WHAT’S YOUR GUILTY PLEASURE?

Florida often makes the news in both traditional outlets and social media pages, with plenty of strange headlines. They range from natural occurrences (“Shark Pulls Kayaker Eight Miles Up Coast”) to human goofiness (“Naked Thieves Take Burgers from Southwest Florida Eatery”). 

The truth is, Florida is a colorful state with a tremendous amount of diversity, and those who live and visit here wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s also a big, long state, made up largely of coastline—1,200 miles of it, of which 663 are foot-friendly sand. When visitors think of Florida, many picture the standard: tropical weather, beaches and umbrellas. Salt and strange goings-on aren’t entirely accurate, however. The interior of the state is far different than many expect, with freshwater resources, agricultural plains, equine culture and plenty of wildlife.

For instance, Florida’s interior waterways acquaint travelers to a different side of the state. Lake Okeechobee—in the center of the state— is the second-largest freshwater lake in the contiguous United States. It not only provides drinking water for many surrounding and southern counties, but it’s also an agricultural resource for the state’s abundant produce. It offers some of the best largemouth bass fishing in Florida, and the protective dike that encircles the lake is part of the National Scenic Trail, a 110-mile route, which is popular with hikers, naturalists, cyclists and horseback riders. (Horse enthusiasts should also head to Ocala and the Davie/Plantation region, where there are horse farms, schools, trails and competitions galore.) In addition, Florida has more than 30 firstmagnitude freshwater springs—the most of any state or nation in the world. Most of these watering holes, including Wakulla Springs, one of the deepest, and Silver Springs, one of the largest, are clustered in Central West and North Central Florida. Finally, Florida also claims quite a river culture, notwithstanding the famed River of Grass, a.k.a. the Everglades, where the native and nonnative wildlife is the most diverse. If you’re lucky, on a jaunt through the Everglades, you’ll spot the elusive and endangered Florida panther, the only big cat that lives in the wild in the state.

From airboat rides and alligator spotting in the swamps to kayaking along the immortal Suwannee River, framed by cool, green woodlands, to crabbing in the tributaries of the Apalachicola River, waterway adventures are endless. Here is also where you’ll find plenty of wild boar, which acclimated after the Spanish brought over their native pigs 500 years ago. Beyond the rivers and lakes, there are bodies of water on either side of the Florida peninsula, which offer deep-sea fishing and diving opportunities galore. If you’re especially protective of Florida’s natural culture, you can also participate in what is perhaps the most bizarre hunting competition in the nation: the Florida “Python Challenge.” This recently established event challenges participants to bag as many as they can of non-native Burmese python, mostly released pets and their progeny, the numbers and fierceness of which are unbalancing the ecosystem in the Everglades. Prizes include cash for the most and the biggest pythons caught. 

A BOUNTIFUL LAND Florida, which means “land of flowers,” is virtually covered in blooms, ranging from its state flower, the orange blossom, to exotic bougainvillea and birds of paradise. In fact, Florida is largely agricultural and depends on export crops as diverse as sugar cane and tomatoes to survive, while still leaving plenty available for passersby to purchase. Its biggest trade is in sweet corn and green beans, and visitors are often amazed to find farm