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Well, good morning adventurers. and welcome back once again to the Sunshine State. So, when you think of Florida, you probably think of beautiful beaches, alligators, theme parks, and retirement communities. But there is another side to Florida that is super weird and super quirky and looks a little something like this. Yeah, this state might actually be the weirdest of them all. There are just so many strange and off-the-wall things to see, and we want to see as much as possible. So, we're hitting the road and driving all over the southern part of the state to find the weirdest of the weird. We have this handy little guide to all of the weirdness that Florida has to offer. But, we wanted to
start with one of the absolute weirdest phenomenons in all of Flidian culture, and that is the skunk. Florida is filled with all kinds of terrifying creatures. There's pythons and panthers. There's crocodiles and alligators. But there is one beast that rules them all. Oh, all. But there is one beast that rules them all, and that is the Florida man. Just kidding. There is something even scarier than the Florida man. It's this. This is the Florida skunk ape. Is that what it's called?
I heard all these terrifying tales of the skunk ape, but he's really just a gentle giant. Oo, it's very buff. But yes, Florida has its own version of the Sasquatch. It is called the skunk ape. And I guess it's called that because he stinks. I don't really understand it all. It's classic Florida stuff. I don't think anyone understands it except true flidians. But as early as 1818, there have been purported sightings of the skunk ape, which is a creature that looks something like this lurking in the swamps and the bayou. A lot of times he's represented as more of a Sasquatch Harry and the Hendersons type of guy, but there's actually one of the most famous photos of the skunk ape. It's
actually really terrifying photo. It looks It reminds me of that movie Congo with like the killer apes. But we want to see if we can have our own sighting of this elusive creature. And we figured what better place to do that than at the skunk ape research center. And yes, that does exist here in Florida. It's like Florida's Area 51 or something. Let's go check it out. You look like the girl that King Kong would pick to scale the building with. Oh, that's I think sweet of you. Yeah, it's a compliment, right?
Okay. Yeah, I look very jungly today. I mean, come on. He's a hunk. I mean, he is. He's got good taste. Look at these big upper. I know, man. Shoot. Well, we haven't found the skunk ape just yet, but we did find a bunch of cool little reptile exhibits. If you pay 10 bucks, you can come in the back. They have all these different snakes that you can check out and crazy snapping turtles and a giant gorilla statue. This is so freaking quirky, you guys. This is just like ultimate like tourist trap roadside attraction.
I love it. And if you missed all the alligators on the side of the road, uh don't worry. They have a big fat boy out in the back there that is just so huge and terrifying. Oh my gosh, you guys. They have a huge tortoise. Are you sure I can't pet him? Wow, he's so cool. Look at him. Well, I think our first goofy roadside stop was a success. I don't know if you could say that we found the skunk ape, but we did get one of our own. He's our new road trip mascot. You guys, when we walked in, they saw the camera and they were like, "Are you guys squatchers? Is that the term for people who go around hunting the Sasquatch?"
I don't know. That is awesome. But that is definitely the place for you if that's who you are. And the next stop we're going to make is actually just 2 miles down the road. second stop has taken us to the USA's smallest post office. That's it. Why oh why is there a tiny little shack of a post office here in the middle of Florida? Well, that is because apparently there was a bigger one and that burned down in the early 50s and they needed another post office toot sweet. So they used this old storage shed as the post office. I guess it was supposed to be temporary and it is not temporary anymore because it's been here for like 70 years. But travelers come from far and wide to stop here and send a postcard at the USA's smallest post office.
Who should we send ours to? I didn't really think that one through. Should we send one just to your dad or something? Yeah, let's just send it to family. Yeah. All right, we got our postcard. It cost one USD dollar. One US dollar. I think the dollar is implied. What is this? An ATM machine? They have their little stamp already on there. It's ready to go. You just write your message and they'll send it for you. And you'll notice it says right here, the smallest post office in the USA. Pretty cool. That's so cute. He's got himself on there.
All right, postcard filled out. Allison did a little alligator. How cute. Full disclosure, I copied it from the internet. Yep, she did. I did an okay job. Neither of us are really artists, so this is what we have to resort to. All right, let's go mail this B baby. I said it weird. Let's go mail this baby. All set. Thank you. Have a good one. You nailed it. I mean, nailed it. Nice one. So, as you can see, it is truly a functioning post office.
