Vacation continued - Mt. Dora, Florida

Brandon's family lives near this town called Mt. Dora. We had a day to spend with them, and his wife Ulgonda was thinking of places we could go to spend some time. I was thrilled by this place, and so happy that she suggested it. It was a Sunday, and unfortunately  many of the places were closed. We still had a great time spending time together, and letting the kids walk around.

There were neat shops and places to eat. It's probably a good thing that the stores were closed, since there were so many cute things I kept seeing that I probably would have felt like I needed to bring home with me. Especially these turtles - they were about the size of an apple. There was a shadowbox full of them in different colors and patterns.

Below: There was another store that had neat French themed things. I thought this display was beautiful. I think I have a thing for glass domes.

 Below: I also have a thing for boxes of any sort....and postal stuff. I couldn't pass this small area between some shops that had a long stairway up to another store on the second level. 

 After an attempt to go to another place for lunch....we did end up going to a Mexican place that Brandon and Ulgona said was really good. I think honestly, this was my favorite meal of the trip. We had a big table that was set up in a square so we all could talk, including the kids, and not feel like anybody was not part of the meal. Everything about this lunch was amazing. Definitely one of my favorite memories of this trip.

I have no idea what it was called, but they both recommended this house specialty. It is some sort of fajita type thing that is cooked in a lava stone bowl. It had chicken, steak, peppers, onions, potatoes and cheese with a bit of sauce on it, served with tortillas. OMG it was amazing. The best Mexican food I have had in four years. This was something that I still crave and I know I will probably spend a very long time looking for something to replicate it. It was gooooood. Even the chips and salsa brought out in the beginning were good. Good chips, and spicy salsa....unlike Kentucky salsa. I like mine with a lot of HOT. This was a good sign....lunch was going to be good.

After lunch we walked around. We ended up at a frozen custard shop. We looked in windows of more stores. The weather was perfect.

We ended up back at their house, spent some time there looking at photos and the kids played in the pool. (And their lab Bella.) We left in the evening, and started the drive home. I forget where we stayed, but it was in Florida. We still wanted to meander back home and enjoy the road trip. It was nice not being in a hurry.