Florida

Florida is the well-known U.S. state that occupies a peninsula in the southeastern part of the country. It is known for it's pleasant sub-tropical climate and is very popular for vacations and for retirement.

Florida is also known for hurricanes. We have seen Miami, the largest city of Florida, already, in the posting on this blog "Miami, The Beaches And The Hurricanes".

The geology of Florida is relatively easy to explain. Imagine the caboose on a train. Now suppose that the train was suddenly halted. The caboose would be forced upward by the momentum that remained.

That is what happened to Florida. There was a sliding collision between what is now Africa and what is now North America. The momentum of what was then Africa forced following seafloor upward. This is why Florida is flat and it is vulnerable to sinkholes because of it's underlying limestone.

This tectonic collision is what formed the long system of mountains and ridges known as the Appalachians.

The southern part of the state, being furthest from the collision front, was forced upward the least. The result is the low elevation swamp of south Florida that is known as the Everglades.

The majority of Florida's land area is in the peninsula. The part of the state that is on the mainland is known as the panhandle. Pensacola, at the western end of the Florida panhandle, was actually an older Spanish settlement than St. Augustine but was abandoned because of a hurricane. The coast of the Florida panhandle is called the Emerald Coast and is known for it's white sand. Pensacola is built around a natural deep harbor shielded by a barrier island.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow. After clicking on the up arrow you can then hide previews of successive scenes, if you so wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.4177375,-87.2150807,3a,75y,212.65h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s1tgzAS8KYvZ9Lirtc1zaOw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D1tgzAS8KYvZ9Lirtc1zaOw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D212.64664%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Tallahassee, the Florida state capital, is in the panhandle but not on the coast. I can remember, as a child in school, how pleased I was to have spelled both Tallahassee and Mississippi correctly. I didn't think I was ever going to be able to spell them.

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.4381308,-84.2817295,3a,75y,91.03h,116.98t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipODY_ixWEzyVlfLc4ige75XXxa6pDyZ2lxMxSg!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipODY_ixWEzyVlfLc4ige75XXxa6pDyZ2lxMxSg%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-26.979362-ya77.68873-ro-0-fo100!7i8000!8i4000

Jacksonville is the city that I have always thought of as best representing America's south. It is not an old city, dating from the Nineteenth Century.

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3368397,-81.6568319,3a,75y,8.63h,100.47t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipP8h7FofMPU-rLpVxjMXSyLQBa-LUIz772RXKUg!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipP8h7FofMPU-rLpVxjMXSyLQBa-LUIz772RXKUg%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi3.6487844-ya8.701559-ro2.921893-fo100!7i5376!8i2688

This is a suburban residential area of Jacksonville.

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2946031,-81.792717,3a,75y,150.68h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sN9X3KCNS_X7X_yDeozXHdA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DN9X3KCNS_X7X_yDeozXHdA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D150.68422%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

St. Augustine is the oldest continuous settlement in the United States.  It was founded by Spanish explorers in 1565. St. Augustine was the capital of Spanish Florida. It was ceded to the U.S. in 1819 and became a state in 1824. The western capital of Florida was Pensacola and the U.S. moved the capital to Tallahassee because it was halfway between the two.

Castillo San Marco is the Spanish fortress at St. Augustine that was begun in 1672.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8977999,-81.311612,3a,75y,218.74h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNoskF-NESYCj-d8J8XgNgFwblWPaOcR1ZP9-Ui!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNoskF-NESYCj-d8J8XgNgFwblWPaOcR1ZP9-Ui%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya192.81767-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

Daytona Beach was one of the coastal resorts that appeared when wealthy people could travel by train in the late Nineteenth Century. This is when a number of Florida's cities originated. The sand on Daytona Beach was ideal for auto racing and that is why the speedway is there today.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.2062459,-81.0433363,3a,75y,240h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNUIhlsqLeFU1RY3mggdI89X8Jf2TTJHX60XddN!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNUIhlsqLeFU1RY3mggdI89X8Jf2TTJHX60XddN%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya80.44068-ro-0-fo100!7i13000!8i6500

The Kennedy Space Center is the Apollo missions were launched from that first put humans on the moon.

The reason that America's space launch site is located on the east coast is that the earth rotates eastward. When a rocket is launched it picks up some of this eastward momentum. That means that if some mishap occurs, like the Challenger disaster of 1986, the rocket will crash into the sea, rather than into a populated area. The same principle applies when stages are dropped in a multi-stage mission. India's launch site is also located on it's east coast.

https://www.google.com/maps/@28.5828467,-80.6545909,3a,75y,20h,100t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sPsAoHL2ZrdUikPeuXsgVSQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DPsAoHL2ZrdUikPeuXsgVSQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D20%26pitch%3D-10%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Disneyland is Florida's best-known attraction. It was built inland so that it is safer from hurricanes.

https://www.google.com/maps/@28.4184957,-81.5811103,3a,75y,175.61h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNLCsVEAvOKPMCSE18i1XcB5pdbLwpbLca5Aqxx!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNLCsVEAvOKPMCSE18i1XcB5pdbLwpbLca5Aqxx%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya171.13794-ro-0-fo100!7i6144!8i3072

Tampa is another city that was founded in the late Nineteenth Century and is the major city of Florida's Gulf Coast.

https://www.google.com/maps/@27.9479997,-82.4614826,3a,75y,347.4h,113.41t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNcONlJOTA6Mzzp8Lev2QYNauk-hTcPL6cBhJh1!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNcONlJOTA6Mzzp8Lev2QYNauk-hTcPL6cBhJh1%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-23.40836-ya347.3955-ro-0-fo100!7i6000!8i3000

St. Petersburg is another late Nineteenth Century city, and is across Tampa Bay from Tampa. The first scheduled airline flight was across Tampa Bay.

https://www.google.com/maps/@27.7998525,-82.6466487,3a,75y,280h,100t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOjHaVULcX4iE7KVLgGIMu_0-lsisJbI7EMQmsq!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOjHaVULcX4iE7KVLgGIMu_0-lsisJbI7EMQmsq%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-10-ya283.30176-ro-0-fo100!7i13312!8i6656

Key West is on a coral island in the far south of Florida. Does anyone remember, in 1982, Key West declared independence as the Conch Republic, and then declared war on the United States?

https://www.google.com/maps/@24.5555226,-81.7922934,3a,75y,20h,100t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNIA7wbejX3qDKK1r7WinmLJitB0te9sfNlw8g-!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNIA7wbejX3qDKK1r7WinmLJitB0te9sfNlw8g-%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-10-ya35.57367-ro-0-fo100!7i13312!8i6656