        a home for injured raptors.  It is in the north part of
        town (Winter Park or Maitland, I think) and is home to
        many owls, eagles, hawks, etc.  They are really set up
        more for rehabilitation than for tourists, which I find
        desirable after the packaged world of Disney.
--
Richard E. Newman-Wolfe                   [phone]/392-1220 fax
CSE-301, CIS Department, University of Florida       [e-mail]




From: [e-mail]
Subject: Orlando tips for the budget-minded [Long]
Date: 4 Dec 92 17:00:48 EST
Organization: Aspen Technology, Inc. Cambridge, MA.

Orlando tips for the budget-minded:

- Go in the off-season; i.e., _not_ February, _not_ spring break time,
  _not_ July-Aug (kids are out), _not_ Thanksgiving, _not_ Christmas.  There
  are less people and lodging is cheaper.

- Near-Disney-without-car or no-so-near-Disney-with-car?  Well, everyone
  has a different opinion since everyone expects different things in
  a vacation.  Well, for us, the latter suits us better:

  - Motels farther away from Disney are much cheaper [see below].  You
    don't go all the way to Orland to enjoy the ambience of your
    hotel and you hardly spend any time there (other than sleeping) anyway.

  - With a car, you get to go to Sea World, the Kennedy Space Center,
    Wet-and-Wild (a water amusement park), Cypress Garden, Downtown
    Orlando (which has an interesting night club area), etc; or even go to
    Tampa on a day trip.  For those with unusual tours in mind, there is
    also Tupperware's HQ.

  - Car rental is relatively cheap in Florida.  Also, typically there
    is no drop off charge if you return at a different city.  So, for the
    same airfare, you can tour two or more cities for the price of one!
    (We went to Miami after Orlando.)

  - With a car, you can buy food, soda, fruits, etc from the supermarkets.
    This not only saves money but the food is healthier too.  Also,
    you can eat your sandwiches while you are waiting in line--this helps
    if you want to do Space Mountain many times.

- Lodging:

  - Hotels near Disney World are expensive.  Cheap motels are to
    be found along Rt 192 in Kissimee and they are only 15 minutes away from
    Disney.

  - Here's an interesting story.  Before we went we called up the 800 numbers
    of the big motel chains and the lowest we could get was $29.99 a night
    at a Day's Inn in Kissimee.  (This was for the week before Thanksgiving.)
    When we arrived we found that the rate at Day's Inn at the airport was only
    $25.00.  (Note that there are about 40 Day's Inns in the Orlando area.)
    I immediately called up the Day's Inn that had our reservation and asked
    for the rate, which turned out to be only $25.99!  Lesson: the rate
    quoted by the central reservation might not be the lowest!

    Needless to say, we immediately cancelled our reservation and checked
    in with the cheaper rate.  Three days later we found a motel at $20.00
    a night.  We moved and stayed there for the rest of the week.

  - Caveat: some motels charge $0.25 for a tiny bowl of ice.  If you are
    bringing along a cooler, definitely find one that has free ice.

- Car rental:

  - The Orlando airport has an outrageous 8% surchage on the _total_ bill.
    If you are not renting whole weeks, you are better off by renting a day
    first, return the car the next day, then rent again.  This way the
    8% surcharge is tagged on only the first rental.

  - Sometimes you can get a better rate by booking through your airline.
    We got a rate of $99/wk from General through Continental Airline; and
    the rate would have been $125/wk if we had booked General directly.

- Earn money while on vacation!

  - Sign up for a time-share condo sales session and get paid for listen
    to a sales pitch for 1.5 to 2 hrs.  They usually come with free
    breakfast and starts at around 7:30am, so you can get to Disney by 10:00am.
    The typical rewards are 40 Disney dollar (which can be readily exchanged
    for real money at Disney World), a pair of free tickets to one of the
    local theme-dinners, or a pair of tickets to Sea World or Busch Garden
    (about $55 in value) for $0 to $10.

  - You typically sign up a session with one of the "body snatchers" who
    operate out of little stalls in car rental places, hotel lobbies, etc.
    They usually offer them to you _after_ making sure that you suit their
    citeria (typically: married couple, not Florida resident, look like
    having some extra money, etc.)  So, try to look like a nice couple
    if you want these freebies.  Btw, you are required to pay a $10-$20
    (refundable) deposit when you sign up.

  - My wife and I signed up for three different places and we got pretty
    good at handling these people after a while.  Some hints for speeding
    the whole thing up:

    - Don't ask too many questions.
    - Have one of the spouses act uninterested.
    - Tell them you have seen the other local time-share condos.  Complain
      that your last sales person was too long-winded.
    - Say that you don't want to buy because of some reason _other_than_
      _financial_.  Otherwise, they will perform more arithmetics tricks
      (similar to a car sales person) and have more sales people (in the
      guise of "managers" or "auditors") talking to you.

