Tours in Valrico

After meeting at the Beachview Inn starting point and undergoing a training session that frowns upon Segway jousting, your tour group will segue on their Segways to the Ream Wilson trail and follow it to the Clearwater Memorial Causeway to spot a fantastic panorama of the Gulf of Mexico. Once you've snapped a few shots of people smiling, jumping, and balancing Segways on their noses, buzz down the corkscrew to Coachman Park before continuing to historic Harbor Oaks and the Clearwater Beach Walk. Along the way, there's a chance you'll spot manatees, dolphins, stingrays, and wild parrots. After two hours, you'll have covered seven miles worth of sunny landscapes and wildlife.

Founder Carole Baskin never dreamt she'd one day oversee a 55-acre sanctuary inhabited by some of Earth's largest cats. In 1992, she and her late husband were at an exotic-animal auction seeking out llamas for their farm. A man had a 6-month-old bobcat that he could no longer care for, and the pair decided to give it a place to call home. They then traveled to a bobcat breeder for another playmate, but upon seeing the horrible conditions the animals were kept in, they bought all 56 kittens. They rehabilitated them back to health, and gave them permanent homes on their then-40-acre site. Soon, word of her knack for nurturing spread beyond the Tampa area, and callers began donating abandoned or orphaned cats. Her mission to save these animals also reached the ears and hearts of many celebrities, including contributors Harrison Ford and Bo Derek.

After 20 years of hard work and learning, Carole is still caring for abused and abandoned big cats at her rescue site, accommodating more than 100 medium and large creatures from bengal tigers and black leopards to lynx and lions. Her staff of volunteers helps care for the animals and leads groups in tours that educate visitors on the plight of these animals both in the wild and in captivity.

Armed with thermal meters, night-vision equipment, and EMF detectors, Ghost Party's paranormal experts tiptoe through darkened buildings. As they lead guests through basement morgues and four-story mansions built in the 19th century, the foundations settle, releasing eerie sounds. Guides escort groups along the streets of areas such as Ybor City during tours, which combine tales of murder and untimely death with facts about historical architecture and numerous photo stops. The tour, which has been featured in the Tampa Tribune, regales visitors with information about the locations and how to tactfully ask a ghost to wash its sheet. Continually adding to a record of spooky sightings, personnel revisit local haunts or rendezvous with clients for private tours throughout the U.S. at known ghostly locales such as Eastern State Penitentiary, Waverly Hill Sanitarium, and creaky-door factories.

The founders of St. Petersburg probably didn't imagine future visitors rolling down its streets on upright, self-balancing machines. Mounted on Segway HTs, visitors on All About Fun Tours can do just that, cruising along the waterfront on devices that intuitively respond to their movements or fear of jellyfish. Tour options abound, and guides deliver a tutorial on Segway basics before leading groups around the historic city.

Constructed in 1886, the residence now known as Haunted Grimm House sheltered the Grimm family funeral business until a triad of unfortunate events—the stock-market crash, a Grimm son's gradual descent into insanity, and a murderous butler—brought the clan to a macabre end. Nearly 100 years after the house's construction, the Old Town council⎯afraid to tear the building down lest they rouse wrathful spirits⎯decided to open the two-story home for tours.

…Or so visitors to Haunted Grimm House are told before embarking on 10- to 15-minute treks through the spooky structure's more than 4,000 square feet. Via winding corridors, patrons peek into the Victorian-style dwelling's 20 rooms, which claim to teem with ghouls, monsters, and chiropractors extracting the chills from spines.

Operating daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the winter, the cozy, heated trolleys at Old Town Trolley Tours pick up and drop off riders at 18 stops throughout the city. Riders can hop on and hop off at their leisure, with trolleys frequenting stops every 15–20 minutes. With ticket in hand, trolley riders will also receive a well-stacked coupon card and free admission to Boston's oldest surviving public building, the Old State House Museum, which has outlived both gravity and Washington's wooden molars. Other stops include the New England Aquarium, the Boston Skywalk Observatory, Fenway Park and the Boston Children’s Museum.