5 Best Sights in The Lower Gulf Coast, Florida

Head here to cool off when summer swelters. Nearly two dozen wet and dry attractions include 10 thrill waterslides; the Sand Dollar Walk, where you step from one floating "sand dollar" to another; pint-size Pro Racer flumes; a professional sand volleyball court; a family pool and Tot Spot; and a river-tube ride. Rates go down after 2 pm, plus the park offers Family Fun Night specials.

To see what Florida looked like centuries ago, visit Babcock Ranch northeast of Fort Myers. During a 90-minute excursion, you ride in a converted school bus through several ecosystems, including the unusual and fascinating Telegraph Cypress Swamp. Along the way, an informative and typically amusing guide describes the area's social and natural history while you keep an eye peeled for alligators, wild pigs, all sorts of birds, Florida panthers, and other denizens of the wild. The tour also takes in the ranch's resident cattle and cougar in captivity. Reservations are needed for tours.

Affiliated with the University of Florida's natural history museum in Gainesville, this 0.7-mile interpretive walkway explores the site of an ancient Calusa village—more than 1,500 years old—with excellent signage, two intact shell mounds you can climb, the remains of a complex canal system, and ongoing archaeological research. Check the website for special tours and lecture events.

ECHO is an international Christian nonprofit striving to end world hunger via creative farming. The fascinating 90-minute tour of its working farm takes you through seven simulated tropic-zone gardens and has you tasting leaves, exploring a rain-forest habitat, visiting farm animals, stopping at a simulated Haitian school, seeing urban gardens grown inside tires on rooftops, and learning about ECHO's mission. Although the group is faith based, the guides are far from preachy, and the organization is all-inclusive, equipping and training people regardless of their beliefs.

If you have time, consider also taking the Appropriate Technology Tour. Slightly shorter than the basic farm tour, it's held in a covered facility where you'll see simple but ingenious contraptions that solve everyday problems in the developing world, like pressing seeds and making rope (spoiler alert—one involves a bicycle-powered saw). The ECHO Global Nursery and Gift Shop sells fruit trees and the same seeds ECHO distributes to impoverished farmers in 180 countries. Check the website for tour schedules.

This entertainment complex, once just a quirky shopping destination and a survivor from Florida's roadside-attraction era, now offers eateries; an arcade; bumper boats; miniature golf; the Soaring Eagle zip line; and a mining sluice where kids can pan for shells, fossils, and gemstones. Strolling the grounds, which have abundant exhibits and displays, is free, but some activities cost extra. A separate admission is also required to enter the Nature Park, which has the feel of a small zoo and is home to llamas; a petting farm with sheep, pigs, and goats; a walk-through aviary; an EcoLab; a touch center; and a gator slough. The Shell Factory also hosts family-friendly events throughout the year, such as January's Gumbo Fest.