They have their mail bins out there. It is a little kiosk. You can't go inside, but there is one single employee that mans it. It looks like he's here most days. I think they close for lunch, though, so watch out. They even have a drop box, so if nobody's here, you can drop it yourself. All right, shall we continue and see just how much weirder Florida can get? Oh, yeah. I am ready. Let's go get weird. Weirder than this even. You guys, we are officially alligator hunting. We were just driving on this long stretch of road and I'm pretty sure I saw one just like sunbathing on the side of the water over here. So, we
turned around. We're going to try to find him. We found him, y'all. He's just sitting and chilling on the coast over there right next to the road. And this is when I really wish I had a super zoom lens cuz this is all I have and it really doesn't get close enough. Well, go on. Get in there. Yeah. Hell no. Well, I'm pretty happy about that. Hopefully, that's the first of many creepy Florida crawies that we see. Creepy Florida crawlies. You never know what I'm going to say. I never know what I'm going to say until I finish talking. All right, onward.
Yay. What a start to a road trip. We are running low on gas, so we are going to take a brief intermission to fill up real quick. But I'm not going to lie, Florida is kind of an expensive state, and we have been trying to save money any way that we can. And one way that we do that, as you may know, is by never paying full price at the gas pump. Instead, we use Upside to get cash back. And they are once again partnering with us on this video. Upside gives you cash back on groceries, restaurants, and gas. And we have actually been using the app for years and have gotten hundreds of dollars back. You just pull up the Upside app to find offers around you, click claim offer, then pay as usual with a credit
or debit card and get paid, baby. Upside has given a whopping $1 billion back to its users. And to find out how much you can earn, you can download the free Upside app and use promo code Endless Adventure to get an extra 25 cents for every gallon on your first tank of gas. For some reason, in the absolute middle of nowhere Florida, there's a castle. But not just any castle. This is not made of brick or stone. It's made of aluminum. It's a super shiny weird castle created by Solomon himself. Not King Solomon. No, a guy named Solomon. Just a man named Solomon. But this isn't aluminum that you just buy at the store. This is printing aluminum. And what that means is on one side you're going to have this shiny aluminum. And then on the back side
there's like a printing ink. And they would put the ink on there and then roll it onto the paper. And I guess they would use it like a printing plate. Everything on the outside, everything on the inside. This is all like reclaimed recycled materials. I guess some people would call it junk. And you're apparently allowed to call it junk. They don't take offense to that. The real question is, what the heck is this random castle doing out in the middle of absolute nowhere, Florida? Well, it was created by a guy named Solomon. He bought this land back in the 70s and he worked on it till he died in
2016 and he made a lot. First off, he built this entire castle and kept adding on to it. But inside there is tons of artwork all throughout his life that he's created that is on display for you to check out. Every window has stained glass, which he did himself. He never took a lesson. He just learned how to make stained glass. So, you are free to show up here and roam around the grounds, which I highly recommend doing because there is a lot to see. But for $35, you can take a tour of the inside. And I think we are going to give that a try and see if it's worth it. Obviously, he did a lot on the outside, but his actual pieces are all inside. I think there are like hundreds of them. So, sadly, you are not allowed to take
pictures [clears throat] or film anything on the interior. They are very hardcore about it. Very. They will kick you out immediately. No questions asked. So, oops. So, if you want to come, if you like art and you love puns, I mean, you have to love Yeah. love puns. Every single piece of art he made is some pun or play on words or something. That's a lot of wo. You're a punster. I could tell. Do you know what you call 50 puns? What's that? Punishment. It's a lot. If you like dad joke vibes and stuff like that, it's a good tour for you. For example, you see these guys, little fencers. This is his fencing. So that's that's the type of jokes we're talking about here.
Yeah. You guys, I'm pretty sure this cat is a six-toed cat like at the Hemingway house. Yeah. So the Hemingway house down in Key West is overrun with cats with sick toes. Yeah. Just like this one. All right. Bye, buddy. Love you. Bye. Right next to the castle is a boat and a moat, which is actually a restaurant. But the boat is very legit. It is built out of super sturdy timber. It actually looks like it could float, but it absolutely does not. that is anchored there. I believe it took him about 4 years to build. Yeah. Which is kind of impressive. It took 18 years to build the castle and only four to build the boat.
