The Great Florida Road Trip-where are we taking you and why these places?

In part one of this series we discussed the time period that served as the inspiration for "the Great Florida Road Trip - A Classic Vacation and Photo Travelogue with the Flamingo Family." Roughly speaking 1950-1972, the era before the mega parks decided to dominate Florida tourism. We have called this era the golden age of Florida Tourism as a way of paying homage to so many of the innovative and smaller attractions that sprung up all over the state during that time. It makes sense that the route and the destinations we selected as we composed the journey, would be a reflection of that time, more than it would be of today.

That being the case we envision a family, entering the state on highway 95 and then looping around and following highway 75 back up the gulf coast. We sorted through over 90 potential attractions and destinations that had a role in the story and of course we had to narrow that list down. However, we still want to pay homage to all of those potential additions and we are exploring other ways to give them their long deserved recognition.

So if you are attempting to get ahead of our grand opening and the official launch in early 2023, you could simply pull to an old map and look for clues as to what we are including, the pitstops and byways we are visiting and the sometimes forgotten treasures that we are highlighting in this experience. When you do that exercise some of those options are obvious and others will probably be a surprise.

Key to this enhancement is the placement of retro billboards that capture the era and the essence of these key destinations. We already shared two of these samples as part of the IAAPA conference, they should help everyone understand the story we are attempting to tell. The first sample was Tampa, and in that billboard we featured Ybor City, a classic stop for tourists as they watched skilled craftsman make cigars and Dad bought a few cases to take home to his Golf buddies. They probably sampled classic Cuban cuisine like that served at the Columbia restaurant (serving great food at the same location since 1905)

The second spot we highlighted was Ocala, home of the famous Silver Springs and its glass bottomed boats. Another great attraction that has been entertaining tourists to Florida since 1880.

By now you might be starting to get a clearer idea as to our goals and aspirations with this enhancement. In our upcoming posts we will cover some details regarding two important components of the experience which are also important pieces of Florida nostalgia. Flamingos and Oranges.