Florida Without The Mouse Don’t believe the hype – Florida isn’t all tacky beaches and theme parks. by James Busbee hough Mickey, Aladdin, Mulan, and the rest of the Disney gang would never admit it, there’s much more to Florida than the Magic Kingdom. And with airfares to half a dozen Florida cities running around a hundred bucks round-trip, this winter is a great time to see a state that – despite public perception – is far more than theme parks, drug-runners, and crotchety New York retirees. So for the uninitiated and the unaware, here’s a quick list of some of what Florida offers beyond cartoon characters. Hold on tight, we’ll move fast... PHOTO BY JAMES BUSBEE The Big Cypress National Preserve within the Everglades. Naturally, when you think Florida, you think beaches. Fortunately, they’re plentiful: Florida has about 8,500 miles of coastline. But developers are rapidly scarfing up every available inch. Best bet for a beach vacation not spoiled by screaming kids and their loutish parents – find a state park near your hotel and drive there. You’ll often pay a couple of bucks to get in, but the peace and quiet are well worth it. But in truth, South Florida’s Everglades, not the coastline, are the state’s crown jewel, though you’d never know it by the way Florida’s leaders behave. State legislators constantly vote down or strip-mine bills designed to preserve the ’Glades, which is actually a river that’s a few inches deep and hundreds of miles wide. Developers have also shown little concern for the fragile ecosystem, and the result has been predictably unfortunate. Strip malls sprout up the instant you leave the federally protected area. Subdivisions and condos rise on former swampland, and stories of displaced alligators snapping up retirees’ poodles are all too common. Still, the ’Glades are a truly inspiring place to visit. You can drive down the two-lane Tamiami Trail, though I’d recommend watching your speed – wayward gators make nasty speed bumps at 70 mph. The Everglades has a number of national preserves where the natural beauty of the area has been preserved. The indigenous Miccosukee Indian Tribe runs small souvenir shops and Everglades “petting zoos” in the area. Operators of propeller-powered airboats take tourists out into the wilds of the ’Glades, and I’m pretty sure they bring ’em back. You can canoe the ’Glades for a few hours or a few days, but I’d recommend waiting for winter – in the summer, fist-sized insects and wet-blanket humidity tend to take some of the fun out of the trip. A fast-growing tourist attraction is major-league baseball’s spring training. Once the province of aged Brooklyn Dodgers fans and pasty, die-hard stat geeks, spring training has become big business in Florida. It’s the best opportunity you’ll ever have to get close to major-league ballplayers short of actual stalking. Most teams play in stadiums smaller than Tim McCarver Field. You can chat through chain-link fences with relief pitchers, get baseballs signed during games, and generally sit closer to the action than you ever could during the season. But this is baseball, so the powers that be are hard at work screwing it up. Several big-money teams like the Braves and the Yankees have built scaled-down versions of their hometown stadiums, vast and magnificent and utterly sterile. The Braves left a homey stadium in West Palm Beach for, yep, Disney World. On a broader scale, Florida is home to some model communities, like Seaside and Celebration (the latter of which was created by Disney – there they are again), which are almost spooky in their attempt to recreate small-town Americana. (Seaside was the real-life setting for The Truman Show, an irony that will have social scientists giddy for years.) But the real cities are much more interesting and worthwhile. Start with Tampa. Though it has some of Atlanta’s disease – mowing down history to make way for high-rise office complexes – Tampa’s Ybor City is one of the prettier shopping/restaurant/tourist districts in the state, mainly because it’s preserved the look of its early days as a cigar manufacturing center. Ybor City now boasts over 60 restaurants and shops along its brick streets. At the other end of the Tamiami Trail from Tampa is Miami, which might just be the most mismanaged city in the United States. Creative accounting and corrupt officials have led to high taxes and poor infrastructure, but hey – you’re just visiting. Head to Miami’s South Beach, which features both the grand hotels that were once Rat Pack-Mafia hangouts and a splendidly over-the-top Art Deco district. Up the coast, much of eastern-central Florida remains devastated by recent fires, but recommended stops still include the Kennedy Space Center and St. Augustine. Space shuttle launches are relatively frequent, but technical issues and unpredictable weather mean you shouldn’t plan a trip around a projected launch date. A few miles north, the narrow streets of St. Augustine’s old city make for an excellent day’s walk. St. Augustine was founded in 1565 and is the site of the legendary Fountain of Youth discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513. Before you go, do some reading. Recommended guidebooks include Insight Guides: Florida and Florida: The Rough Guide, which offer a wide perspective on the state. And do not miss the work of authors like Marjory Stoneman Douglas (the landmark environmental work The Everglades: River of Grass) and Carl Hiaasen. Hiaasen, a Miami Herald columnist and novelist, is the high priest of hard-line realism in Florida. Team Rodent: How Disney Devours America, his recent 100-page treatise, will make you shiver every time you hear “It’s a Small World After All.” There. Enough to get you started on a truly memorable Florida visit. So the next time you go, skip Disney World and its like. After all, the Magic Kingdom will always be there. Always. Get more info on Florida from the state’s Division of Tourism at (904) 487-1462 or online at www.flausa.com. For 1999 Spring Training info, contact the individual teams (the Braves are at www.atlantabraves.com, the Cardinals at www.stlcardinals.com). Carl Hiaasen’s columns are online at www.herald.com/dade/carl.