Florida's top camping spots

Naming the best sports team or car could spark an argument. Listing the best beaches or camping spots in Florida could also be fighting words!

But the Miami Herald took the plunge and recently published Florida's top spots for family camping. Some of the places I would have picked made the list: Fort De Soto, Bahia Honda, Myakka River, Lake Kissimmee, Blue Spring and Silver River. The truth is there are so many nice places to camp in Florida that it would be hard to narrow it down.

People are supposedly turning to camping more and more now because of the economy. What do you think -- true?

Image of Bahia Honda State Park from Florida State Parks Web site

Florida Has America's Best Beach

So says Steven "Dr. Beach" Leatherman, who puts out his top-1o list of the best beaches in the country just in time for Memorial Day every year.

This year, Caladesi Island State Park made the #1 spot. Yay! This is a great state park on a barrier island off the coast of Clearwater in the Gulf of Mexico.

Dr. Beach's 2008 list looks like this:

1.Caladesi Island State Park, Dunedin/Clearwater, Florida
2. Hanalei Beach, Kauai, Hawaii
3. Siesta Beach, Sarasota, Florida
4. Coopers Beach, Southampton, New York
5. Coronado Beach, San Diego, California
6. Main Beach, East Hampton, New York
7. Hamoa Beach, Maui, Hawaii
8. Cape Hatteras,Outer Banks, North Carolina
9. Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne, Florida
10. Beachwalker Park,Kiawah Island, South Carolina

Plan to dump muck at state park denied

The state has pulled the plug on a plan to dump more than 18,000 tons of excavated muck from the 18 Mile Stretch widening project into ocean-side rock pits at a North Key Largo park - Dec. 18, Miami Herald