Who's in Florida

[Island Girl]

I am traveling to Hollywood, FL for a business trip. Are any of you near there?

[KBoater]

Sorry IG I'm still in NH. Hollywood is on the wrong side of FL from where I usually live.

Enjoy the sunshine. Nov. is the best month there.

[Lady Di]

Hi Island Girl. Drat..........I am NOT in Hollywood. Well, actually I am glad we aren't in Hollywood, but would love to meet you. We are actually in Mount Dora, which is about 25 miles NW of Orlando. It is known as "The New England of the South" and for good reason. It is in Lake County, with over 1,000 named lakes, and rolling hills. Lots of country left, although developing quickly.

If you can get up this way, let me know. PM me, or go through Don. Would love to get to know some Forum members, and this may be the only way to do it, as the Fests are always a day or week off for me. :)

Check out www.mountdora.com and see what a neat place it is.

Have a good trip. :)

[KBoater]

Island Girl I hope you are not in Hollywood right now. I'm sitting out the storm and recovery in NH

[GTO]

C'mon Lady Di, it sounds like a Winni wanna be. Nothing beats what we have. I bet they don't even have a forum

[Live Free or Die]

I agree 100%, there is only one Winnipesaukee, and the last time I swam, I mean checked, it was still in NH.... :laugh:

[Island Girl]

Island Girl I hope you are not in Hollywood right now. I'm sitting out the storm and recovery in NH
I am back in MA. I was in Hollywood two weeks ago, then Seattle, then San Francisco... I happily came back home on Sunday. I consider myself lucky that the conference I attended was then and not now.

I plan to make it to NH Saturday. I hope the lake does not rise too much. I think it is time for a nice dry spell!

Thanks for thinking about me
IG

[Lady Di]

C'mon Lady Di, it sounds like a Winni wanna be. Nothing beats what we have. I bet they don't even have a forum

I DID live there. It's nice to come here, and to get there in the Fall, but there's no way I "wanna be" living there.

It's great there, but I can't take the cold anymore. It was great when I was young, but these old toes are just too tender now. :D

[Floridian]

I'm also in FL in Lake Mary. Only get to spend a week each year at the wonderful lake. Been going there since I was 6 weeks old! Island Girl, glad to hear you missed Wilma. Lots of people still without power. Only 8 months til I'm back at the Lake!

[mma75]

We are in Tampa, along the west coast of FL. We just bought a house at the lake. We are coming up Thanksgiving, Christmas...whenever we can scrape enough money together to make the trip. Of all the places I have lived NE is the best.

If you grow up in NE, don't think anthying else measures up.

[Lady Di]

the Weirscam is showing a pretty day up there. Cold, but at least sunny.

I am happy to report that it is not storming, and it's a pretty day here, also.

Lake Mary is just a short way from here. How about all that growth in Sanford?

[JL Girl]

Hey, Floridian, mma75, and Lady Di. Have connections to all of you but even while there, my summer vacation was always spent at dear old Winni. Born and brought up in NH then Mass., went to Univ of Vermont, worked in Conn. (a New Englander through and through) but then was work transferred to Tampa, Florida (took trips to Mount Dora which if I remember, Lady Di, is characterized as the New England of Florida or something). Then, our company consolidated its offices into downtown Orlando and finally Lake Mary. Not too enthralled with lakes down there - you'd shine a light out into the water at night and pick up alligator eyes peering at you! My personal favorite was taking a trip in the daylight on a pontoon boat up the St. John's River in Fl., anchoring to cook hot dogs on the barbecue on the boat, and eating them, in full view of an alligator watching some 25 feet away! A little disconcerting! Came back every summer at first to the ocean (Wells, Maine) then from 1982 on, vacationed at Winni every year, till I moved here permanently in 2002. Needless to say, Fla. was interesting to live in for a few years but New England was always my one true love and it's great being back home where I belong! Isn't there a song in there somewhere?

[Lady Di]

Yes, Mount Dora is called "The New England of the South". The downtown is very qauint, full of little shops and restaurants, with hillls and lakes everywhere. Some are not so pretty, some are spring fed and very lovely. And all the property is selling for obscene amounts of $$$$!!!!

In the early 80's, there was a movie called "Honkey Tonk Freeway" filmed in Mount Dora. It starred William Devane, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Terri Garr, I think John Ritter, and the whole downtown was painted pink. The Lakeside Inn, where Calvin Cooledge used to winter, was the site of a water skiing elephant, believe it or not!! :)

A real silly movie, but that may be one of the town's claims to fame. That and lawn bowling.

Most charming at the Holidays, when all the shops are lit up, and the main park in downtown is covered with over 10,000 little bright lights. On Novemver 27th, there is a concert in that park, Donnelly Park, at which the mayor speaks and choirs sing, and then the trees are plugged in, and you would swear that you were in New England, save for it's not as cold, and there is no snow. But it's every bit as lovely as any small town there.

Then, onto the veranda at the Inn for a Keoke coffee, with the smell of wood smoke in the air. It's nice. Very nice. :cheers:

[Dog's Ear]

I visited Mt Dora a few years back. It really is a nice little town. If I remember correctly wasn't there some type of music that played when you crossed the street at the crosswalks?

[Lady Di]

only the little "cuckoo" noise to let you know when the light's green and safe to walk.

Which is what I should be doing, on such a nice sunny day, instead of being here. :D