"I haven’t been on spring break in years. But when my friend Wren, a Cherokee first grade teacher from Northwest Oregon, asked me to join her on spring break in Florida, I could hardly say no.

Baby boomers are the new face of spring break in the Sunshine State. Gone along with easy credit for the collegiate set are the days of wild parties on Fort Lauderdale beaches. Florida still enjoys more than 80 million visitors a year, a number that dwarfs the state’s population of 18 million.

Flying into Tampa, it’s clear that underneath the high rises and shopping malls that most of this state is little more than a spit of sand beneath a dome of sky, bordered by pale green. From the air, you can almost see the land, elevation sea level, separating from water.

Our destination was a spa resort in Safety Harbor, a town on Tampa Bay. Since the 1930s the mineral springs by the bay have been tapped for therapeutic use, but as I floated for days in the springs’ silky water, I couldn’t help wonder who used these waters before us."

Get the Story:
Kara Briggs: Spring break amid a changing environment (Indian Country Today 4/2)

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