Orlando

As a Californian, I’m used to living on the edge. Because of its tall and narrow shape, our state has over 800 miles of coastline. The population is generally crowded toward the coast – as it is in most regions of the world that are largely desert.

Florida has less than half of California’s land mass, but boasts about 1,200 miles of coastline, including a lot of pretty impressive beaches…

The reason for this inequity, of course is the fact that most of Florida is a peninsula. Yep, look up “bi-coastal” in the dictionary and there should be a photo of Florida – though the term more often refers to folks with roots on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

Twenty-second in size, Florida is fifth in population. People are packed a lot closer together down here where there are about 50 percent more people per square mile than in the Golden State.

One interesting tidbit of historical fact: Florida entered the Union five years before California. I suppose that provides some minor bragging rights…

I’m 13,000 miles into this journey; and one thing has become very clear to me: I don’t like crowds. I’ve been uncomfortable in heavily populated areas. I tend to avoid big cities; and when I’m camped out in one, I tend to stay “home” more of the time, though I hope to break this trend while here in touristy Orlando.

As I traveled east, the landscape featured thick forests and people became less visible. At first, this provided the illusion that I was in rural areas – even when large housing tracts and commercial or industrial zones were nearby.

Now that I’ve adjusted to being unable to see beyond the trees, I’ve developed an almost paranoid sense that I’m almost always just a hundred yards or less from urban sprawl. Rather than enjoying the forests, I’ve become suspicious of what secrets they may be hiding.

I’m still near the beginning of a month-long stay in Florida, so it’s premature to begin reaching conclusions. But it is accurate to note that there are a LOT of people here.

Orlando, proper, has just over 220,000 residents and is the hub of a large metropolitan area, ranking third in the state after Miami-Ft Lauderdale and Tampa-St Petersburg.

The city grew dramatically in the last quarter of the 19th century and again in the early 20th century and still dominates inland northern Florida. It is a sprawling metropolis, however, and I’m not sure I’ll get a real feel for this historical city most famous, now, as the site of Disney World.

All of this said, it’s only fair to note that today was an absolutely beautiful day in northern Florida. Humidity, which was still oppressive in the Carolinas in October, was not a factor and, despite temperatures edging into the 80s, today couldn’t have been nicer.

With a new GPS device (that’s another story), I’m confident enough to venture forth tomorrow in the general direction of the many attractions that surround Disney World and to try to discover the lay of the land.

I’ll probably make Wednesday my day in the park. The forecast is positive and I’ve been eager to see this eastern version of Disneyland since Uncle Walt described it so enthusiastically on the “Wonderful World of Disney”.

I’m 2,000 miles and 48 years away from that memorable day, but I believe I can recapture some of the magic if I give it a try.