Bike the 50-Mile Tour de Picayune
Located in southwestern Florida, Picayune Strand State Forest is best known as the place in the 60s where gullible northerners bought 5 acres of choice Florida real estate only to find out it was mostly swampland. Roads were built and subdivisions created, but few people came. Lately, the paved roads have been removed in a massive restoration project to enhance the proper flow of water in the Everglades. So far, it’s been working with indigenous plants and birdlife returning to this vast acreage. This desolate stretch of the Everglades is where my brother and I went mountain biking in early December with our guide, Wes Wilkins, owner of Everglades Edge. We saw no other humans driving or biking as we headed out on dirt roads, surrounded by swamp waters. In their place were snapping turtles, tall wood storks, and alligators sunning on the banks of the streams. An avid biker, Wilkins also chairs the 50-mile Tour de Picayune, which takes place this year on February 4th. Even if you have no desire to race and win the cherished Durrwalker Cup, you can still sign up at Tour de Picayune to bike 50 miles of dirt roads lost in time, while spotting a wide selection of birdlife.
Few people know the rivers of Idaho better than Peter Grubb, owner of Idaho’s largest adventure travel company, 
A word of advice. When going on a college road trip in February, focus on schools in the South. We spent last week with our daughter, Melanie, visiting six colleges in the Mid-Atlantic States and New York. At Penn State, the temperature was 8 degrees with a wind chill of -15. I thought my face was going to get frostbite at one point. But we made the most of the week, stopping at wonderful sights along the way like 
Pull over at Marker 88 in Islamorada on the bay side of the Keys and you’ll find a van. This is the home of 
I call it a “Holy Shit” moment. One of those rare occurrences in travel when you round a bend and see something so stupendous that you’re shouting expletives of joy. This is exactly what happens when you reach the rim of Crater Lake. You’ve never seen water such a shade of vibrant blue, the result of sunlight pouring down on the deepest lake in America. Ringed by jagged peaks, it’s a captivating site that you’ll want to see from every available parking site. Though if you were wise, you booked a room at the