Monthly Archives: May 2016

Sky’s the Limit in a Small-Craft Airplane

For Chris Richter and his dad, Richard, Saturdays were for flying. While other little boys growing up in Lakeland in the 1980s watched cartoons or played T-ball, Chris sat alongside his dad in the cockpit of a rented airplane, buzzing high above them all. Departing from Winter Haven Municipal Airport, the father-son duo skipped a […]

Florida Panthers: Where are They Now?

Florida has a lot of state symbols. To name a few: a state flower, the orange blossom; a state butterfly, the zebra longwing; a state shell,the horse conch; and even a state soil, Myakka fine sand. Of course Florida has an official bird—no, not the construction crane, it’s the mockingbird—as well as a state reptile, […]

My Florida: Ramble On

Incoming! Clonk. That’s what I heard just before getting clobbered with a chunk of Florida karst (limestone). The fist-sized amalgamation of fossilized shells hit me just above the hairline, leaving me with five stitches and an awful haircut. Luckily, it was summer break and my 14-year-old self was spared ridicule by school peers. This was […]

Made In FLA: Boutique Tea Shop in Tampa

Walk into any of Abigail StClair’s three cafés and a mélange of jasmine, lavender, blueberries and pomegranate perfumes the air with an otherworldly fragrance released in tiny plumes each time a tea tin opens for an order. Rows of silver canisters imported from all over the globe glimmer from the counter at the front of […]

An Avocado Margarita Is the Refreshing Cocktail You Never Knew You Needed

Turn Margaritaville into Avocadoville by elevating the gator pear beyond classic chip ’n’ dip fare. Place a scoop of green, along with gold tequila and agave nectar, in a cocktail shaker to make an avocado margarita fit for Mr. Buffett himself. But before wasting away in Avocadoville, go native by picking the fruit directly off […]

Made In FLA: Blue Yonder

The Tide: Summer 2016

NORTH FLORIDA   Paddle at the Porch DestinAugust 20 For standup paddleboard aficionados, Destin is paradise. There are ample locations to practice the sport: coastal dune lakes, Choctawhatchee Bay, the Blackwater River and the Gulf of Mexico. Three board manufacturers are headquartered in the area, and each summer, paddleboard maker BOTE, in collaboration with the […]

Made In FLA: Summer Sundries

Presidents in Paradise

How Margaritaville finally produced a pool of 2016 presidential hopefuls