  - Note that I do not dislike time-share condos; I only dislike the high
    pressure sales tactics.  If I were to buy a time-share condo, I would
    probably get one in Lake Buena Vista right next to Disney.

- Food:

  - Well, not everyone wants to do this on a vacation, but we bought
    cold cuts from local supermarkets and packed sandwiches for lunch.  We
    also brought fruits, yogurt, munchies and carried a six pack of soda in one
    of these tube type carriers designed for carrying soda cans.  Note
    that spending a day in Disney is like taking a day long hike, you are
    on your feet most of the time and you can get tired and hungry easily.

  - Bring a long a cooler if you want to store food overnight.  You can pack
    your cooler with ice and leave it in the trunk of your car  This way you
    can get cold drinks by going to your car in the parking lot.  (Well, the
    parking lots are huge, so the walk to the car can quite long; and you
    _have_ to take the mono-rail if you are going from Magic Kingdom.)

  - The food at the Epcot restaurants are good but not extraordinary.  They
    are not cheap either.  Prepare to spend $30-$50 per person for a full meal.

- Discounts abound:

  - Discount coupon or places that sell tickets at discount are _everywhere_:
    car rental places, hotel lobbies, supermarkets, your friendly time-share
    condo body snatchers, highway service areas, etc.  Also, many associations
    like AAA off special discounts to members.  Do look for them.
    The saving is typically 10%.  Unfortunately (and not too suprisingly),
    there are virtually no discount for Disney tickets...

  - ...unless you are an employee of one of the corporations that
    are sponsors at the Epcot center.  E.g., my wife works for MetLife and she
    can get the 5-day superpass at 20% off.  If you have friends or relatives
    that work for these corporations, ask them to buy the discount tickets
    for you.  (The tickets are not supposed to be tranferrable even though
    no one really checks; but it is understandable that your friend might not
    want to buy the discount tickets for you.)

Others:

  - The Disney store at your local mall may have better prices for souvenirs
    than the stores in Disney world.  If you know what you are going to
    buy, check the local prices first.




From: [e-mail]
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: re:  Travel to Key WEst
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 5 Feb 93 13:45:43 -0400

I went to Key West last Summer and loved it!  Drove down through the Keys and
stopped at the Dolphin Research Center in or near Marathon Key (I believe).
For a small fee they take you through the center and you get to watch folks
working with the dolphins - very interesting.  If you want to have a Dolphin
Encounter yourself it must be arranged in advance and costs about $80 (?).

We stayed at two wonderful places in Key West which didn't cost much ($50) in
August.  There are lots of Guest Houses in an area of Key West that is alot
like Georgetown in D.C., the Fan District in Richmond, etc. - old houses,
little shops and restaurants, sidewalks, lots of trees, etc.  The first place
we stayed was The Westwinds - lovely house with small cottage-like buildings
in back.  Some have just bedrooms and baths, others have sitting rooms, etc.
Beautiful small but deep swimming pool with lush vegetation around it.
Complimentary continental breakfast served poolside each morning.  The other
place we stayed was The Eden House (a couple of blocks from Westwinds).  This
was the house used in the Goldie Hawn film "Cris Cross", which was a terrible
film BTW.  The house has been renovated and has a large lower porch and a 2nd
story veranda, pool, jacuzzi, large screen TV in the lobby, free juice/sodas
at check-in.  Rooms vary from those without baths where a common bathroom is
shared to ones with a private bath and some may have more.  We had a lovely
room that opened onto the upstairs veranda and looked over the pool.  The cat
from the house next door came to visit us (I loved this "neighborhood"
atmosphere) and our room had huge windows, a sink and a small "half bath"
(showeer and toilet) attached.  The staff was marvelous.  They had bikes for
rent (maybe free?) and we were able to walk down to the docks, shops, etc.
The AAA book has lots of places listed and there are hotels/guest houses that
don't cost an arm and a leg.

