| One of my husband's favourite places is Florida, since | | | | we enjoyed a wonderful picnic by the waterfront in |
| he is an avid golfer and likes to get away from the | | | | sunny downtown Kissimmee. Then, on a beautiful |
| cold Canadian winter for his birthday in early | | | | Sunday morning we drove about an hour outside of |
| December. | | | | Orlando to reach the quaint town of Mt. Dora, where I |
| For a while now we had planned to visit Orlando, but | | | | hopped on the "Herbie Express", part of the Mt. Dora - |
| neither one of us are into theme parks. So there was | | | | Lake Eustis Scenic Railway. |
| the challenge for me: would we be able to visit | | | | From midweek in the second week onwards the |
| Orlando without setting foot into Disney or Universal | | | | weather took a turn for the worse. While planes were |
| Studios? For someone as curious as me this was a | | | | sliding off runways in Chicago and record |
| suitable challenge and I had been doing weeks of | | | | temperatures were registered in the mid-western |
| searches on the Internet and communicating with the | | | | states, we were freezing in Florida where the mercury |
| Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau to find out | | | | hovered around 68 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (around |
| about interesting destinations off the beaten path. | | | | +20 degrees Celsius). So I bought a rain jacket, and |
| Well, I am happy to say, we arrived back safely | | | | determined not to let the freezing cold interfere with |
| yesterday from our trip, and the trip itself was quite an | | | | our plans, we headed out to continue our explorations. |
| adventure since we decided to drive from Toronto to | | | | On a day that was forecast to be rainy, but just |
| Orlando, about 2100 km each way! Actually, the drive | | | | ended up being a bit grey and clammy, we went out |
| was not as painful as I expected. The drive through | | | | to discover Loch Haven Park, Orlando's center of |
| Pennsylvania and West Virginia was nice and hilly, and I | | | | science, art and culture. We then continued our |
| particularly enjoyed coming over the ridge of the | | | | explorations further south to discover some of |
| Appalachians, right where Virginia and North Carolina | | | | Orlando's historic neighbourhoods and parks such as |
| meet, where you get a beautiful view of the piedmont | | | | Lake Cherokee and Lake Lucerne. |
| area around Winston-Salem that spreads out towards | | | | As the drizzly weather continued, we went on to visit |
| the Atlantic in front of the mountain chain. | | | | Florida's Natural Visitor Center in Lake Wales, about an |
| And I am even happier to say that in the 14 or so days | | | | hours drive south of Orlando, where I got a really good |
| that we spent in Orlando, not only did we get to play a | | | | understanding of Central Florida's citrus industry. I spent |
| lot of golf (to make my husband really happy...;) - | | | | the afternoon in another famous attraction in Lake |
| including Mystic Dunes, Champions Gate, Royal St. | | | | Wales which holds two National Historic Landmarks: |
| Cloud Links, Hawk's Landing and Timacuan Golf and | | | | the Historic Bok Sanctuary, where I got to see the |
| Country Club, not to mention the Walking Hall of Fame | | | | beauty of the Bok estate and its historic carillon tower, |
| experience of the PGA Father Son Challenge at | | | | combined with a tour through the historic Pinewood |
| Champions Gate, but I also got to explore some really | | | | Estate, which was decked out in full Christmas |
| interesting places, destinations I would not have | | | | decorations. |
| expected in Orlando and its surrounding region. I also | | | | During these 2 weeks in Florida, we got exposed to a |
| had a chance to do an interview with GolfOrlando to | | | | lot of its plants, flowers and wildlife, much of which you |
| get a much better idea of why Orlando is called "The | | | | run into casually even while playing golf or picknicking |
| Ultimate Golf Theme Park". | | | | by the waterfront. Florida has a surprising amount of |
| We started off our first week with a visit to the | | | | natural diversity and I enjoyed watching the various |
| Orange Country Regional History Center, which gave | | | | types of birds, lizards, and squirrels. The only thing we |
| us a suitable historic background of Orlando and | | | | didn't get to see was a live alligator (with the exception |
| Central Florida. Then, for some sociological and cultural | | | | of the well-hidden rear end of a small alligator during |
| insights, we visited the Well's Built Museum for African | | | | our swamp buggy tour - unfortunately I couldn't even |
| American History and Culture in Orlando. To top off | | | | get a good picture of that one..). Apparently winter time |
| our first day of exploration we enjoyed a walk around | | | | is too cold for these creatures to come out of the |
| picturesque Lake Eola in downtown Orlando. | | | | water... |
| The next item on my off-the-beaten path agenda was | | | | On our drive home, on a bright sunny day (of course...), |
| a discovery of the City of Winter Park, a beautiful | | | | we stopped off in St. Augustine, a historic town |
| suburb of Orlando, reminiscent of Old European towns. | | | | founded by the Spaniards in the 1500s, and the oldest |
| I also went on the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour, | | | | continuously inhabited town in the United States - a |
| which was an entertaining, informative and visually | | | | mighty photogenic place, I should add. |
| appealing excursion. | | | | So, you ask, is it possible to spend 2 weeks in Orlando |
| The adrenaline revved up significantly on our next | | | | without even setting foot inside a theme park and still |
| outing: a very high-speed airboat ride at Boggy Creek, | | | | have a good time? Well, based on the above itinerary |
| that was followed up by a much lower speed swamp | | | | I'd say that my plans to explore Orlando off the |
| buggy ride in a custom-built monster truck that took us | | | | beaten path came to full fruition. |
| through authentic Florida landscape. | | | | Mission accomplished. |
| After our golf outing at the Royal St. Cloud Golf Links | | | | |