Well, I think he was just the type of guy who was always working, just non-stop doing something, tinkering, building. Mhm. Well, if quirky shiny castles aren't your thing, maybe quirky weird art houses are. We made a drive up to the Tampa area and we made a quick stop here to Whimsy Land, which as you can see is just like a huge art installation in somebody's front yard. You are not going to believe it. That's where my missing Turboax CD went. I haven't filed taxes since 2002. Uh-oh. Well, it's not your fault.
I know. Now I can get started again. Check it out. This is about when I started using Photoshop. This is very old. Wow. Alison can't figure out where we can and can't go cuz this is just someone's property. I know. I feel so bad. But this is what you're supposed to be able to do. Just come and wander around. They do have signs like don't disturb private residents. So, don't go that way. Good to know. This actually used to be called the bowling ball house. And that's because there were a bunch of bowling balls that line the path and the path up to the house. Since then, it has grown.
I'm pretty sure a lot of different artists have contributed to this. But as you look around, you're going to see all kinds of different sculptures. They are not afraid to use basically any material you can possibly think of. Some of these bowling balls are pretty fantastic, completely blinged out. Check this one out. You're going to see a bunch of the colorful balls from like a ball pit from a play place. There's this incredible colorful mosaic lining the path. And they even have art for sale in a little gift shop. But the best part of this place is that it is free. Unlike the castle, the castle was kind of expensive. It's 35 bucks per person.
This is completely free. Man, this makes me feel like I'm really not talented at all cuz I don't think I could make a single piece here. But I guess at the very least, I can film it. The whole thing is super jungly, but make sure you look into the jungle cuz you might see some more weird stuff like whatever this is. Basically a psychedelic jungle. That's what it feels like. Are you sure you didn't slip some acid into my food earlier? I don't know, man. Maybe some mushrooms or something. Oo, if simply strolling through the yards isn't enough for you,
you're in luck cuz they actually have an Airbnb right across the street so you can live amongst the art. But be advised, there will be random people like us strolling across your yard. So keep them curtains closed unless you don't want to. It's so funny to me that there's all that crazy insane like psychedelic trippy art there and then out here it's just a random neighborhood. As normal could be. It reminds me in San Diego there's that plant sculpture garden. Everyone else just has a boring normal yard and then people can do stuff like this. The owners actually came and chatted with us. It's a husband and wife couple who have owned this property since the8s. Y'all, this is the first house they ever bought and
it has turned into quite a wonder, quite a whimsy land. We have even more goofy stuff to see on our goofy Florida road trip to see, to eat, and to drink. All the things I love. Epic entrance. That was the Jurassic Park music, right? I think. Did I sing that right? Yeah. All right. Well, this is already my favorite thing we've done so far. This is awesome. Animatronic T-Rex. Yes.
As you probably guessed, we have come to Dinosaur World. Yo, we were driving just outside of Tampa and saw dinosaurs roaming off in the forest and we were like, uh, yeah, we're gonna go there. Well, we've seen crocodiles. We've hunted for the skunk ape. And now we want something bigger and more terrifying. I don't know, man. Are you sure you're uh dressed right for this occasion? H I think I could do a little bit better. Maybe something even dino mightite. All right. Now, I'm ready to go hunt for some dinosaurs. She found this in the gift shop.
They have some great dinosaur gear in there, y'all. Ooh. And now I am all decked out and ready to go trapesing through these woods and see some really potentially bad dinosaurs. No way. They're going to look really real. Really, really real. Squirrel riding a dinosaur. Now I've seen everything. You guys, we finally found him. That's the one that got Newman. He did it. jerk. And by Newman, of course, we mean Wayne Knight, who was the guy who played, you know, that one guy in uh Jurassic Park.
Also, we need to rewatch that. Yeah. Why did we not rewatch that before we came here? We'll do it after. Okay. You got the little T-Rex and the big T-Rex. Maybe he won't eat me because I'm his friend. I think he's going to eat you cuz you're stealing his babies. Okay, that's a good point. And what did we learn? What happens when a T-Rex is coming after you? You run. You know, according to Jurassic Park, you're supposed to hold still. I know, but I don't know if that's actually true.
No, I think my instinct would be to run. Yeah, we need some factchecking on that. you guys, there is nobody else here, which is awesome cuz that means we can act like complete buffoons. It's pretty great that you look around and you see all these kind of smiling, happy, peaceful dinosaurs. A mother with her little babies. I mean, like this guy, he just seems so happy to be a dinosaur. And then all of a sudden, they're all just being ripped apart, and there's blood and guts everywhere, and it's all ferocious and giant teeth. This is pretty brutal in here, you guys. You might have to have some conversations with your kids about uh what goes on in the dinosaur world.
