My wife and I must be in Gainesville on April 30. Then must be in Orlando on May 5 for a conference. So, we need to entertain ourself for the 5 days in between. We will have a car.

Our interests: Wildlife viewing. Cycling (road). History.

Sitting on a beach doing nothing does not appeal to us. Neither does standing in line at Disney. We do not mind driving out of our way in order to enjoy whatever is there. I even thought about taking the cruise over to Bahamas for the few days. (never been there)

In Orlando, we are considering Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge (I have read mixed reviews of it on this forum... but that is not why I posted).

Just south of G'ville is Payne's Prarie, lots of wildlife and an actuall Prarie in FL! The Suwanee River is right there too - can see gators, the springs in the area have manatees.... The auhor Rawlings is from near Micanopy and her house is there - this is the area where they filmed The Yearling... Can go over to the coast one day and see Cedar Key, a quaint fishing village... The University of Fl has a nice archeological museum with indian artifacts from the area. Ocala is great for the horse farms - some are pretty magnificant, even if you aren't "into" horses! High Springs (another little town and a springs) is where "Doc Hollywood" was filmed and it is pretty cute with old buildings... Of course there is always St Augustine also - it is only about an hour from G'ville. Here is a link to a site from G'ville that has local attractions listed that are within an hour from the city. http://www.cityofgainesville.org/abo...ourtrips.shtml Same site has a link to attractions that are a day trip from the city. http://www.cityofgainesville.org/abo...daytrips.shtml
The main page for the G'ville Convention http://www.visitgainesville.net/ here is the website to the Marjorie Rawlings House http://www.abfla.com/parks/MarjorieK...nrawlings.html
The Payne's Prairie web site: http://www.prairiefriends.org/
The Cedar Key chamber of commerace site: http://www.cedarkey.org/
the high springs website: http://www.highsprings.com/ and last but not least, just one of the many websites about the Suwannee River this one is about the wilderness trail: http://www.floridastateparks.org/wilderness/

Hope that helps get you started - can you tell I'm from there? LOVE the area, not your "typical" FL

Wow, annise, that is an excellent list! We have only recently moved to Florida and we are still exploring, that list will come in handy for us too.
Is the Washington Oaks Gardens near enough to Orlando for chris to visit?

Don't know much about the wildlife viewing in central Fla,however, as I was on my way to my niece's house in Deltona I noticed loads of birding trails. I think they were on SR 46 between Deltona and Mims. There are lots of marshy areas, so I'm sure the birds are abundant in that area.

I've stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The personnel are the best. Also, they have the best breakfast buffet with lots of great dishes to choose from, as well as the staples found on any good buffet. You won't be disappointed.

Thanks Scarlett - didn't even think of Washington Oaks Gardens! It is about 2 hours away so it could prob be doable if the drive was ok... Didn't think about Cypress Gardens (website http://cypressgardens.com/welcome.asp), Weeki Wachee (website http://mermaid1.weekiwachee.com/), I will prob come up with more in time. I guess if you went for the night you could go up to Tallahassee also - esp if you were going to go to Cedar Key, do that, then go through Alligator Point to Port St Joe/Appalachicola, then go to Tally for the day before going back towards Ocala etc....but that may be too much driving time (about 3 hours or so one way to Appalach from centeral FL).

Ichetucknee Springs is one of my favorite places near G'ville. Tubing or canoeing down the river is fun and beginning of May should be warm enough with not too many people.
http://www.floridastateparks.org/ich...activities.asp

Anissa, I love your list too! You've listed a whole bunch of stuff that is close enough to Clermont for us. Thanks. chrisMLU, I think you'll find quite a bit of wildlife viewing and history without going to Disney or Bahamas. If you have time, maybe drive down to Tarpon Springs (Greek sponge fishing town on coast north of Tampa. While you're in the area, there's Weeki Wachee with the mermaid show...some of Florida's history is in its kitschy roadside attractions. If you decide to go up St. Augustine way, don't miss the Alligator Farm. In Orlando, there's the Gator Jumparoo in Kissimmee (worth sampling one of those two, but they aren't the same as wildlife au natural, of course).

Thanks to each of you, especially anissa and her detailed list. I should have mentioned that we are from Louisiana, so gators are not that big a deal. But manatees, mermaids, and birds and canoes...looks like we will have plenty to do.
thanks again!

Did anyone mention Blue Springs to view the manatees? This is a park area North of Orlando. It was our favorite on a driving trip in Dec. '03.

This is superb bird/ animal viewing and swimming also. We took a privately owned guided tour (small boat) and it was terrific. Highly suggest trying this. It is not crowded and we loved it so much that our 1/2 day turned into a full day and we will go back.

If you get down to Orlando, consider going just a tad farther south to reach Bok Tower gardens. www.boktower.org
One of our favorite places in central Florida. I didn't see it listed above; apologies if it was and I missed it.

I'm assuming that you're a motorcyclist not bicyclist. If that's the case, I would recommend Hwy. 40 through the Ocala National Forest, then up 17 to Palatka then back to Gainesville. This is a beautiful and less-traveled stretch. Getting to 40 from Gainesville is a problem but 241 from Archer South is pretty.

And don't forget to see the Devil's Milhopper in Gainesville, a huge old sinkhole that is now a park. Bring a picnic lunch.

I agree that Bok Tower is a great spot but, sadly, it suffered a lot of damage during the hurricanes to its gardens. But the view from this Florida pinnacle is spectacular.