On a cold January morning with the temperature around 35 degrees, the sunrise highlights the mist coming off the warmer spring water and the boats at anchor in Crystal River, Florida

On a cold January morning with the temperature around 35 degrees, the sunrise highlights the mist coming off the warmer spring water and the boats at anchor in Crystal River, Florida.

One of the better roads in central Florida's Green Swamp Wildlife Managemant Area that goes through a tunnel of trees.

Oak trees span the roof of this road in central Florida's Green Swamp Wildlife management Area.

Bokeelia, on the north end on Pine Island in Lee County, Florida, has a distinct tropical flavor with this view of palm trees overlooking Charlotte Harbor. This small community of less than 2,000 was home to Spanish fishing camps that served Key West and Cuba as early at 1765. In the early 1900's settlers began to arrive, raising tropical fruits and palms for sale which they do to this day. In 1916 a Maryland native and Annapolis graduate, Captain Peter Haines retired from the navy after a successful career and built a house in Bokeelia patterned after those that the government buit for its troops in the tropics.

This is a view of the Pinellas County side of Tampa Bay as seen from the south end of the swinning beach at Tampa, Florida's Picnic Island park located in Poet Tampa on May 27,2016. This park has a boat ramp, fishing pier, dog beach/park, playground, disc golf course, a number of picnic shelters, a canoe/kayak launch area, and a swimming beach. The only charge is for a picnic shelter if you want to reserve it for a large group, otherwise, everything else is free.

This is a view of the Pinellas County side of Tampa Bay as seen from the south end of the swinning beach at Tampa, Florida's Picnic Island park located in Poet Tampa on May 27,2016. This park has a boat ramp, fishing pier, dog beach/park, playground, disc golf course, a number of picnic shelters, a canoe/kayak launch area, and a swimming beach. The only charge is for a picnic shelter if you want to reserve it for a large group, otherwise, everything else is free.

This saltwater bayou lies just north of US 19 in Manatee County Florida as you approach the Sunshine Skyway. This was taken on a summer day around noon on June 26,2016 and is indicative of much of the undeveloped Florida coast. Fortunately the state legislature recognized that it was important to preserve much of the natural coast of Florida inorder to maintain much of the natural Florida that is such a tourist draw.

This saltwater bayou lies just north of US 19 in Manatee County Florida as you approach the Sunshine Skyway. This was taken on a summer day around noon on June 26,2016 and is indicative of much of the undeveloped Florida coast. Fortunately the state legislature recognized that it was important to preserve much of the natural coast of Florida inorder to maintain much of the natural Florida that is such a tourist draw.

The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge was built in 1954 to connect St. Petersburg in Pinellas county with Terra Ceia in Manatee County and replaced the ferry berween point Pinellas in Pinellas County and Piney Point in Manatee County. That stood until the morning of May 9, 1980 when in a sudden, blinding thunderstorm the inbound freighter Summit Venture veered from the main ship channel into one of the secondary bridge supports causing the collapse of over 1200' of the southbound lane of the bridge into Tampa Bay. A number of vehicles, including a bus couldn't avoid the void and fell into the waters of the bay following the bridge, resulting iin the death of 35 people. What remains of the old bridge was made into fishing piers on both the north and south sides of the bar.

The current span, a cable stayed bridge with 174' of clearance, wasx begun in 1982 and completed in 1987. It is considered by many as Florida's signature bridge. Pinellas County controls the northern entrance to the bridge, Manatee County the south, and Hillsborough County controls the main ship channel and the center span of the bridge.

The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge was built in 1954 to connect St. Petersburg in Pinellas county with Terra Ceia in Manatee County and replaced the ferry berween point Pinellas in Pinellas County and Piney Point in Manatee County. That stood until the morning of May 9, 1980 when in a sudden, blinding thunderstorm the inbound freighter Summit Venture veered from the main ship channel into one of the secondary bridge supports causing the collapse of over 1200' of the southbound lane of the bridge into Tampa Bay. A number of vehicles, including a bus couldn't avoid the void and fell into the waters of the bay following the bridge, resulting iin the death of 35 people. What remains of the old bridge was made into fishing piers on both the north and south sides of the bar.

The current span, a cable stayed bridge with 174' of clearance, wasx begun in 1982 and completed in 1987. It is considered by many as Florida's signature bridge. Pinellas County controls the northern entrance to the bridge, Manatee County the south, and Hillsborough County controls the main ship channel and the center span of the bridge.

A part of the Myakka River State Park beside the Florida Trail as it winds through the park not normally seen by most visitors. In the 1930's, over 17,000 acres were purchased by the government under President Roosevelt's New Deal fronm the Palmer Estate to establish what would become the Myakka River State Park. It is a vast land of dry prairie,scrub and palmetto with scattered wetlands that was originally used to graze cattle. This picture shows all of those things. The park was formally dedicated in 1941.