Yeah. You guys, I forgot to tell you. We named him Chaz. Well, we have Jeff, our bobblehead bear, in our truck, so we need something to watch out for us in Florida. And who better than Chaz the skunk ape? I mean, look at him. Who would mess with him, right? You guys, I feel like we need to apologize to you about something. We have driven all over this state and haven't stuffed one single item in our mouths. Well, not on camera anyway. Not on camera. We sure have seen a lot of gators on this trip, but we haven't eaten any. And that changes right now, you guys. We're about to eat us some alligator. So, you can get gator all over Florida,
obviously. But we found an iconic Florida restaurant here in Fort Lauderdale where they rave about the gator. It is called Voodoo Bayou. Well, cheers. This place is pretty cool, huh? This is way cooler inside than I thought it was going to be, y'all. So, this is actually a chain. Uh, there are a few locations here in Florida, but I think it's one that is highly regarded. So, I don't think we're going to be disappointed. So, it is a cajinjun place, and it definitely reminds me of New Orleans. And some of it's got like, you know, Day of the Dead vibes. You guys, I just love a bar that has to literally use a ladder
to climb up to the top. That is awesome. Normally, the prices for the dishes we're going to order are a little steep, but y'all, it's happy hour, so everything is like half off. Ooh, we picked a good time to come. Our feast has arrived. We got some gumbo, some woodfired oysters, the biggest devild eggs I've ever seen in my life, and of course, delicious dish. Delicious Cajun fried gator tail. You know, I was expecting like an actual gator tail, like that was fried up or something. But these look like little deep fried gator bits. But these did come from a big fat tail of a gator. So there you go. It's much
more like appetizing looking in this form, don't you think? Instead of like a big curled up scaly thing. Okay. Deep fried gator. I would have thought that this is just chewy chicken. The texture and flavor is almost a mix between chicken and calamari. It's definitely way better, way more palatable than you would ever think. And of course, it's got some Cajun seasoning on there. I think it's like a spicy mayo based on there. So, you mostly just taste the deep friedness and the seasoning.
Do these oysters look beautiful or what? You guys cooked oysters. That's my jam. Raw is better. Eric hates raw. So, we got woodfire. It's a Cajun place. So, of course, they have beignes. Oh my gosh. So, if you've never had one of these before, it's basically just deep fried dough covered in powdered sugar. It's a uh funnel cake essentially, like a square funnel cake. Oh my god, it's so warm. It just smells like going to the fair or circus when you're little. Mhm. Oh, it's really pillowy. Oh my god. It's like a flaky but also really doughy hot croissant in there, guys. Look how dang flaky that is.
Oh my god. Oh, it's beautiful. It's like a croissant. Look how airy it is. Yeah. Also, are there any dentists watching right now? Cuz I think we need to immediately make an appointment. This is all really making me want to go back to Louisiana. I wonder if we should. Should we do that? What do you guys think? Should we go back to Louisiana and eat all the beignes all the time? All the jumbo and jumbolaya. I'll do it. I'm in. You guys skip Cafe Deand. Come to Vulu Bayou. These are the best beignets we've ever had in our life.
Oh my god. Ever. So good. And then afterwards, it looks like you either ate a pile of beignes or did a bunch of coke. Who knows? You can't say that on the internet, right? I can. Okay. Can't I? They'll probably demonetize it. Oh well. Well, y'all, I think that's going to do it for our little weird Florida road trip. Y'all, we saw some great things, but we didn't even scratch the surface of Florida weirdness. I don't think we mentioned it, but the reason we're in Florida is because we were going to meet up with the Travel Beans once again here, but uh they had
some complications and couldn't make it in time. So, we've just been kind of killing time, waiting for I think Alex is still going to come, right? Alex is coming. He will be here shortly and we're going to go on some adventures with him. Uh, both in Florida and on the high seas. Oh, yeah. We got some very cool stuff coming up. Very wacky off though. We're going to continue the weird theme, I think.
Oh, it's going to be so much fun. We can't wait. We're just happy to be in warm weather out and about. Mhm. I think that's it though, right? I think that's it. We're just filming this ending real quick because we got to post this video right now. So, yeah. And we forgot to film the ending in the wild. Sorry, but goodbye. We'll see you on the road.