To do:

1)  Take the Conch Train first thing - it will give you a layout of Key West
and clue you in to some other things you might want to do.
2)  Go to the docks and watch the sunset.  One of the docks has
artists/performers/etc..  Or go to one of the outdoor bars where you can watch
the sunset while you sit and drink Pina Coladas...take me with you!!! Sorry...
3)  Go snorkeling!  We went out on a boat called the Fury - great staff and a
wonderful my experience.  My first and only so I have no comparison but I
loved it.
4)  Go to the beach at Fort ?.  There is a small fee (?$2) as it is a state
park area but it was recommended to us by a local who goes there because it is
less crowded and the beach is the nicest.  Warning:  bring shoes to wear into
the water - the bottom is rocky.
5)  Go to the top of the La Concha Hotel (Holiday Inn) where Tenessee Williams
wrote "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof".  There is a wonderul view of Key West.  We
didn't try the bar up there nor were we there at sunset but I bet it's a great
place to be at sunset.
6)  Go to Sloppy Joes (Hemingway's bar?) - note:  they all say they are
Hemingway's bar.  Entertainment, drink specials, great Sloppy Joes to eat!
7)  Go to Hemingway's house (we didn't get around to it :-().

To eat:

1) "Camille's" on the main drag (same street as La Concha Hotel). Great
breakfast and lunch.  Intersting, fresh, and inexpensive food...newspaper,
nice atmosphere, regulars/locals hang out there - not touristy.
2)  "Captain Bob's" - voted best Key Lime pie in Key WEst for 7 years in a
row.  On the other side of the island from most of the things I mentioned
above.  Seafood restaurant - casual.  Huge portions, great bread, good price,
key lime pie to die for.

O.K. - that's all I can think of for now.  Oh, the Key Wester was a hotel
recommended to us - on the Atlantic Ocean side of teh island - not too far
from the airport and not too far from where you enter Key WEst on Route 1.
Can you tell that I am enthusiastic about Key West?  WE did fall in love with
it and plan to go back.  I hope you have a wonderful trip.  I couldn't find
the original post so I don't know any details of when/how you are goign.  All
of the Keys have wonderful little information centers.  If you have time you
could write to them for info.  We also had Baha Hondia (sp?) beach recommended
to us.  It is in the southern part of the Keys...



From: [e-mail] (Tall Cool One)
Date: 17 Feb 93 21:52:06 -0600

There are many nice places to eat in the Tampa area.
1.  In Clearwater there is a dock where the fishing boats come in and one
of the
    restaurants right next to there buys the fish off of tourists that have

    caught them and serves the fish the same day.  (or so they say)

2.  It has been a few years since I have been there but there was a small
chain
    called Charlie's that had good food, very reasonable prices, and very
fast
    service.  This chain is in the Reddington Shores/St. Pete/Tampa area,
check
    in a phone book.

3.  There is also a place along Gulf Blvd (Gulf Blvd runs along the Gulf of

    Mexico) just north of the Sun-Shine skyway bridge that passes over the
bay.
    I don't know the name of the resaurant, but it is in a small shopping
area
    called John's Pass.  I have never eaten there but have heard some of
the
    local people brag about the food.




From mizar.cc.umanitoba.ca!newsflash.concordia.ca!utcsri!utnut!torn!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!col.hp.com!news.dtc.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!hplextra!hpcc05!hpcc01!cathell Thu Jun  3 14:03:10 CDT 1993
Article: 41039 of rec.travel
From: [e-mail] (B David Cathell)
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1993 20:17:19 GMT
Subject: Re: Seeing Cape Canaveral?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: the HP Corporate notes server
Path: mizar.cc.umanitoba.ca!newsflash.concordia.ca!utcsri!utnut!torn!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!col.hp.com!news.dtc.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!hplextra!hpcc05!hpcc01!cathell
Newsgroups: rec.travel
References: <[e-mail]>
Lines: 33

I visit Kennedy Space Center in December, 1991 and was a bit
disappointed.  There are tour buses that depart every ten or fifteen
minutes --- unfortunately, that's the only way to see the complex.
There were a number of spots (such as the launching pad for John
Glenn's first orbital flight) where they slow the bus down but you
can't get out. The cost is reasonable but I don't recall the exact
price --- figure $10-$15.

According to my parents who used to live in Florida, up until a few
years ago, you could drive to the various places and look around as
much as you like.  I really wanted to experience the history of the
place but you can't do that anymore.

They do stop and let you off the bus at a viewing area several miles
from a shuttle launch site but you really can't see very much from that
distance.  They also let you off outside the vehicle assembly building
where you can walk around and look at a Saturn 1B (moon mission) rocket
on its side.

All in all, I'd have rather spent my day in Walt Disney World.  In
addition to the well known theme parks there (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and
the Disney-MGM Studios) which I did visit, I missed Typhoon Lagoon due
to the full day for the Kennedy trip.

As for transportation, I'm sure there are tour buses that will take you
to Kennedy from various nearby cities.  However, you will find that
auto rentals are often quite reasonable in Florida (even the major
companies), gasoline is cheap by European standards and the roads in
the area are quite good.  Thus you may prefer renting a car and having
the flexibility to explore on your own.

Good luck,
B. David