As a native Floridian, I grew up visiting all of the wonderful “Old Florida” tourist attractions my beloved home state is famous for. Employed as a representative of the Florida State Chamber of Commerce, my mother was always getting complimentary passes and was encouraged to visit as many of Florida’s fabulous attractions as possible, in order to speak first-hand about and promote Florida tourism. My childhood was spent touring alligator farms and mermaid habitats, tourist meccas like The Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine and The Oldest Store, Ybor City and classics like Marineland, Weeki Wachi and Silver Springs. It’s only natural that I would end up in the tourist vacation industry.