What I Did on My Summer Vacation (part 3): Mount Dora

We stopped in Mount Dora to visit with some dear friends, and fell in love with the town. Mount Dora is a quaint and historic town which sits atop the highest point in Florida (184 feet above sea level). There are actually some hills here - small ones, but hills, nonetheless. 

We stayed at the Lakeside Inn, which was built in 1883 and is on the US National Register of Historic Places. The building is gorgeous, and made me feel as if I were going back in time.

There's also a steam engine which still runs...

...with an old-fashioned red caboose.

Mount Dora sits on a huge lake - Lake Dora, as luck would have it. Lake Dora is part of the Ocklawaha River basin, which eventually empties into the St Johns River.

In the late 1800's, a canal was dug from Lake Dora to Lake Eustis, which became a haven for wildlife.

We took a guided cruise down the Dora Canal, and were excited to see alligators, three types of herons, and other wildlife.

An anhinga drying its wings after swimming with only its head and neck out of the water. Weird, huh?

The boat was moving and so were they, so I was not able to get clear photos of most of them, but we really enjoyed the ride.

... my favorite bird...

White ibises strolling through someone's front yard.

We went for a walk on Palm Island, a beautiful park...

... with what I believe is a real lighthouse.

Palm Island is a beautiful place to walk and enjoy the scenery and wildlife.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation (part 1) - St. Augustine, Florida

I don't want to be one of those annoying people who sit you down and show you hours of boring slides from their vacation. I can remember this being a regular occurrence when I was a child, back before there were digital cameras and computers. Luckily, in this day and age you can look at all, some, or none of them, and I'll never know the difference! Admittedly, I do have trouble leaving things out - editing is not my strong suit.

Drawbridge, St. Augustine

We started our trip in St. Augustine, Florida. The oldest continuously occupied city in the U.S., it was founded by the Spanish in 1565.

St. Augustine is known for its Spanish-colonial architecture and other historical buildings. This is the oldest house in St. Augustine.

Castillo de San Marcos was built from 1671-1675, and is the oldest masonry fort in the country.

Flagler College is just one of many examples of gorgeous architecture in St. Augustine. One of it's buildings is a hotel built in 1888.

We spent some time walking around the beautiful historic neighborhoods...

 

 Of course, we also went to St. Augustine Beach...

... and the beach at Anastasia State Park.

A live starfish.

Great Blue Heron

Where I've Been

If you haven't seen me around blogland lately, it's because I was on vacation in Sarasota, Florida! In keeping with the solemn tradition of vacationers throughout time, I now feel obliged to bore you with my vacation photos.  Lucky for you, since this is a blog, you are free to ignore them if you wish! If you do choose to peruse them, I hope you enjoy!

The water at Siesta Key really did appear to be this strange but lovely shade of green...

... which made the sky seem almost purplish by comparison. When you got in it, though, it was so clear you could easily see to the bottom.

There were lots of unfamiliar seabirds...

... but most wouldn't let me get close enough to photograph them.

You could see their little footprints all over the beautiful white sand beach...

My self-portrait on the beach...




Stay tuned for more vacation photos in the next post - I actually went to some places that are not the beach, such as Selby Botanical Gardens and the Dali Museum!

I hope everyone is having a great summer!

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I'm back from my trip, and I did have fun in spite of the record-breaking heat in DC.  I thought I'd share a bit about it, while trying not to bore you with too many "tourist photos".  The best thing about my vacation, of course, was getting to spend time with my son, Colin, and his girlfriend, Lindsey.

Here we are at the Potomac River in Old Alexandria.

Old Alexandria is touristy, but very cute, with lots of cool shops and restaurants.  If you're into old buildings that are beautifully restored (which I am), this is a great place to see them.

The Vietnam War Memorial.  I wanted to get the reflection of the wreath in the foreground, with the Washington Monument in the back.  With a little help from Photoshop, it's not too bad.

Part of the World War II Memorial, which was huge and beautiful.

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History was so cool, I couldn't resist including a couple of photos from inside.

The obligatory bones of extinct animals: this one's a giant sloth.  It was REALLY giant, so if it was coming after you, you'd be REALLY glad that sloths are so slow.

A beautiful old totem pole guards the stairwell.

The Smithsonian Museum of American Art and Portraiture had an exhibit of presidents' portraits...

as well as the winners of the National Portrait Contest.  Here, two girls talk to a sculpture of an old naked guy called, "The sad thing is that I'm so darn happy."  (Well, maybe they weren't actually talking to him, but it looks pretty funny.)

One of my favorite things was the Eastern Market.  There were vendors selling everything from produce to antiques to handmade jewelry.

 We ate two whole pints of these blueberries before we got back on the Metro- yum!

But my favorite booth at the market was the one that sold - incredibly- VINTAGE MAPS!  Can you believe it?  An entire booth that sold vintage maps, prints, stereoscope pictures and lantern slides!  Needless to say, I was a bit excited.  I was determined, however, to show some self-restraint.  I did buy some very nice prints from a 1904 Encyclopedia Britannica, including this:

 Obviously, rock hound that I am, I could not pass this one up!

This one, along with the minerals, will no doubt find places in frames and on my wall.  I don't think I'd dream of cutting them up.

I like the bright colors and designs on this one.

I think this might be my favorite.  It's from an 1889 encyclopedia.

When I got home, I was shocked to realize that I had only bought 3 maps.  What?!!  What was I thinking?  This self-restraint thing has gone entirely too far!  Now I'll have to go back... just to get more maps, of course!

If you haven't entered yet, it's not too late to get in the drawing for my give away.  Just leave a comment on the post previous to this one; entries are open until 4:00 pm Sunday, August 1.