By Noel Hernandez from Florida Holidays at Kenwood Travel
You might think that Florida is weird enough the way we know it – theme parks with oversized and over-friendly anthropomorphic characters, alligators in the sewers and lots of senior citizens that drive dead slow. Still, here are some truly bizarre activities you must check out while on holiday in the Sunshine State:
#3 Drive-In Church, Daytona Beach
Drive-in cinemas are a staple in coming-of-age American movies, right there with the high school prom and the nerd stealing the girlfriend from the macho, insensitive and bully captain of the football team. Drive-in churches are, on the other hand, uncharted territory in teen flicks, or in any other genre, and something that perhaps directors such as David Lynch or Werner Herzog would be interested in documenting.
Daytona Beach Drive-In Christian Church tells you that their services last 55 minutes and you are welcome to go dressed as you like. If the whole thing doesn’t seem American enough, they reassure you with the fact that Krispy Kreme doughnuts are served before and after worship. Amen.
#2 Florida’s Fabled Fountain of Youth Spring Eternal, St. Augustine
St. Augustine’s Fountain of Youth is an established tourist attraction where, after paying admission, you can drink the supposedly rejuvenating water right from the spring. So far, so Floridian. But who says this is a magical water source? Legend holds that Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon discovered Florida in the early 16th century just as a happy accident while searching for the aforementioned fountain, which is allegedly capable of reversing the ageing process and curing sickness.
The very fact that Ponce de Leon died in the southwestern coast of Florida after being wounded by an Indian arrow kinda discredits the powers of the fountain. Still, if deductive reasoning is not your forte, you are welcome to pay $11 for a ticket.
1# World’s Most Unusual Monument, Kissimmee
There are figurative art, abstract art and then, whatever you want to call that thing in Kissimmee. This 50 foot hight pyramid is made of 1500 stones and rocks from every American state and 22 other countries. A collage of coloured squares, symbols and random artefacts that looks like it has been dreamt by a six-year-old child who topped his pizza with way too much cheese.
On top of that, literally and figuratively speaking, there is a 562-pound concrete eagle. The so-called “Monument of the States” was a project of the All-States Tourist Club of Kissimmee and was dedicated by the governor on March 28, 1943.