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| Page Views: 5,940 | HOME sweet HOME~Eustis/Mount Dora/Tavares Florida by Michael_D - last update: Aug 29, 2008 |
Near the Ocala Forest -ya like my backyard?;-) | SPRINGS in the Ocala Forest |
CENTRAL FLORIDA. I am almost directly in the middle of Florida. From my house its 40 miles to Daytona, 22 miles to Orlando, 45 miles to Disney World & 90 miles to Tampa.
THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE.
Mount Dora is a scant 2mi down the road. I had a house there for years. Add Eustis and the city of Tavares and you have what we call the "Golden Triangle". Its all one big town in many respects.
This is a picture of the OCALA NATIONAL FOREST, a place of hardwood trees, palms and over 10,000 lakes and freshwater springs. ,,,a scant 9 miles from my doorstep.
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EUSTIS LAKE WALK is a welcome addition to the Eustis lakefront Ferren Park. The walkway is about 1/2 mile long with other floating docks jut out into the lake that have slips for 30 boats.
On the south end of the park is a bandshell...a big swimming pool juts out into Lake Eustis and on the north end is a community center/playground with the 3 gazebo-ed lakewalk and restaraunts/shops inbetween. Its a great place to bike, walk or just see the sunset.
EUSTIS is perfect for cycling with many parallel roads and easy cycling grades. A little planning and you wouldnt even need a car here
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Behind this bandshell is a great pool to do laps in. I swim almost daily, but not always here;-) IT is possible to swim all year around. It juts out into the lake and seems like you are swimming IN the lake;-)
Lake Eustis is just to the left and to the right is the Lakewalk. The Eustis Art center, the State Street Theater, the Community Center and Clifford House Museum are all on this block.
The huge Waterman Hospital has a new locaction on RT441 and the space it used to occupy will soon become a park, shops and boutiques.
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Awhile ago I found a great forclosure deal on this house (built circa 1930) in Eustis.
Before I became an actor I was a contractor so I am doing it all the rennovations myself. LOVE doing it.
The stained glass in the passthrough window came out of a church being demolished in Orlando. A french door here, a chandelier there, antique chairs, crown moldings, border paper, some pewter and you have a little taste of Britain in a tropical setting~Caribe style~(and no mortgage EQUALS more travel mon!)
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I enclosed the front porch & was perfect for a computer room & library. Though I`m doing it in a style reminiscent of a British cottage, the walls of the rooms are no longer dark hunter green, but a light Caribe pastel like the previous picture . Call it British Caribe;-)
I designed and installed the computer work station with a great place to hang my degrees & pics of Cornell & Rutgers. On the far wall is a built in bookcase for my travel book(over 2,000)collection, and an armchair. Its a place to look out the window on the right at the palm trees, birds, lizards & just relax.
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I rennovated a wing of my house recently(as usual I did all the work myself;-) created a home gym and a nice entertainment nook. I LOVED doing it!
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Florida is tropical paradise with year round warm weather...all I have to do is step off my porch deck;-)This was my rear deck "in progress" of building it. Ive since made a Florida "summer kitchen" outside> stainless steel sink and cooking burners like the old southern plantations once had. Its kinda popular here and doesnt heat up the house in summer.
I picked plants that take NO maintainance and are hearty in Florida tropical weather. In my yard I have orange trees, Hong Kong orchids, sable palms, bouganvilla, wildflowers, puffball bushes, wandering Jew, camelias, Chinese plum, crepe myrtles and many oak trees for which I do ZERO yardwork other than cutting the grass;-) Its a Darwinian experiment. If it LIVES...it STAYS;-)
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To me has Florida only two seasons.
1-The hot/rainy season June/July/August when tropical rains come at 3pm daily to cool things off. Though I love the smell after the rain, this is the time of year I travel to avoid the heat;-)
2-The ideal season Oct-May which to me is almost 8 months of no rain and high 70F(21C) low 50F(10C) weather almost like clockwork. 7+ months of spring.
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| CHINESE PLUM & CREPE MYRTLE TREES in my BACK YARD |
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-Nieghbors wave hi and smile
-life is slow
-days are sunny
-sunsets are stunning
A pleasant place to be......
I LOVE my Florida;-)
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 Comments for Michael_D about World | | | | |
Gillybob Tue Nov 3, 2009 12:58 UTC
Oh dear, back at work. What a wonderful set of memories from Orlando though - sounds like you had a great time too!! Next time, maybe a few degrees cooler? Gillybob greetings | annk Sun Oct 18, 2009 16:28 UTC
Thanks for the B-day wishes Mike! Sounds like you had a fabulous VT meeting. This Californian is soon to be a Floridian ;-) We are moving to SW Fl hopefully in a few months. | SONG Fri Oct 16, 2009 17:57 UTC
Looks like you and I should be Florida ambassadors....we both love it and promote it. Nice meeting you in person at the Orlando meet. Kathy in Sunny Florida | richiecdisc Thu Oct 15, 2009 14:00 UTC
I didn't know about it, Michael. I'm still mostly a page builder as you can see. Most of my VT meetings have been one-on-one. Ironically, I was in Orlando yesterday but just for one night, meeting my brother and his wife for the day, down from NE. |
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