Although you can't find any tall mountains in Florida, you can go rock climbing.
"It's very exhausting,” says Amanda Gaspelin before she even broke a sweat.
Inside a warehouse in Seminole County, Gaspelin is in her playground that doubles as a training center.
- RELATED: More Florida on a Tankful
"I want to climb Yosemite,” she says quietly.
The University of Central Florida senior loves what this training does for her.
"You're also getting an amazing workout. You're training your body; you're training your mind. And you're doing it with great people."
She’s not alone. As the president of the UCF Rock Climbing Club, Amanda and other students will leave campus three to four times a week to visit the Aiguille Rock Climbing Center.
"The literal translation is "needle." The French use it in the names of their mountains a lot, because the French Alps form really sharp pentacles,” explains Dean Pflaumer, the climbing director at Aiguille (pronounced “egg-wee”).
Here awaits 10,000 square feet of wall space, enough to send you climbing the walls literally.
"If you have never climbed in your life, come in and we will take good care of you and show you the ropes, pun intended,” Pflaumer says with a laugh. All first-time rock climbers at Aiguille must take a class, which is included in a daily admission charge and gear rental fee.
With several walls for all levels, Aiguille is a place where everyone can defy gravity like Spiderman and gently return to a thick, padded mat.
"So when you fall off one of the tall walls, somebody else is on the other side of the rope, doing what we call belaying, and they essentially lock the rope off in a way that we teach here,” Pflaumer says.
Away from the beginner walls is expert climber Taylor Brown.
“It is hard,” Brown says to the beads of sweat developing on his forehead.
Brown is so adept, he can climb one-handed with a camera phone recording every move.
His advice to first-time climbers: "Stay relaxed. Have fun."
Yet Brown himself stays humble. "There is so much more I can learn,” he says about climbing inside and taking his skills on the road.
Gaspelin agrees the atmosphere fosters a sense of community.
"Everybody is open-minded and accepting,” Gaspelin says.
Tankful on Television
You can catch new Florida on a Tankful stories each Thursday and Saturday on News 13 and Bay News 9. New editions play at the end of each hour starting at 6 a.m. Classic Florida on a Tankful stories can be found each Friday and Sunday on Bay News 9 and News 13 at the end of each hour starting at 6 a.m.
Tankful on Demand
Catch Florida on a Tankful with Scott Fais on your time, now on Bright House Local On Demand, Channel 999. Use your remote to scroll to the right to the TRAVEL category. Then SCROLL DOWN to TANKFUL.
Scott Fais joins Travel Monthly
Catch Scott Fais as the Florida Correspondent on the On Demand travel magazine, Travel Monthly. Each month, Scott joins other travel reporters from across the United States as they showcase a wide variety of attractions, diners, parks and landmarks from across America. See Travel Monthly nationally on Time Warner Cable channel 411 and at home in Florida on Bright House Local On Demand, Channel 999 in the TRAVEL category.