Florida, Eh?
Florida, Eh? is a sparkling new guide to the ‘undiscovered, unsung, unspoiled’ Florida. Its 192 pages are awash with colour, including nearly 150 original photos. Its writing style is upbeat but informative, detailing the highlights of each new discovery in a breezy and highly readable style.
Bypassing the theme parks, malls and crowded tourist traps, the authors ventured off the beaten track in search of museums, historic sites, festivals, lodgings, eateries, cultural centres, beaches, gardens, parks, wilderness, quirky attractions and remarkable personalities that few Florida visitors see.
Florida, Eh? is not a typical guidebook – it does not attempt to list every hostelry, restaurant and attraction in the state. Instead it reflects the authors’ tastes, prejudices and discoveries and reports on them with humour and perception. Written by Canadians, with a decidedly Canadian slant – who else tacks ‘eh?’ onto every second sentence – this book appeals to inquisitive travellers of any age and nationality, especially the ‘been-there, done-that’ Florida visitor in search of something unique and different.
From the Panhandle across to St. Augustine in the north, down the Atlantic coast to the Keys and up the Gulf coast to the Georgia border, criss-crossing the interior to ferret out historic villages, homesteads and unique personalities, the writers made their merry way, reveling in such discoveries as alligator cooking classes, a sheep dog that herds pelicans, magnificent gardens rescued from development, NASA’s fabulous wildlife preserves, the ‘Road to Nowhere’ -- a wilderness landing strip for drug-laden aircraft, bring-your-own-horse equestrian holidays, a mediaeval monastery transplanted stone by stone to Miami, a superb museum of lighthouses and marine disasters and dozens more unexpected sights.
And the people? How about an instructor who teaches paraplegics to sea kayak; a master gardener who spearheaded a public garden teaching kids and adults about plants and plantings; a retired architect who transformed a dilapidated 1935 boat into a nifty bed-and-breakfast; a young man dedicated to saving north-central Florida’s wilderness from development; ghost hunters in St. Augustine; artists and artisans in flea markets.
From rock-bottom budget priced to upscale – but with close attention to good value at modest cost – Florida, Eh? encircles the Sunshine State, leading the way to myriad new ways to enjoy one of America’s favourite winter playgrounds.
Writer Isobel Warren and photographer Milan Chvostek are a Canadian husband and wife team, who collaborate on myriad writing and broadcast projects.
Both veteran Canadian journalists, they worked in television before turning to travel writing. Milan was the award-winning producer of CBC-TV’s The Nature of Things, one of the world’s longest running science TV shows. Following his 30-year stint with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Milan was a professor in the School of Communications at Toronto’s Seneca College.
Isobel was story editor/producer of The Senior Report at Television Ontario, and contributed scripts to many other radio and TV shows. In a previous incarnation, she founded and published Hands, the Canadian craft magazine. Her first book was ‘On the go at 50-plus’, a handbook of travel tips, leads, advice and lore, published in 1994.
The couple’s collaborative credits also include contributions to Fodor’s Canada 2001 and Fodor’s Canada 2002 and many lively items for the network travel television show, On Top of the World. They also provide stories and photos for sundry magazines and newspapers in both Canada and the U.S.
Milan and Isobel live in Newmarket, Ontario, just north of Toronto.
