Ybor City is the bar crawl capital of Tampa, but not only that, this little historic Latin neighborhood makes some of the finest cigars in the world, has music filled streets, an eclectic range of restaurants and did I mention bars? Lots and lots of bars. I mean, like a lot of them.

In one of those hidden chapters in Florida history that you won’t find in the brochure, in 1565, the Spanish hunted down and slaughtered 242 French citizens on our Florida soil.

I was amazed to learn that Florida, my lovely aquatic home, which was submerged as recently as 3 million years ago (give or take a million) used to be home to BIG BEASTS!

Here is a neat little Weeki Wachee promo video from 1961 to help kick off your FL weekend! As always, don’t be complacent. GET OUT THERE! [continue reading…]

Originally, Orlando was called Jernigan. It was named after a prosperous cattleman and planter who moved into the area from Georgia, and who later fell out of grace. So, the handful of citizens in town wanted a new name…and that’s where the mystery begins.