This summer, Gary and I have decided to embark on a somewhat patriotic journey through our beautiful country, aiming to highlight all the wonderous and positive aspects we encounter along the way. Our daily news feeds are chock full of negative, divisive, and annoying stories. Isn’t summer the time to escape from all of that, sit back and relax, and perhaps take in a little scenic vacation from the annoying stuff?
We have been on the road for 9 days now and have already had such special encounters with friendly folks and quirky, historical places.
Our first stop was a Harvest Host brewery in Sebring, Florida, the historic seat of Highlands County, known as “The City on the Circle” and made world famous for the Sebring International Raceway.
Most interesting to me, as an avid HGTV viewer, the third season of Home Town Takeover was filmed here! Hosts Ben and Erin Napier, as well as fellow HGTV designers Brian and Sarah Baeumler and Dave and Jenny Marrs, renovated several local eateries, the movie theater, a soda shop, and gave the remaining business façades facelifts all along the Town Circle. There were also art sculptures and flower gardens erected, which gave the entire historic downtown a fresh and charming vibe.
Our second night in Central Florida was at a Boondockers Welcome locale on Lake Onello where we were certainly welcomed by the hosts who also were travel bloggers. The family has lived on this property for about eight years now. Originally, they and their then 3 year old twins traveled the country for five years in an RV and created a popular blog called The Adventures of Jasper and Journey. Now, the family travels around the globe and continues to blog about their adventures. Our blog perhaps is not as well read, but I was happy to meet fellow adventure seekers.
Some of you may have heard about the Florida Man myths and legends of Central Florida. And I am here to tell you – it’s all true! I am certain that every state has its share of these mythical creatures, you know the type…they lumber about town and backwoods sporting several missing teeth, tank tops and jeans, chained belts, and driving an old truck… and the legends tell of crazy shenanigans that these folks get into. I don’t think Florida necessarily has more than other states, it’s more a belief that our state creatures just have more colorful and weird shenanigans that tend to wind up on the evening news.
Our third and final stop as we prepared to leave Florida for our big adventure West, as always, was in Jacksonville. For a change of pace, we opted to stay in a blueberry farm down the road from our son Cameron’s house. The Blu By U Farm was an interesting mix of a blueberry farm, petting zoo, country store, and Harvest Host site. The owner, Tom, was friendly and welcoming. Our four-night stay was perfect and our family picnic there with Cameron, Carter, and Maddy, and our granddaughter Avaya was awesome. She is 18 months old now and we love seeing her truly toddle around, being a little adventurer herself! We were able to watch her first swim lesson, play in a sandbox, get driven around the farm in a tiny blue electric car by a 6 year old visitor, and walk around waving hello to goats and chickens. We of course cherish the time we spend with our adult children, but our time spent with Avaya is a gift we cherish most.