Hi, We get to Ft. Lauderdale at 5 am in December. We will be driving to Ft. Myers (reservations in Gullwing resort for 3 nights). Then, we drive back to Ft. Lauderdale and stay in Hyatt Pier 66 for 4 nights. This is our first trip to Florida. We are travelling with 3 kids 14, 12 and 6. We love nature. Please help us plan our vacation. Thanks.

Sounds as though you are arriving after a *red-eye* flight from somewhere??? After checking in, you might want to take a nap! In Ft. Myers you can take the kids to the Imaginarium. They may or may not like the Edison/Ford home tour...and, depending on when in December you arrive, the homes might be decorated for Christmas and the night time display is always very lovely. A trip to the *Ding* Darling Preserve on Sanibel to see the birds and nature. Or schedule a boat ride on the Caloosahatchee river for some birdwatching/sightseeing. Or take a trip to the Caloosa Preserve on Ortiz Ave., or drive down to the Corkscrew Sanctuary near Naples. Or go to Ft. Myers Beach.

Ding Darling has a very pleasant and easy (even for beginners) canoe trip. Also at Captiva there's a kayak trip across the cut to a mangrove thicket, also very easy even for beginners.

Corkscrew is a fun half-day. Go early or late for the best opportunities to see wildlife.

Fort Lauderdale has a great science museum with an IMAX theater if you would happen to have a rainy day - www.mods.org You will drive right across Alligator Alley on your trips back and forth across the peninsula so you can see the Everglades, and the Big Cypress Park has an exit on 595 nearer Fort Lauderdale. There is Butterfly World in Pompano Beach.

If your kids love nature, I strongly recommend a trip to Everglades National Park which will be about an hour and a half from Ft. Lauderdale. (The places in west Broward county use airboats and often feature alligator wrestling - not exactly environmentally sensitive.) There's an excellent two hour interpretive tram tour from the Shark Valley park entrance.

Also, just south of Miami is Biscayne National Park, America's only wholly under water national park. Snorkeling there is fantastic, the variety and colors of the fish and plants are spectacular. Your kids will never forget it.

These are by far your best bets for nature as South Florida is otherwise very built up, dense, and urbanized.

Sanibel-Shelling

Thank-you everyone. We are looking forward to Florida during X-mas