Good morning Vagabuddies.
What's going on? Welcome back.
We are in Orlando.
We just finished Playlist Live.
But everybody's leaving, but we're not.
We're sticking around.
We're here with Visit Florida, and we're
going to go check out the historic
coast of Saint Augustine, Jacksonville,
but first and foremost,
we're going to check out the city that we
are in right now...Orlando.
[song from Book of Mormon]
All right you guys, welcome back.
We are just outside the city of Orlando
in Wekiwa Springs State Park.
We've got a pretty awesome day lined up.
My only experience of Orlando so far has
been through Playlist Live and the theme parks.
This is totally different than what I
expected. If you look at Florida from a
map, from an aerial prospective, you can
see that so much of it is a giant wetland.
There's a crystal clear spring here that
puts out beautiful water.
There's a nice bar; there's a good vibe.
It's definitely not what I expected.
I'm stoked to hop into the water because
apparently, it's 70 degrees all year long..
We're at Wekiwa Island,
a secret spot in suburbia
where all the locals go.
We run Wekiwa Sup and Swim.
What we do is we go up river
to the actual birth place of the
Wekiwa River, Wekiwa Springs.
First magnitude spring with
55 million gallons of water flowing
out of it.
About 2 hours, about 3 miles and just
all kinds of amazing wildlife on the way.
Right in front of me is a little baby
alligator. Check it out.
We just made it up to the springs,
which are the source of the fresh water
that is flowing through the river.
It's really beautiful here.
It's completely surprising to find this
just a couple minutes north of
downtown Orlando.
It's crazy to think that most of Orlando
was built in the 1980s after Disney
World was built in 1971.
These lands have been the home of the
Seminole Tribe for thousands of years.
At first it's hard to see how
you could survive here.
When you look more closely, there's
fresh water; there's tons of wildlife,
and it's even possible to farm.
Have you ever had a siphon before? No
You should definitely do a siphon.
It's kind of like a chemistry experiment.
All right.
This is an historic neighborhood
called Winter Park, which is founded in
the 1880s as a winter resort for people
living on the East Coast.
In honor of that, I got the siphon method.
Kind of a steampunk hunter's version
of making a coffee, and it is a really
nice way to drink it.
So here's to that.
Definitely a much needed caffeination
break after paddling around all afternoon.
We're going to drink these coffees
and then head over to another
interesting historic area, one that's
close to Marko's heart,
and it's going to be fun.
Stay tuned.
Just want to talk a little bit about
how awesome that entire experience was.
To come to Orlando and see a really
gorgeous little slice of nature
from a standup paddle board was
a really awesome experience for me......
not to mention....I was blown away by
the sheer amount of wildlife there.
There's so much wildlife.
Whenever I go to a place that's
relatively new, a lot of new construction,
I often times wonder what was this
place like before all of this?
And that's the essence of this video:
try to find out what Orlando
is about at its core.
Right now we're driving through one of
the residential areas; it's very, very chill.
And right here is a house of one of my
favorite humans of all time:
Mr. Jack Kerouac
This seemingly ordinary house is the
former home of my favorite writer:
Jack Kerouac.
He was living here when he became
famous for his most popular book:
On the Road
And it's also where he wrote the book:
Dharma Bums.
Jack Kerouac was from a group of writers
called the Beat Generation,
basically post World War Two.
Instead of following the typical
American dream, the Beat Generation
took off across America to discover
the truth of life through direct experience,
self-reliance, and self-expression.
He moved in here right in the
beginning of September of 1957.
Soon after that, he went to New York City
because On the Road was about to be
released and have a big party.
He left here this kind of no-name writer.
Of course by the time he came back,
he was this national phenomena.
The book was just a huge, smashing
success right out the door.
He became instantly famous.
This is a chair in which Jack Kerouac
actually sat.
Mark, I know that you are a huge
Jack Kerouac fan.
Sitting in a chair that Jack Kerouac
sat in, reading Jack Kerouac's book
in his former home...feelings? Thoughts?
A lot of emotions.
This is certainly a form of pilgrimage for
me, one hundred percent.
Jack Kerouac is undoubtedly
one of the most influential writers
in my life.
This is the house where he wrote
Dharma Bums, which is my favorite
Jack Kerouac book.
It's really cool. I have not read this book
for a healthy ten years, but to be in
the place where it was written,
maybe I will conjure his spirit.
What I really love about this house and
this neighborhood is that we're just
surrounded by these big, beautiful trees
covered in Spanish moss.
It's cool now that it's been turned into
a writer's residence.
Just met the young lady who's inside.
She's here writing a novel.
Very, very cool. Let us know,
what is your favorite Kerouac novel?
And put it in the comment section.
Nice book here: Kerouac in Florida.
Well guys and girls,
it has been a long day exploring,
and we've made it to
downtown Orlando.
Downtown Orlando is pretty chill.
There're all these bungalows;
there're a few historic buildings.
This whole place was developed
in the late 1880s during the citrus boom
when Florida was growing the oranges
and other citrus fruits that it's still known for.
Definitely burned some calories today.
Probably burned our skin a little bit.
I want to burn my tongue
so we are heading to
have some kind of Asian fusion tacos.
Today Orlando is a diverse city.
There's a large Chinese population;
there's a large Latin population.
We're going to go see where those two
worlds collide here at Tako Cheena.
I'm going to be completely honest here.
I'm going to throw out another old
school movie reference.
One of my favorite things about this place
is right when I walked in, I saw the
masks, had a child hood flashback.
They have the masks from The Three Ninjas.
All right guys, the food has arrived.
Everything looks super good,
and the smells coming off this are
incredible.
Especially digging the taste.
I kind of snuck a little taste of the
Tom Yum Shrimp Taco.
it looks bomb.
The pernell pulled pork looks incredible.
We've got a wide array of salsas that
actually have a lot of Asian ingredients
in them.
We're going to stop talking;
we're going to start eating. Let's go.
What's cool is it's not just Chinese
or Mexican, or Korean tacos,
it's kind of pan-Asian.
It's got Indian dishes, Korea, China,
and the result is just awesome.
Thank you...Well we've feasted,
and now it's time to end the evening
with a little sundowner.
We're going to grab a cocktail at a place
called The Matador.
Cheers.
It's been pretty fun today, man.
Honestly, I am very pleasantly surprised.
I was totally blown away by the nature,
the springs, the paddle boarding,
the wildlife, getting up close and personal
with some little gators and turtles
and stuff. Super cool.
Not to mention, ending it all with
a nice cocktail.
That's the way to end it, man.
Kerouac's house for me was an ultimate
pilgrimage and.......
those tacos,
more specifically the arabes,
have blown my mind.
I'm going to go ahead and say......
the best fusion food I have ever eaten.
Kerouac shaped my dreams for my 20s,
but Tako Cheena might shape my dreams
in my 30s.
Don't go anywhere ladies and gentlemen
because we are not finished.
Tomorrow morning we are heading to
Saint Augustine, and we're going to hit
Saint Augustine and Jacksonville.
Make sure you guys stay tuned.
If you haven't already, give this video a
thumbs-up, share it with your friends.
Subscribe and enable notifications.
In the meantime, stay curious,
keep exploring, and we'll see you guys
on the road. And don't forget,
when you reach the top of the mountain,
climb it farther. Cheers.