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Thursday, May 16, 2013

Raise Your Glass: Welcome to Florida

Florida is a state that knows how to treat its guests.  It is a family tradition to stop at the Florida welcome center and partake in the ritual of drinking a complimentary sample of Orange Juice.



The welcoming gift gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling and gears me up to take in the tourist paradise that is Florida.


Why can't other states be so welcoming?

The Georgia welcome center does something similar and gives you a free dixie cup of Coca-Cola.  This is of course is only at the welcome center when you are leaving Florida, so they are clearly trying to compete with Florida's long standing tradition.

The Georgia welcome center also has a display celebrating the freakish wonderland that is Babyland General.  The other curious thing about Georgia's welcome center is that they have outdoor speakers that are blasting a mixtape of musicians from Georgia.  When I entered they were playing "Jump" by nineties rap group "Kris Kross", as I exited they were playing "Closer to Fine" by female folk duo "The Indigo Girls."  I really wish I would have stayed to listen to the whole mixtape.

I wonder why other states don't give tourists the red carpet treatment.  There are no free cigarettes at the North Carolina welcome center. 

The Carpetbagger

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