http://www.thefloridaexperience.com "A collective of urban explorers and outdoor adventurers" Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:27:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Understory: A weekly nature column Among the undergrowth of sandy pine forests and the mossy crevices of wooded limestone outcroppings, dwells an unassuming yet fascinating plant known as the Coontie. By name alone, the Coontie (pronounced coon-tee) conjures up a host of potential identities but at first glance, ... http://www.thefloridaexperience.com/plants/the-coontie-is-a-special-plant/ The Fish Who Came Out of the Water (Short Version) Once upon a time, a very special fish did something very unfishlike and changed the world forever. Somewhere in the annals of time, approximately 360 million years ago, a group of fish faced with a seemingly impossible dilemma devised an ... http://www.thefloridaexperience.com/prose/the-fish-who-came-out-of-the-water/ By the 16th century, the indigenous people of Florida had reached a new pinnacle of artistic expression, cultural complexity and population size. When European explorers first arrived in Florida, the indigenous population probably numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The map above illustrates the location and general appearance ... http://www.thefloridaexperience.com/history/62/ A short look at Martin County Florida and the historic wreck of the Reformation. On the morning of September 23 1696, when the rain had let up and the wind had died down, Jonathan Dickinson, a 33-year-old Quaker merchant emerged from deep within the flooded wreckage of his Barkentine ship to ... http://www.thefloridaexperience.com/history/history/ When I find myself alone, standing in the scrub of a pine forest on the east coast of Florida…. with the wind blowing through the buttons of my pea coat and the curls of my black hair- I think of the sea and all its mysteries. I think of the ... http://www.thefloridaexperience.com/history/up-from-the-sea-and-out-of-the-earth-endlessly-rocking-a-brief-history-of-the-sunshine-state/ There is no place on earth quite like Florida. Ever since the first nomadic tribes of native wanders entered the peninsula some 20,000 years ago, the sub-tropical paradise has afforded explorers as much adventure as it has danger. Today “La Florida”, the land of flowers, alligators, mangroves, cypress trees and ... http://www.thefloridaexperience.com/welcome/welcome-to-the-florida-experiance/