Florida Strawberry Festival

For the past decade, I've been saying "I should really go to the Florida Strawberry Festival." Finally, I made it to Plant City, Florida. Just a warning, I don't know if I can talk about the Strawberry Festival without comparing it to every Midwestern State Fair I've been to.

Of course, with every fair, there's animal shows. There was a Sea Lion show which is something I might have seen in Nebraska. But there were cattle shows and pig races.

I'll include several images from the day. 

The line to get strawberry short cake...

Do it yourself shortcake... it's more whipped cream than strawberries. But (in IMHO) is the best part.

 

The sign says "Try our Chocolate Dipt Bacon"   ... I love Florida and rural Floridian slang like turning "dipped" into "dipt" . I'm actually surprised it didn't have "fixin' to" crammed somewhere on that sign. 

As anyone can see, the main attraction, the must see of the Strawberry Festival is the swimming pig races.

Sunset on the midway...

The Sea Lion show.

At the end of the night... buying a pallet of strawberries to take home from the dozens of farmers along the road, selling their harvest.

Blue Spring State Park

I waited a bit too late in the "season" to go to Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, Florida. Too late, because the the park's main attraction -- the West Indies Manatees -- have moved back into the river instead of hanging out in their winter home of the springs (aka The Manatee Hot Tub.)

Just because the manatees are gone, doesn't mean people still can't walk the boardwalk and nature trails and using the campground facilities. There's also an older house museum called the Thursby House to explore.

Blue Spring State Park is located north of Orlando near Deland off of I-4 (exit 114) in Orange City. It takes about an hour from the Disney Area to get there. A little longer if you have to fight traffic through downtown Orlando.

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Hangin' at 'the studios'

What do you do when you've been someplace hundreds of times? How about thousands of times over the course of 16 years? You start developing "rituals", that's what. Not the animal sacrifice kind of rituals, oh no. I mean, there are certain things I *have to do* when I step into the Disney Hollywood Studios.

My first experience with then"MGM" now "Hollywood" studios was as a 19-year-old intern. I have been on every rooftop, almost every office, walked through every attraction, cleaned or used almost every restroom.. I know TMI.. I digress....

I actually want my body cremated and my ashes spread in two different places:one on my parents farm in Nebraska and the other ... spread in "Muppet courtyard" in the middle of the night. There's a few flaws with that plan.
1) it's illegal to dump bodies/ashes at the theme parks (many have tried.)
2) Catholics tend to frown on that.
3) The boyfriend whom promised me he would do that for me is now married to someone else and odds are he'll die before I do.

Don't pull the Rope! In Front of Indiana Jones Stunt Show

Mulch, Sweat, and Shears

In the Muppet Vision 3D, it the key under the mat

Queen of Hearts at AFI Showcase

Once Upon a Time aka "Carthey Circle"

Tower of Terror

Push play to hear the podcast.

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Disney / Orlando on Dwellable

Strolling along the Sassgoula

I don't want to be another "disney podcaster." There are so many Disney podcasts on itunes. I know,the host/hostess of these podcasts consider themselves experts. There was a time in my life that the only skill I thought I had was "Disney." I wasn't planning to do any Disney episodes for Lost in Florida. Well, not right away. Not with all the cool other places there are to visit in Central Florida.

But, going to Disney is something I do at least twice a month to "run errands". And, well, since I'm there, I might as well enjoy myself. That's what happened a few weeks ago. I had to go to Disney to take care of some business and decided I would talk about one of my favorite resorts -- Port Orleans.

While it's free to go to Disney Resorts to shop, walk around and sight-see, it can be expensive to eat there. I think I spent $15 for an order of Beignets and a po' boy. And then, the batteries on my ZoomH2 died and I had to buy some at the gift shop.


Free digital slideshow made with Smilebox

I wanted to prove that you can "go to Disney" without actually riding the tea cups 'til you puke. Or spending over a hundred dollars. Or actually being at one of the themeparks. In my humble opinion, going "resort hopping" is highly underrated.

Anyway, click on the alligator photo and listen to my short podcast.



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Disney / Orlando on Dwellable

The most wonderful time of the year

With great sadness I say goodbye to the most wonderful time of year in Florida.. citrus harvests Season. I figure I only have a month before all the groves shut up business until next Fall.

