Florida’s Big Bend Anglers to Benefit From New Rules for Spotted Seatrout

Essentially, what this means to our Gulf coastline (in Levy, Dixie, Taylor, Jefferson and Wakulla Counties) is that the February closure has been eliminated.  Now, anglers fishing from Yankeetown, Waccasassa, Cedar Key, Suwannee, Horseshoe Beach, Steinhatchee, Keaton Beach, Econfina, Spring Warrior, St. Marks and Panacea have an extra month to fish.  February has traditionally been …

Beat the Holiday Shopping Rush, and Go Antiquing in Micanopy!

Just a few minutes outside of Gainesville, Historic Micanopy is a great way to spend the day for those who have any interest in antiques.  The street is lined with little cafes and antique shops, and each store specializes in a different type of antique so there is something to interest everyone.  For those who …

Eat Well at O’Neals Country Buffet in Madison

If you’re looking for some good home cooking, then look no further than O’Neals Country Buffet in Madison, Florida.  Located just outside of downtown Madison, the faded sign for O’Neals is easy to miss, however, the always crowded parking lot is not.  Everything on the buffet is cooked fresh daily, and the price can’t be …

Bronze Statues Take Over Gainesville

First they visited Paris and Osaka. Now “Crossing Paths,” a collection of 24 large statues by J. Seward Johnson, has taken up residence across Gainesville, from the University of Florida campus to downtown. (UF’s North Lawn, near the Reitz Union, has 10 sculptures.) The exhibit runs through October 14. Giant statues include a dancing couple, …

Camping at Shell Mound State Park

With the cooler weather on its way, October is the perfect time for camping in Florida.  Shell Mound County Park in Suwannee County is a great place to camp out.  Aside from the fishing, boating, biking, and birdwatching, the park is right next to the Shell Mound Archaeology Site.  The shell mound is the largest prehistoric shell midden site …

Wait, what? Wheat?

When most people think of America’s wheat fields, they picture those amber waves of grain in the midwest. Turns out, the birthplace of American wheat was in Natural North Florida, where it is still grown at Barnhart’s wheat farm in Monticello. Monticello historians David Ward and Jack Carswell discovered that the first wheat ever planted …

Greenville’s Dixie Plantation

Exploring the 9000-acre Dixie Plantation, it’s not hard to imagine yourself many decades in the past. The Continental Field Trial for quail hunting dogs are still held here each year, as they have been since 1937. The imposing plantation home still stands. Although it was damaged in a fire that set back its renovation efforts …

Your Gateway to the Wakulla River: T-n-T Hideaway

You’re not supposed to stand up in a kayak, but ever since seeing stand-up paddleboarders in action, I had been eager to try paddling from a standing position. I asked my guide from T-n-T Hideaway first. I knew if I did a header over the kayak and wound up wriggling around in the Wakulla River, …

Guided Paddle Tours in Cedar Key

The stick floating in the water sure was wriggling a lot. I had thought it was a stick, anyway. Then my guide told me it was a snake. Why was a snake swimming a mile off the coast of Cedar Key? It had clearly bitten off more than it could chew (figuratively, thank goodness) and …

Natural North Florida Album: Honey Lake Plantation

With services ranging from a salon and spa to a smokehouse and wild-game processing facility, Honey Lake Plantation in Greenville is a truly one-of-a-kind destination. Offering lodging, event hosting, hunting and fishing, corporate retreats and more, Honey Lake occupies 4,700 acres of Madison County that underwent a $30 million renovation to become a resort. With …