Experience Florida Panhandle

Florida's thin, green northwest corner, known as the Panhandle, is sometimes called "the other Florida," since in addition to palm trees what thrives here are the magnolias, live oaks, and loblolly pines common in the rest of the Deep South. As south Florida's season is winding down in May, action in the northwest is just picking up. Nicknamed the Redneck Riviera, the Panhandle has many of Florida's most glorious white-sand beaches, and the most productive fishing waters in the world (off Destin). It has glitzy resorts, campgrounds where possums and deer invite themselves to lunch, and every kind of lodging in between. Students of the past can wander historic neighborhoods or visit archaeological digs. For sports enthusiasts there's golf and tennis, and for nature lovers, a world of hunting, canoeing, biking, and hiking.