Mount Dora Florida

We had such a wonderful weekend! We showed up in Mount Dora around 5pm and the town seemed pretty busy. Vic had looked up an Inn online before we left home so we knew what to look for. We were lucky that they still had around four rooms left at the Lakeside Inn. Our room was in the Gables Building. We were on the Lakeside but did not have a lake view or anything. The Historic Inn was build 130 years ago and is the longest contentiously run Inn in the state of Florida.  The part we stayed in was built in the late 1920's early 1930's. We  paid $139 before taxes and fees and got a $10 coupon off breakfast or dinner and a $5 coupon for the GateHouse giftshop. We took advantage of the breakfast deal this morning but sadly didn't buy anything at the gift shop. The prices seemed a bit high to me and there was nothing screaming out at me to buy.

After arriving last night we took a stroll around the town and found that most of the shops were closing so we sat down and had our first dinner at The Lost Parrot. We made the mistake of saying we wanted to eat inside vs on the patio area. A large, very loud group sat right behind us. Vic's dinner (Pork Steak , baked potato and salad) showed up with mashed potatos but the waitress was quick to switch it out for a baked potato. Only one problem..everything was cold. The waitress was very kind and took it off of our bill since it sat uneaten. Thank goodness for the ice cold Blue Moon beer! :)

I had a unique dinner of jumbo shrimp, battered and coated with coconut flakes, deep fried and served with a pina colada dipping sauce, It was very delicious! I loved the hot shrimp dipped in icy cold pina colada . I would order this again in a heart beat! 

We then wandered around the quaint town and took some pictures. 

The road near our Inn was closed down for the night. We asked later why and found out that there was suppose to be a car show but only two cars showed up. We saw them when we got there but didn't put it all together I guess..who would, with only two cars? lol

We came across carriage rides and took a wonderful historic tour around Mount Dora with the coolest horse named Maximilian (Max for short) 

 The company is called A Hitch In Time. The cost was $20 per person and the tour lastesd about 45 min. to an hour. We learned a lot and got to sit back and relax on a beautiful night. The weather was pretty perfect..I think it was in the high 60's. 

After our adventure with Max we stopped at another charming little place called Merrills. There was a live band. They were still serving food for another 15 minutes when we got there so Vic tried again and got a ceasar chicken wrap and I ordered chips and salsa. The food was wonderful! The chips were freshly made and the salsa was chunky and very tasty..A ton of food for just $5! Vic's wrap was the best Chicken Ceasar Wrap she'd ever eaten. It was loaded with chicken. And another big plus..more Blue Moon Beer!  Even thou it was only 10:45 after a long day of walking and traveling it felt like 2 a.m. to me. Sadly for Vic I wasn't up to dancing it up and continuing on the night life. We walked back to our room, which was just across the way. As it turned out we were not in our room more than 15 minutes when the music stopped anyway and the place closed down for the night. 

 After a good  night sleep we woke up and walked across the road to have breakfast on the veranda. With our coupon the hotel gave us it came to less than $9 before the tip. Can't beat that! The food prices in Mt Dora were very reasonable to us.
We went and explored the shops during the day  light this time. There were many cute places with lots of local flair from local artists.

 After all that walking Vic was getting thirsty so we stopped in the Lost Parrott again for a some water/tea/beer/pie! We got there just in time to  hear the live music. Denny Buckler was playing and we were sitting right next to him. He was really good and it was just a perfect end to our afternoon in Mount Dora!

Before we headed out of town we stopped at Renninger's Flea Market..it was HUGE. The biggest flea market I've ever been to. Unfortunately I can not report that I was impressed. It felt dirty and cheap. I'm just not a big fan of that many people..or puppies/birds being sold at flea markets. Oh well..it was an adventure :) 

Until next time.....