There are two museums here for the price of one, and several nature trails to boot. This complex of museums and trails is located on the edge of the Crane Point hammock, named after the Crane family who owned this gorgeous property until the early 1970's. This environmental-minded family kept the hammock from being developed, thereby protecting a hardwood hammock which, it turns out, is rare now here in the Florida Keys. Aside from the two museum building, there is a fish lagoon, a wild bird rescue flight cage, a caribbean-style sailing canoe used by some refugees from Guatemala in 1989, and a raft used by some Cubans for the same reason. Children will appreciate the osprey nest, which is perched way up high, becuase they can climb up to it. The mangroves are cool and lush, and you can enjoy them via a quarter-mile boardwalk.

The nature trails are excellent, and you can get a self-guided tour pamphlet from which you can learn all about the hardwood trees in the hammock. One of the trails, called the Adderley House Walk, leads to another bit of history: a restored Bahamian-style house built by George Adderley in 1905. George Adderley was a settler from the Bahamas who gathered sponges for a living using glass-bottom barrels. His house is built of concrete made from crushed sea shells. This is old-style Keys!

The Museum of Natural History has replicas of almost any creature you'd expect to find in the Florida Keys, and then some more. They "live" in a lush environment painstakingly re-created, soundtrack and all for the museum-goer to enjoy.

The Florida Keys Children's Museum features a touch tank where kids can touch a hermit or horseshoe crab. As mentioned above, they can climb up to an osprey nest. Really small kids will go ape for the Miccosukee Indian-built tiki sandbox, and older ones will love feeding the fish who live in the pond. Keep an eye out for the several iguanas who live here, too.

Crane Point is open weekdays and Saturday from 9 to 5 and Sundays 12 to 5. One low price covers all the areas mentioned here. This is a good bargain.