A Peacock in Florida

Last week, we spent a three-day weekend in Winter Park, Florida which is a suburb of Orlando. Weird being in humid weather just as New York is entering the fall. We took a hour-long boat tour through the chain of lakes which is connected by a series of canal, running through the backyards of the residents. Everyone has a boat and these little boat-houses. At one point we had to back up so a resident's boat could get out of the canal. Egrets flew around. It was raining and we got a little wet, but not soaking. The guide told us a scene from the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon was shot in one of the houses on the lakes.

The peacock in the picture is from when we took a drive through a nice neighborhood in Orlando. This beautiful bird wandered out onto the road, evidently it was someone's pet. On Sunday, we drove to Smyrna Beach on the coast. A tacky little beach town with sandy little shops selling suntan lotion and shades. I got a bad burn on my shoulders, but got in the ocean water which was bath temperature but the waves were choppy. Cars were allowed to drive on the sand. After laying on the beach for a few hours, we had lunch in a diner. At the next table, some Smyrnans were talking about their taxes and who was running for city council. I would have liked to have stayed a bit longer to walk around--I love tacky little beach town where the people are relaxed and wear shorts and Tshirts all year round--but we had to get back and catch our plane. I always like to buy a postcard to every town we visit no matter how briefly, but we didn't have time. I did get a postcard for the boat ride. I would like to go back to Orlando and visit Universal and Disney again, I still haven't been to Sea World or Cypress Gardens.

We also visited a museum in Winter Park which had a lovely collection of Tiffany glass--lamps, windows, and a cathedral altar which was designed for the Chicago World's Fair. One strange thing about this town--very few bookstores, new or used. There was one used called the Bookworm which I would have liked to explore, but we didn't stop there. We didn't go to any of the theme or water parks since the weather wasn't particularly sunny.