Mount Dora–I could live here!

 

Back at Santee, the Refuge Manager had told us to make sure we visited Mount Dora, so we kept it on our list of places to go while we’re here visiting The Villages.

I heard about a Vintage RV Show that was taking place at the Flea Market last weekend, so we made plans to head that way on Sunday.  Renninger’s Flea Market was south of town, and there was a Catholic Church just down the road, so that was our first destination.

We arrived at the Flea Market after mass, and it was very crowded!

We walked through the inside part, and that was pretty typical of all the Flea Markets in Florida – not much new to see there!  Then we headed outside, and this area of the flea market was pretty unique . . . oh, there was the typical “garage sale” booths,

but there was also a nursery,

and chickens,

and an Artist’s Village.

It was a pretty sparse village . . .

but way in the back of the flea market, we found this “place” . . . really interesting!

 

Surrounding the trunk of the giant Live Oak, underneath its sprawling branches, were this man’s creations.  Lots of unusual stuff, but the majority of his work was metal electrical conduit bent and curved into varying shapes – as sculptures, wind chimes, and just things to stick in the ground in the garden –really different!

 

 

 

 

We walked all through that flea market, and saw lots of interesting things, but we did not see a single Vintage RV!  So much for the Vintage RV Show!

From there, we drove towards the Mount Dora historic downtown.  We thought we walk through some shops and get an early dinner.  As we got close to the main business district, we saw lots of cars and people, and signs for “Event Parking” . . . there must be something going on!

We drove around a few residential streets, and finally found a spot to park on a side street several blocks up from the main street.  These were old neighborhoods, with tree-lined streets that reminded me more of Michigan than Florida.  Some of the houses were really cute!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is exactly the kind of little town that I can imagine myself living in – someday!

We reached the main street, and found out that the Spring Festival was going on – Bonus!  The streets were filled with artist booths,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and there was food, and music.

 

You could even take a run in this hamster wheel to build your own snowcone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked by a lovely hotel that overlooks Lake Dora,

 

and as I took this picture, a local artist stopped us and told us about a park at the south end of town where there’s a light house and a boardwalk along the edge of the lake.  He pointed out that you could often see alligators, and Blue Herons, and occasionally a wood stork.  We told him that we would definitely check it out.

 

 

 

 

We visited several shops,

and studied the menus of several restaurants before settling on the Goblin Market Restaurant for dinner.

 

We got lucky and a table opened up on the back patio just as we walked up to the host.

It was a cozy little corner!

We shared a salad and burger, and both were delicious!

After lunch, we walked back to get the Jeep – at that point, I think we officially climbed Mount Dora – all 98 feet of elevation change!

We found the park by the Light House (one of only three freshwater light houses in Florida), and snagged a parking spot by the marina.

Lake Dora is actually a pretty big lake, popular for boaters,

including pontoon tours and little rental boats,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and even seaplane tours!  We watched this one buzz around aver our heads, and even saw it take off from the water.  Pretty cool!

From the light house, we found the Palm Island Boardwalk,

and as promised, we spotted alligators in the lake,

a water moccasin sunning itself on some weeds,

and plenty of birds and ducks.

 

I guess this isn’t a swimming lake – too many gators!  This one looks like he’s just waiting for that heron to drop something!

We followed the boardwalk into the hammock,

and back out to the edge of the water,

where we flushed out a group of ducks from the weeds.

 

We circled back, following the trail through the hammock this time . . . thankfully we did not run into any gators or snakes on the trail!

 

 

That was the end of our adventure in Mount Dora, and we thoroughly enjoyed this cute little town – it’s definitely one I’ll keep on my list of potential future homes . . . although we’re not looking at real estate just yet!

Horses and Horsepower

So, on that LOOOOOONG drive I made Tom take to the Quilt Festival, we drove through Ocala, and the surrounding horse country.  We had no idea that there were so many horse farms in Ocala, but there were!  If not for the palm trees, I would have thought we were in Kentucky!

We had passed one farms where we saw huge tents set up, lots of cars, trucks and horse trailers.  We weren’t sure what it was, but there was definitely something big going on.

Leaving Trenton before 2pm, we had time to check it out on the way home.  We drove into the entrance, and asked a couple just getting out of their car what was going on.  They said it was a horse show, and of course spectators were welcome.

We parked the Jeep, and joined them as they walked over to the jumping corral.

As we watched the Jumpers compete, they educated us on the competition – scoring, objectives, and how this whole process works – and we each shared our respective histories, and what brought us to Ocala, FL on this beautiful Saturday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It turns out that they were from Ontario, and just in town for about a week.  Their 18-year old daughter spent her last two years of high school living at a horse farm in Ontario so that she could focus on competition, and was spending a gap year before college in Florida with the team from that farm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was quite a bit of commitment on all of their parts!  As her Dad stated, though, this was the Grand Finale.  She did not progress to the point of being a professional competitor, so at the end of the winter season in Florida, she would return to Ontario to prepare for college, and her horse was going up for sale.

It’s a beautiful horse, in case anyone is interested!

There was a break in the action, and the gates were all lowered for another class of Jumpers, and re-ordered.  The riders and their coaches were given a few minutes to walk the course and familiar themselves with it and strategize their rides.

Afterwards, the competitors readied themselves and their horses.

Then the competition began!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We watched a few of the competitors, and then before we left we decided to walk across to the Hunters competition and see how it differed from the Jumpers.

We only saw a few Hunters compete, but we could really see a difference.  One additional aspect that the Hunters are judged on, that the Jumpers are not, is appearance – both of the horse and the rider.  They both look much more formal in these competitions. 

The course itself also seemed to be much more complex – there were cases where the horse and rider were headed directly towards a gate, but would have to swerve around it because it comes later in the course.  They also frequently went into jumps in a curve, rather than just in a straight stretch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw several instances where the horse just stopped dead in its tracks, and did not jump.  If the rider was able to stay on, they got to make another attempt. but if they fell off they were done.

 

We were surprised to find that we had spent 2 hours watching the competitions – Tom thought it was much more interesting than the Quilt Festival!

It was fun – and educational for us – and we were glad we stopped!

We got home and reheated our leftover pizza from Friday night, before heading down to the Spanish Springs area of The Villages for the Cruise-In and music in the square.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were amazed at the number of people there, and in fact, had to drive around for a while looking for a parking spot.  We ended up in a lot several blocks from the main street.

There were a ton of cars there, too!  The roads surrounding the square were completely filled with cars, and each road branching off from the square was closed off for at least 1 block.

We walked all around, enjoying the sights of the shiny vehicles and the sounds of 50s and 60s music from the band. 

There were some very unique vehicles,

 

and a few Cobra’s like Grandpa’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There weren’t as many Mustangs as we usually see at a car show, but we did find a couple of nice ones for Nicolas,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and a couple of Bugs for Bryce!

 

The Cruise-In was advertised as going until 9pm, but most of the car guys were heading out when the sun went down – can’t drive them after dark, I guess!

We listened to the music for a little while longer,

and then finished off our day with some frozen yogurt!

YUM!

It was a long, busy day . . . but lots of fun . . . and the weekend wasn’t over yet!  More to come!