A few years ago, back when I still worked at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, I was training my summer intern on giving tours when I spotted a familiar face in the courtyard. I couldn’t quite remember where I knew this woman from, [Read more…]

As my plane descended, the Crescent City slowly materialized from beneath the dense layers of silver fog draped across the bayou. New Orleans is a city unlike any other. It’s a cultural oasis that outsiders yearn to be a part of, but can really only [Read more…]

In Florida, you can’t trust the weather to let you know when it’s fall. Even when the calendar says that the autumnal equinox has passed, the thermometer in Florida is still ordering up pina coladas and scheduling beach days. In such dire circumstances, I am [Read more…]

Ninety year-old Rufus “Bubba” Stratton, a Carl Hiaasen character come to life, sits at his kitchen table, describing the day he lost two-thirds of his left thumb.  “I was up at Guana River by the dam, there was a nine-foot alligator up there stealing people’s [Read more…]