One of my favorite things to do on weekends is to experience my local environment like a tourist would. I think it definitely sheds new light on your every day surroundings.
Since my mom was in town for the Easter weekend and the weather was absolutely gorgeous, Mike and I thought it would be fun to take her to the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour.
Having studied at Rollins College, which is located on Lake Virginia (one of the lakes on the tour), I had seen (and waved to) the steady stream of pontoon tour boats many times before, but never ventured on one of them for the actual experience. Well, I should have, it was so cute!
The hour long tours of the Winter Park chain of lakes, which have been going strong for over 50 years, depart every hour on the hour from 10am-4pm every day of the year except Christmas.
We got there just in time for the 1pm tour and it was packed. They had 4 boats departing, and when we got back, the dock was full of even more people for the 2pm departure.
My favorite part of the tour was the view of Rollins. Since I am a proud alum (‘03), I couldn’t wait to hear their spiel on my old stomping grounds.
Our guide, Wendell was very complimentary and gave us a lake view tour of many of the main buildings. From top to bottom:
1. Library, Pool and Cornell Campus Center (Beans)
2. Harold and Ted Alfond Sports Center – aka the gym. I spent MANY, MANY hours in that building!
3. Sutton Place South – these are the apartments that were turned into dorms at the end of my sophomore year. I lived here my Junior and Senior years and spent many afternoons swimming and laying out on “the beach” near the Dinky Dock.
We even took some of our engagement pictures on the dock – check it out below:
The views of the houses on Lake Osceola, Lake Virginia and Lake Maitland are absolutely breathtaking. It’s hard to believe that actual people live there, the houses are gigantic and picture perfect. They look like movie sets – so pretty.
To get from lake to lake we meandered through man made canals and enjoyed the shade of the hundred year old pine trees and live oaks. I even saw a real banana tree – so cool.
The tour, which costs $12 per person (cash or check only) was relaxing, informative and engaging. I would definitely recommend this to locals and visitors alike; it’s a great way to take a bite out of a little central Florida history.
After we were finished with tour we decided to conclude our day in Winter Park with the best way we knew how…a trip to Jeremiah’s!
I had the Scoop Froggy Frog (mint chocolate chip) Gelati with Chocolate, my mom chose the P-Nutty and Chocolate Gelati and Mike devoured the Bahama Freeze and Vanilla Gelati.
It definitely hit the spot!
Happy stomach=happy husband.
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