Our Top 10, Kid-Friendly Adventures in Florida

April 22, 2016 by Jess

Even though we’ve traveled full-time for over 2 years, there are only a few states we feel that we have thoroughly explored. Having spent almost fourteen weeks in Florida this past winter, we feel that we can officially check Florida off the list! There are few spots we missed (Shark Valley in the Everglades for one) but overall we covered the state fairly well.

We sat down with the kids and while reminiscing about our favorite adventures we put together our top 10 list of kid friendly adventures for the Sunshine State!

Travel Dates: Dec 3, 2015 – Jan 24, 2016 & Mar 8-13, 2016

Ages of Kids: 10, 8, 5

1. Camping on the Dry Tortugas. Definitely number one. Its expensive to get there, but cheap to camp so definitely stay at least two nights. Snorkeling, a historic fort, plenty of wildlife and beautiful beaches and crystal clear water made the trip a magical vacation.

2. Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys – We spent Christmas here and it was perfect. One of the most popular spots in the Keys, the beach was usually crowded, but not overly so. We ate ice cream, swam, rented a paddle board, explored the bridge, and generally relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.

3. Canoeing in the Everglades. If you do one thing in the Everglades, we’d recommend canoeing. The “Everglades” are sunny, open areas of water that look almost like meadows. Very enchanting. The fore-mentioned bike or tram ride at Shark Valley is also a good option.

4. Mountain Biking. With a maximum elevation of about 300 feet, Florida has some impressive biking trails. We loved Markham Park down by Fort Lauderdale as well as Santos in Ocala, FL.

5. Swimming & Kayaking with the Manatees. We day tripped down to Crystal River from Ocala to meet up with @Drivingdownadream and swim with some Manatees. It was definitely worth renting our own kayaks rather than going with a tourist group. Much more freedom that way. Read the details here on The Outbound.

6. Space Coast & Rocket Launch. Sam motivated this adventure is he loves space, and rockets, and physics and stuff. I loved letting him take the reigns and decided what we did. Our two top activities were watching a rocket launch and visiting the Kennedy Space Center.

7. Butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Fudge, Ice cream, hot, cold and frozen. Visiting Harry Potter Land in Orlando was definitely a highlight for us, as the older kids have read books 1-4, and all three have watched the associated movies. It was enough for them to really enjoy the experience and to be excited about all of the details we found at the park!

8. Hiking Through a Cypress Swamp. Nothing screams Florida like a good Cypress swamp. This is honestly what I thought the Everglades would look like, but I was completely wrong. Our favorite spot was Highland Hammocks State Park. There’s a fabulous trail called the Ancient Hammock Trail that winds through the trees. We also loved the tram tour (and its cheap!) and saw a great variety of birds and some alligators. Definitely isn’t Florida without the alligators.

9. Airboat Ride with Spirit of the Swamp. Just outside of Orlando, Florida this Airboat ride was an easy day trip during our stay there. Although the weather was overcast and slightly cold we actually saw more alligators because they were out sunning themselves in an attempt to stay warm.

10. Boogie Boarding on the Emerald Coast. The stretch of the Gulf of Mexico coast between Pensacola & Panama City is beautiful. Crystal clear, turquoise water, and white sand beaches were prime for boogie boarding. The weather was great in early December (slightly too cold for me) but when we went back through at the end of February we got a lot of rain. Boo. Better to go in November or wait until April when it warms up a bit.

While definitely not an exhaustive list, this definitely highlights the many different habitats and environments Florida has to offer! Even though I was frustrated and grumpy at first with all the people and the humidity, Florida grew on me and I really enjoyed our time there. After 14 weeks, however, it was definitely time to move on!