Fruitopia USA: Florida Travel

Florida has lots of theme parks but only one Fruit and Spice Park. The 35-acre, 61-year-old spot, in the town of Homestead, 35 miles from Miami, has more than 500 varieties of exotic and subtropical plants producing fruits, nuts, spices and herbs, including 125 kinds of mango, sweet potato-like eggfruit and pulpy African baobab (you hug the tree for luck). Visitors sample windfalls, but you can't buy produce from the park. The best place to do that is six miles away, at Homestead's Robert Is Here. Proprietor Robert Moehling started selling his family's produce roadside when he was only six; his father made a big robert is here sign, and the name stuck. Today, Moehling sells dozens of exotic and conventional fruits as well as fabulous fruit milk shakes, including an amazing Key-lime one. DETAILS Fruit and Spice Park: $5 entrance fee; 24801 S.W. 187th Ave.; 305-247-5727. Robert Is Here: 19200 S.W. 344th St.; 305-246-1592.

Published June 2005