"The Sunshine State"

Welcome to Florida

Florida/Georgia border on I-75
July 17, 2010

If you are planning to build a theme park, Florida is the natural choice; it is the Sunshine State, after all. But there is life outside Orlando, and it's easy to see why Florida is a top tourist destination. Practically the entire state is bordered by beaches, stretching 1,200 miles from Pensacola in the panhandle to Jacksonville on the Atlantic. It also offers amazing landscape diversity, as the Everglades are unlike anything else in this country. My favorite Florida memory was when our family was visiting when I was about 10 or 12 and we were lucky enough to watch one the Space Shuttles lift off from Cape Canaveral.

For all the diverse landscapes and fun things to see and do I mentioned above, this sign captures none of it. It managed to get just the basics across: the state's name, map and nickname with some palm fronds. I will concede that if you removed "Florida" from the sign, you could probably guess it correctly, as it does have a tropical vibe to it. I initially passed the same sign along I-10 at the Alabama border, but it was just past a bridge and near the cliff, making picture taking difficult. I had to settle for the Georgia border which was flatter with less traffic.

Welcome to Tallahassee

July 17, 2010

Geographically speaking, Tallahassee seems like an odd choice for Florida's capital. It's location on the panhandle in the northwestern part of the state, it seems almost separated from the peninsula and its major cities like Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa. But a quick history lesson explains it: it was chosen as the midpoint between the British and Spanish colonial capitals (Pensacola and St. Augustine, respectively). The town has a very distinct college atmosphere, as it is home to both Florida A&M and Florida State, with the capitol adjacent to both. Naturally, it has a great night life and ample sidewalks for getting around on foot.

This capitol was intriguing for a number of reasons. First of all, the picture above shows part a large building located directly behind the capitol. That is actually the new capitol building, which is 22 stories tall and opened in 1977. It now houses state offices, as well as both houses of the Florida legislature. The old capitol building in the foreground is now a museum and was restored to how it looked in 1902. I'm glad they decided to keep the old capitol, as the new one is excessively drab and reminds me of dystopian movies, where the government is depicted in monolithic buildings. The new building reminds me of the capitol in Baton Rouge, while the old one looks like most of the others around the country (the candy cane awnings are a nice touch). To get a better feel for the new building, I will point you to this picture I took from farther away. As you can see, the capitol is located at a busy intersection in Tallahassee, and I was fortunate there was a median where I could stand and not be roadkill. As for the grounds around the buildings, there were mostly unremarkable: sprawling concrete plazas with few statues or memorials. The dolphin fountain in front of the new capitol was nice though.

Miscellaneous Florida Symbols

State Route Sign

License Plate

Seal

Quarter