By Alicja Sudoł IIB

The history of Florida can be traced back to when the first Native Americans began to inhabit the peninsula as early as 14,000 years ago. Recorded history begins with the arrival of Europeans to Florida, beginning with the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, who explored the area in 1513. Since that time Florida has had a long history of immigration, including French and Spanish settlement during the 16th century, as well as in migration from new Native American groups.

The Miami Science Museum is an attraction located in the city of Miami, Florida. The museum itself also contains the Space-Transit Planetarium, Weintraub Observatory and a wildlife center. The museum is currently working to transplant the museum from its current location to Park West at Bicentennial Park in Downtown Miami along with the Miami Art Museum.

Adventure Island is an American water park located northeast of Tampa, Florida across the street from Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. The park features 30 acres (120,000 m2) of water rides, dining, and other attractions. The park opened on June 7, 1980, and is part of SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a division of The Blackstone Group.

SeaWorld Orlando is a theme park near Orlando, Florida. It is owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a subsidiary of The Blackstone Group. When combined with its neighbor Discovery Cove and the Aquatica waterpark, it forms a larger entertainment complex devoted to Earth's oceans and the array of life that inhabits them.

Wet 'n Wild - Orlando is one of the parks within the Wet 'n Wild chain. It was founded by Sea World creator George Millay in Orlando, Florida in 1977. It is considered the first major water park in the United States, and Millay was given the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Waterpark Association who named him the official "Father of the Waterpark." The park was featured on Travel Channel's Extreme Waterparks.

Parrot Jungle Gardens, as it was originally called, was opened by Austrianimmigrant Franz Scherr cut short his he wound up in in 1936. The Depression construction career and Pinecrest,Florida, where he opened a feed store and kept several live parrots ondisplay. The birds became a local attraction and Scherr realized that tourists would pay to see them.

This shrine to America's space heroes opened in 1990. It used to be down the coast, in Melbourne, run by a corporation -- until its owners went into foreclosure with millions of dollars in unpaid debt. Privatization having been tried, and failed, the operation was turned over to NASA, which seems to be doing a decent job. The attraction has at least been moved to a much better location in Titusville, just outside of the entrance to the Kennedy Space Center.

Coral Castle doesn't look much like a castle, but that hasn't discouraged generations of tourists from wanting to see it. That's because it was built by one man, Ed Leedskalnin, a Latvian immigrant who single handedly and mysteriously excavated, carved, and erected over 2.2 million pounds of coral rock to build this place, even though he stood only five feet tall and weighed a mere 100 pounds.

-city of my pen-friend

Eustis is a city in Lake County, Florida, United States. The population was 15,106 at the 2000 census. The Census Bureau estimated the population in 2008 to be 19,129. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the census of 2000, there were 15,106 people, 6,371 households, and 4,058 families residing in the city. The population density was 698.5/km². The racial makeup of the city was 76.90% White, 18.98% African American, 0.34% Native American, 0.63% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 1.89% from other races, and 1.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.37% of the population.

The people of Eustis, on the east shore of Lake Eustis, took their time deciding on a name. First it was Highlands, then Pendryville, and finally Lake Eustis, itself named about 1825 for General Abraham Eustis.

The first homes were those of D.W. Herrick, A.D. Herrick, and Henry Key. In 1881 Clifford and Smith built the first general store in the building later occupied by A.D. and C.D. Miller.

A big year was 1878 when the town's first telegraph line connected Eustis, Leesburg, and Sanford. The railroad arrived in 1880, the first train coming from Astor to Fort Mason, where passengers and freight made lake steamer connections to Leesburg, Helena, Yalaha, Bloomfield, Lane Park and Tavares.

Located in Eustis' downtown right on the lake, Ferran Park was constructed in 1923 using sand pumped in from the lake bottom. A retaining wall, which still stands today, holds the sand in place. This is one of the oldest parks in Eustis The park and the band shell were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. Intended as a memorial park, it has many monuments located throughout the grounds.

Located at the northern end of the park is the Alice B. McClelland Memorial Band Shell, constructed in 1926 by Major William S. McClelland in honor of his music-loving wife.

The 18-hole "Pine Meadows" course at the Pine Meadows Golf & Country Club facility in Eustis, Florida features 5,655 yards of golf from the longest tees for a par of 72 . The course rating is 71.9 and it has a slope rating of 128. Pine Meadows golf course opened in 1965. Ted Henderson manages the course as the General Manager.