Daytona and Orlando revisited

Some of my fondest memories of growing up in Orlando are of our trips to Daytona Beach.  Family trips with the cousins, high school trips with friends, and of course Spring Break in college.  You could drive on the wide, sandy beach, and  I remember cars being parked 3 deep!   But times have changed.  The beach is much narrower, there is a charge to drive on the beach now, and the board walk is about one-fifth the size it was and it is now concrete, and the pier is not what it once was.

Still it was great to walk in the sand and test out the water.  I picked up a few shells just in case I get around to creating a journal  "art" quilt of this photo of toes in the water.  

 I was determined to find a sweatshirt to wear to Alaska.  So a hoodie from Daytona Beach it was!  One final stop as we headed out of town....the Krispy Kreme for donuts.  Almost as good as a quilt shop stop!

You have to search Orlando to find the best spots.  This is a view of Lake Ivanhoe and the park the city has re-developed.  I loved the way the curved palms frame the old oak.  My Dad would take us skiing on the lake on Sunday afternoons when we were growing up.   We also stopped by Lake Eola Park downtown, which is really beautiful.  

 And Friday night treat was a sub for dinner from Gabriel's.  They have been in business for 55 years, and the subs still taste and smell the same.  Original and unchanged....lunch there was worth the trip.The sub shop is next to my high school, which has changed a lot.  Overall, College Park has changed a lot too.  There are now huge condos on Edgewater Drive, and only a few of the art deco buildings remain.   

I loved growing up in Orlando and I am glad I have wonderful memories of it.  I will remember the best and just forget the rest.