Scenic Boat Tour - Winter Park, FL

Since I have started writing this blog I have assembled a list that is pretty large of things to do in Florida and one of them that went straight to the top of the list was the Scenic Boat tour in Winter Park.  The first thing about it that made it attractive was the price $12/adults, $5/kids and the second is because I didn't know much about the Winter Park area or the chain of lakes.  After going on their website http://www.scenicboattours.com/home.htm I found out that they are open 7 days a week from 10am - 4pm, with all tours going out on the hour. This weekend we were going to go to a festival but the radar didn't look like it was going to be on our side for that so I figured a 1 hour tour was right up our alley.  It was really easy to find and even though we got there at 11am it was already pretty busy.  You can not make reservations though, they live by the first come first serve philosophy, but luckily for us they had 3 boats doing tours.  I wasn't sure what to except but it was very educational and even the kids said that they liked it.  We toured three of the chain of lakes, Lake Osceola, Lake Virginia and Lake Maitland that are all connected through small channels.  The tour guide was very informative and made the time fly by.  I would definitely suggest this to anyone that would like a relaxing day.

A few things I learned -
1st.  There is a public beach and park that is on Lake Osceola name Dinky Park, Dinky Beach and a public boat access.  Small little beach area to go swimming at as the Lakes are spring fed.
2nd.  That Rollins college has one of the highest percentage of undergradutes move on to graduate school than the majority of the larger colleges.  There is ten students to every teacher.
3rd.  That Mister Rogers actually lived at one of the houses on Lake Osceola and the front porch was the one used in his show. (pic below)

4th.  That there is an island (pic below) that you can go and party on Friday and Saturday nights and the city comes on Sunday and cleans everything up for the following weekend.

5th.  The lone cypress tree (pic below) gets decorated by the residents every year for Christmas starting in November
6th.  The largest house on the Lakes is 24,000 square feet and was built by Horace Grant.  He lived there for a year before being traded off and sold the house and everything in it except his clothes to the new owners.

Mead Gardens - Winter Park, FL

After our outing at the Orlando Museum of Art, Duane wanted to do something outdoors to enjoy the beautiful weather we were having so we drove a little ways down the street to Mead Gardens.  This is a completely free place to go and wander.  They have a butterfly garden, streams, and trails nestled within the trees.  We took a leisurely stroll around the area and was blown away from not only it's beauty but who quite and serene it was.  There were many others stolling around the area and you could tell that many new of this hidden treasure, but you were able to still have the feeling that is was just your party that was enjoying it.  Off to one side there were picnic tables that were shaded so you could enjoy a nice lunch out without having to deal with the sun. 

I recommend this to anyone that has a few hours to kill and not sure what to do.  Take a leisurely stroll around and just enjoy the sights and sounds of nature.

1300 South Denning Drive

Winter Park, FL 32789