It wasn't until a few years ago that oranges and finding the most perfect form of that heavenly piece of sunshine became a highlight of my winter. I can't remember the exact reason why I was riding with my dad in his truck back to Nebraska, but we stopped a little roadside grove and bought a few bushel of the best oranges I've tasted. And for that hour he and I must have peeled and shared at least five oranges. The whole cab of the truck smelling of oranges and my hands sticky sweet. To this day, it was one of the fondest memories I have of my dad.

Starting in December, I start hunting for the best orange in Florida. Usually, in a pinch I'll get my Florida Oranges in Publix, but when I can, I go to a grove store. My favorite store in the middle of Orlando called "White's Hill Grove" or if I go to the East Coast/Melbourne Area, I like Harvey's Grove.

This year, I tried something new: "u-pick" citrus. Mostly, it's because the "The Showcase of Citrus" on Highway 27 in Clermont. There's something about the high plastic shark and alligator that screams "fun and amusing Florida pictures right here."

I took my friend Chris out to pick a bag of oranges a few weeks ago. For $10 a 1/4 bushel, it's a bit pricy for oranges. It's for the tourists, not the locals. In fact, the bag says "Here's the bag of oranges I promised you from Florida."The rows of citrus were marked with what kind they were and there were plenty of photo opportunities. I do have to admit, it was a good $10 of worth of entertainment.

How to get there from Disney go on Highway 192 West until it ends at Highway 27, go North about 7 miles.

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Episode #2 -- Honeymoon Island State Park

Hello budgetary adventure seekers.
I promised one of my students I would actually "get out of my car" on my next episode. Sadly, I picked one of the coldest and windiest days in Florida, so, no, I didn't actually record outside of my car because of the wind. But I did actually get out of my car for a walk along a fairly deserted beach.

And not just any beach. My favorite beach in Florida, Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin, Florida.

Why is this park my favorite beach? Mostly because of how quiet it is. Back in 2008, Dr. Beach ranked this beach along with Caladesi Island as the number #1 beach in the United States.  White sand beach, pink shells, dolphins and manatee have been seen off the island... but my favorite thing about the beach are the swings that face the water.


What I don't like... the signs that say "Rattlesnakes are common on island" Eeek!
The Amount of money I spent: food $6 fast food (nothing exciting)
Gas: $30
individual park entrance: $4



How to get there from Disney World/I-4: Take Interstate 4 West to Tampa until it ends in downtown Tampa at 275 South towards the airport. Take the highway 60 exit toward the airport/Clearwater. The highway goes over the Courtney Campbell Causeway to Clearwater. At Clearwater, take Alt 19 North to Curlew Road, turn left on Curlew Road and take it to the end.

Gulf Coast Central on Dwellable

Episode 1

Howdy,
A few weeks ago, I met my friend Suzanne at the stationary shop on Park Avenue in Winter Park, Florida. It was a beautiful winter day pre-Christmas and we were going to finalize her seating chart cards and then go to lunch at my favorite Orlando restaurants -- Bosphorus Turkish cuisine.  http://www.bosphorousrestaurant.com/

Some day, I'll go into more detail about Park Avenue. It's one of more ritzy neighborhoods in Orlando. Along the cobblestone streets are parked BMWs, Mercedes and  other brands of cars shiny and expensive. And the people getting in and out the cars were even more interesting.  I saw a man dressed all in white linen walking two perfectly trimmed white poodles.  Women with such large diamonds on their fingers that I could see them glimmer from across the street. 

I walked down the Avenue to St. Margret Catholic Church and walked into the nearly empty sanctuary. I sat in the last pew, listening the organist practice for the coming week's service and watching the sunlight stream in blues, reds and yellows through the stained glass windows.  Of course, it's a good time to ask the Big Guy for more funding for my podcast project for ipilgrim podcast. 

I walked to the end of the block, and stood in front the shop and waited for Suzanne. It struck me, I should podcast about this place. All these strange and nifty places in Florida that many tourists don't really know about. I always end up going somewhere interesting in Central Florida. Even in Kissimmee where I currently life, there are plenty of quiet, free and picturesque places to visit.   I'll call it "Lost in Florida."  It's a bit of a misnomer since I'm almost never lost physically (mentally is another story.)

I thought my first episode should pay tribute to Kissimmee.  My plan was to go down to the waterfront on Christmas Day and do a little walkin' and talkin'. One little hitch I didn't expect is that the entire waterfront near downtown Kissimmee Lake Toho was fenced off and under construction. Bummer. Maybe some other time.