You've probably never heard of Don Blanding, such is fame in
popular culture. Maybe “Floridays” kind of rings a bell: there’s a
resort in Orlando called Floridays. Jimmy Buffet borrowed the title
for an album. He borrowed the Blanding aesthetic, too: the Aloha
shirt, the sunset-colored *bleep*tails with the little paper
parasol, the booze-in-the-blender-shrimp-on-the-boil laid-back
lifestyle. You can buy a pair of shoes from Margaritaville
Merchandising called “Floridays.” They're sandals, of course, with
pineapple on the sole. But though Jimmy Buffet is now better known
than Don Blanding ever was, Blanding was the pioneer, the
great-granddaddy of Buffetism, the first mayor of Margaritaville.
You can see why in this little Blanding poem, commending the volume
to his readers:
A book of sounds and scents and sights
Of Flori-days and Flori-nights,
Flori-stars and Flori-moons
And Flori-suns and Flori-noons.
Flori-fragrance on the breeze
And blended blues of Flori-seas.
This cache was placed by a member of the
Florida
Geocaching Association