Okeechobee, FL
Florida cracker-style catfish and gator tail. Lake Okeechobee — the 'Big O' — is the largest freshwater lake in the southern US.
Lake Okeechobee is 730 square miles — visible from 50+ miles in any direction. The Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding it was built after a 1928 hurricane killed over 2,500 people in one of the deadliest natural disasters in US history. The lake's scale from the air is astonishing.
At 730 square miles, Lake Okeechobee is the largest freshwater lake in the southeastern US — so large that from low altitudes over its center, you cannot see the far shore. Remarkably shallow at an average of 9 feet deep, it is completely encircled by the 143-mile Herbert Hoover Dike, built after the catastrophic 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane that killed over 2,500 people. From the air, the dike appears as an unnatural straight line separating the lake from surrounding sugar cane fields. The lake is the liquid heart of the Everglades ecosystem.
The Sebring International Raceway is built directly on the bones of Hendricks Army Airfield, a WWII B-17 training base. From the air, the connection is unmistakable: the main straightaway is the old primary runway, and the tight turns trace taxiway intersections. At its WWII peak, over 6,000 personnel trained here to fly Flying Fortresses in formation bombing runs over Europe. Today it hosts the 12 Hours of Sebring, one of the most prestigious endurance races in motorsport, running since 1952. The WWII control tower still stands trackside.
On the beach at Pepper Park, Fort Pierce — the only museum dedicated to the history of US Navy SEALs and their predecessors. Original 1942 sand-table model and obstacle course remnants from the WWII amphibious training that started here. Apollo BP-1101 training capsule on display — used by SEALs to rehearse the Apollo 11 splashdown recovery. Memorial wall for SEALs killed in action since WWII. Small, focused, and serious — five miles from KFPR.
If you fly a Piper — Cherokee, Warrior, Archer, Seminole, or M-class turboprop — your airplane was likely born at this facility adjacent to Vero Beach Regional Airport. Piper has called Vero Beach home since 1957, and the factory complex is clearly visible from the air as a cluster of hangars and assembly buildings. Completed aircraft in various stages of painting line the ramp. The Piper training center also operates here. For Piper owners, a pilgrimage to Vero Beach is the aviation equivalent of visiting a cathedral.