I’m not a FL native, but for pretty much all of my life we visited my grandparents down in Boca Raton (East Coast) often, plus I lived there for one year after my grandfather died and we were helping my grandmother adjust.
H and I moved to FL shortly after college and chose St Pete. It was my first time on the West Coast.
We definitely prefer West to East now, though not as fond of the Panhandle area personally.
Of course, as we’re visiting more Caribbean Islands, my love is morphing more as I love the laid back atmosphere of islands. (HI fits in with that too.)
I agree! Though I’ll throw in here that I live half time near NJ’s “West” coast, and it’s a lovely quiet alternative to The Shore sometimes. (And grew up on and am a huge fan of the Jersey Shore).
All this discussion had me checking how things are going in Sanibel and it looks like it will be quite a while before they even begin to approach normal. My favorite resort, West Wind Inn, sounds like a long way from opening. Very sad because that island was my winter paradise - especially the shelling.
Per the Disney World part of this conversation. I just got back from a conference in Las Vegas. The whole premise behind Las Vegas is it being unabashedly a tourist trap. The gambling was the initial draw but you can gamble just about anywhere nowadays. Walking through the Casinos what came to mind was an adult version of Disney World. The Canals in the Venetian, the fountains in Caesar’s Palace etc. I guess the difference is it really doesn’t cost anything to walk around these casino’s until you sleep, gamble, watch a show, shop or eat. You still get the eye candy. I’m not a gambler and wasn’t looking forward to visiting Las Vegas but in the end enjoyed it more than I expected. I don’t think I need to go back but at least I had the experience.
I got into a discussion with my kids, ages 37 and 31, about theme parks the other day. They were both dissing Universal and specifically brought up the Jimmy Fallon ride as an example of why Universal started to go downhill a few years ago.
This sounds like our tulip festival! Our state is one of the largest tulip bulb producers… the tulip and daffodil fields are spectacular when in bloom. Driving on the roads around the fields is free, but everyone wants to stop and take pictures. Of course, businesses wanted to capitalize on this, so there are now several attractions featuring local artists and craftsmen and of course gardens with what looks like hundreds of varieties of all things that grow from a bulb.
It is really nice. The local government started getting greedy several years ago as you note. Several years ago I got a parking ticket for parking on the side of a dirt road because I was trying to avoid paying $15 to park in a dirt field for an hour.
My H used to work in Carlsbad when our girls were little. I would take them to the flower fields in bright colored dresses and we would take lots of pictures. We have not gone there since they started charging admission so it’s been a long time.
One of my favorite beach locations was Sanibel Island. I’m a beach comber and thought it was marvelous. The Ding Darling wildlife refuge tour was fun also, along with the local wildlife rehab center that gave presentations to children. We and our children had great times there.
Sanibel is definitely not a tourist trap although it gets a lot of tourists. This year it is suffering from having borne the brunt of Hurricane Ian.
There are parts of Florida that probably are not tourist traps but feel like extended strip malls to me.
I love the mountains (US Rockies, Canadian Rockies, not sure what range that is, Sierras etc.). But sometimes there are tourists towns in an amongst the mountains that are hilariously touristy places. The area around Sedona is magnificently beautiful, but the town is full of billboards arguing about who are the real fortune tellers or tarot readers and of shops selling crystals with magical properties. Estes Park has lots of fudge and souvenir stores if I remember correctly.
Disney was magical. Look, I’m a huge national park fan - I hike them extensively- but there is just something about Disney that I love. We were there 6 days and had a blast. Rides, the flower and garden show in Epcot ( great food and drink!) Fantasmic, Magic kingdom fireworks - it all just makes me smile.
It wasn’t a restful vacation for sure, but our foursome spent every moment together and it was perfect.
True, Estes Park caters to the tourists. (I have a few friends who live there - summers gets really crowded at grocery stores etc.). The real draw is two miles down the road, at Rocky Mountain National Park. Inside “Rocky”, there are zero motels/restaurants/stores…… just lots of nature (and lots of visitors too).
We went to Talisen West yesterday, and it was actually very interesting and we enjoyed it. But it most definitely caters to tourists. And it ended in a gift shop where the gifts were overpriced…and that definitely was a tourist trap!
I am a Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiast and have been to Taliesin West twice. It’s still a school though I think it’s probably leaning towards a museum nowadays. Gift shops are ubiquitous in nearly all museums. The prices are never cheap. Since your in the area if you’ve never been there go to the Musical Instrument Museum. I found it a fascinating place. It took me two trips to see it all.
