This 240-acre park is situated along the Hillsborough River, just beyond the bustle of the sprawling University of South Florida campus. Park visitors, who number around 500,000 each year, enjoy an extensive network of nature trails and shady verdure, bicycle trails, playground areas, a fitness course, and a 3,500-foot boardwalk with a 35-foot-high observation tower overlooking the river and cypress swamp. The park also features dozens of pavilions (i.e., useful covered picnic tables with outlets to plug in your much-needed stereo) amid a tranquil setting conducive to relaxation, the perfect place to enjoy a picnic, meeting or social gathering in the great outdoors.
Lettuce Lake Park, 6920 E. Fletcher Ave., Tampa. 813-987-6204.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.