Places We Have Called Home In 2020
68
January 22, 2021
Temperature 80 Degrees
Playing Tourist
We awoke to another beautiful day this morning. Plenty of sunshine and nice warm temperatures. A quick cup of coffee and a muffin and I was ready to face the day.
It was time to get out and about. It didn’t really matter where we went, we just knew we had to go. Where did we end up?
A bit of history about the tower. . .
That’s the equivalent of 22 stories!
It also contains 149,000 pounds of reinforcing steel.
How about those dresses!
It opened to great fanfare.
Remember, at that time there was no Walt Disney World or Universal Studios. If you visited Orlando in those days and wanted to go to a Florida tourist attraction, you pretty much had to drive out to Clermont to see the tower.
Today, a smooth elevator ride is the way to the top. It is sort of weird in that the elevator only has two buttons – for the first floor – the lobby, and the second floor – the glass enclosed observation deck. No stopping anywhere inbetween.
The tower was built to showcase the hundreds of thousands of citrus trees that covered Central Florida in those days. Back then, one third of Florida’s total citrus groves could be viewed from the top of the tower.
Today, there are no citrus groves to be seen. They were destroyed by devastating freezes in the early 1980’s and later more were destroyed by a disease that continues to impact the citrus industry in Florida today. Now, the land surrounding the tower has been developed into residential subdivisions and shopping malls. Here is the view from the top today.
It was a wonderful way to spend a day out. But we weren’t done, however, we’ll save our second stop for tomorrow’s blog.
That was part of our day today on The Road of Retirement. We both needed a day like today. All in all, we had a delightful time walking hand in hand, enjoying the beauty of the world that God created. We’ve promised ourselves that we’re going to do this more often. Where we’ll go, we’re not sure just yet. But we’ll find places to visit rest assured.
Thanks for stopping by today. We always appreciate your company, your comments, and your suggestions. Keep safe, keep healthy, live to the fullest the days that God gives you.
These are the voyages of Elvira and her two intrepid travelers. Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.
See you on down the road!
"On The Road of Retirement" 
Glad you got out. It looks like the tower had a face lift in the past 2 years. It is sad what has happened to the orange groves. When we started going to that area we would drive by with windows open and inhale deeply. The orange blossoms smelled amazing. Enjoy yourself wherever you go.
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What an interesting and fun excursion! Its height reminded me of Hobe Mountain Observation Tower which we visited last year when we camped at Jonathon Dickinson State Park near Jupiter, Florida. The tower is the state’s highest natural area. It was very windy up there!
I am not sure how close you are to Orlando. I have a brother who lives in St. Cloud. He has told me about the free things that can be done at Disney World. He knows I like free. 🙂 For example, you can ride the Disney Skyway. There are 3 legs – Caribbean to Epcot, Caribbean Beach to Disney Studios, Caribbean Beach to some hotel (he couldn’t remember the name when he emailed me.) You can also ride the shuttle boats at the Boardwalk area. He also said Disney Springs is an outdoor shopping mall. And the lodge at Animal Kingdom looks out over their “Africa.”
He and his wife have done these “activities” for free. They may have had a snack or meal while “sight seeing.” He thinks someone could write a post about what activities could be done at Disney for free. I am not sure if this is your cup of tea – or what the current restrictions are (due to Covid.) It could be a good time to visit with less crowds if it is allowed.
I thought I’d throw in this info, just in case you are interested. Either way, I know you will find more fun and interesting places to visit. It’s very cold here today. The temperature with the wind chill is 19 degrees F. Enjoy Florida, and have a good day!
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Thanks so much for the information. We will definitely check all of this out. Our weather is a bit warmer, around 65 degrees but wet and nasty. Enjoy the day.
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