Weekend Road Trips from Florida
 

Hi guys,

I'm a travel crazy English girl who married a lovely American chap and moved to his hometown in Central Florida three years ago. My husband tends to view travel as something you do on a large scale with your annual two weeks of vacation. Being from Europe, I'm used to taking lots of smaller weekend trips throughout the year to satiate that feeling of wanderlust. I'm desperate to see more of the USA and have been trying to convince my husband to take a few weekend road trips. We've went to Savannah and Charleston on two such trips last year, both of which I fell head over heels in love with and he really enjoyed once we got going.

Can you recommend any other fabulous destinations within reasonable driving distance of Central FL that I can tempt him with?

Thank you!

New Orleans?

The whole Redneck Riviera, though fabulous may be a bit of an oversell. Pensacola, Destin, Mobile, Gulf Shores, although you've missed your chance for the Hangout Festival (it sold out even though the headliners are meh), Gulfport. Then again, US beaches and (especially) Caribbean beaches are better than those in Europe.

Miami or Ft Lauderdale.

Atlanta (though I don't really like it).

The Keys.

Don't have to drive everywhere, lots of cheap flights from central Florida, too:
San Antonio (Texas) is scenic and fun; Arkansas is beautiful, and a fun getaway would be collecting your own beautiful quartz crystal (for example, http://www.bluemooncrystals.com/Crystal_Mining.html).
D.C. is a fairly short flight, and a wonderful city for walking (the monuments, plus the Smithsonian, etc.)
New Orleans is a great suggestion (I assume you've been to St. Augustine?).

My personal list has Savannah, Charleston, Ashville, and Charlotte on it. Chattanooga is fun, too, as is Nashville, but now we're getting a bit afield. Plus I've already done most of the suggestions above, several times for some and a lot for others.

Apalachicola and surroundings.

Almost any Florida State Park, but Wakulla Springs has a 1930's lodge to stay in, the largest spring in the state, great nature tours, etc.

Fernandina Beach.

St Simons Island and the other sea islands off Georgia.

Sarasota and the Ringling Museums.

Everglades City and Chokoluskee. The end of the civilized world. Visit the local museums.

That's a start.

<<Arkansas is beautiful>>

Arkansas is iffy. All depends upon where you go (if anyone tries to sell you on Hot Springs, just ignore them). Sylvia's basic point is correct: many short flights to interesting places for weekend trips.

St. Augustine is only 2 hours away and worth several days.

A few links:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trave.../st-augustine/
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trave...2.photogallery
http://www.staugustine.com/visit/
http://www.visitflorida.com/St_Augustine
http://www.getaway4florida.com/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/ar...#ixzz2eo5AnXR7

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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

Second Orlando Vics recommendation for St. Augustine. How about the sea islands: Tybee, Jekyll, St. Simons.

I'd second Florida state parks, although camping sites often take up to 11 months advance booking. Many of them have very nice cabins that are quite reasonable and sometimes easier to get than camping. Two places that come to mind are Three Rivers near Tallahassee and Blue Springs closer to Orlando. We really like Wakula Springs,too, although the lodge is nothing fancy in the way of amenities, it is historic and comfortable. If you venture into Georgia, they have some of the best state park lodges we have ever stayed in.