Florida Friday; The Great 2012 Florida Trip Part 2 (De Soto National Memorial)

After traversing the Skyway Bridge I decided to stop in at the De Soto National Memorial since I was on a National Parks Unit kick back in 2012.

The De Soto National Memorial is the approximate landing site of the 1539 Hernando de Soto Spanish expedition to "La Florida." The goal of the expedition was essentially conquest of the American Southeast in the name of the Spanish Crown and bring back treasure. The expedition was for all intents and purposes a blood bath as it led to the death or enslavement of many native Americans who in the way. Apparently there was approximately 600 members of the Hernando de Soto Expedition and they surveyed land as far west as modern Texas.

There isn't much in the way of hiking at De Soto National Memorial but there is some decent scenery around the outskirts of Tampa Bay. There was a fairly decent size storm rolling in what I was at the Memorial.

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What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...

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Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...

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