Exploring Downtown Orlando - A Beautiful Walk Around Lake Eola
by: Susanne Pacher
After our interesting visits to the Orange County Regional History Center and the Well's Built Museum of African-American Culture and History, we decided to continue our explorations of downtown Orlando and its surrounding historic neighbourhoods. After driving through beautiful residential areas, framed by majestic oak trees adorned by Spanish Moss, we decided to take a stroll around beautiful Lake Eola, which is just minutes from downtown's Heritage Square, home of the Orange County Regional History Center, and every second, third and fourth Saturday of the month is also home to a lively farmer's market. By this time, the sun was starting to set and Lake Eola and the surrounding highrises were bathed in the golden hues of sunset.
Lake Eola is one of Orlando's more than 300 lakes and is surrounded by established residential areas and highrises ringing the downtown core. The park extends over 43 acres (17.2 hectares) and provides generous sidewalks around the lake on a 0.9 mile (1.4 km) loop around the water, which is enthusiastically used by walkers and joggers. The lake itself can be explored on paddle boats, and other facilities include a playground, a small outdoor cafe, gondola rides, and the Walt Disney Amphiteatre for special events.
Lake Eola is intricately connected with Orlando's history. Even the origin of the name Orlando may be connected to Lake Eola: the first European settlements in the Orlando area grew around an old army post: Fort Gatlin. According to one story, a U.S. soldier by the name of Orlando Reeves, was killed by an American Indian's arrow while on sentinel duty in what is today Lake Eola Park and may have given name to this town. Originally, Orlando had been called Jernigan after a Georgia settler, Aaron Jernigan, who settled in the area in 1843. The origin of the town's name Orlando is not certain, however: another popular story claims that a certain Judge Speer named the settlement after the Shakespeare Character "Orlando" in the play "As you Like it."
Be that as it may, the town was named "Orlando" in 1857 and was centered around the cotton and cattle industry. Demand for beef was fuelled by Cuba while cotton plantations thrived until the Civil War, which stole away the area's workforce, compounded by a devastating hurricane in 1873. "Orange fever" hit Central Florida in the 1870s, aided by the completion of the South Florida Railroad in 1880.
The Great Freeze of 1894 to 1895 destroyed Florida's citrus industry and it took 15 years to recover. Florida's citrus industry peaked in the 1950s with more then 80,000 acres (32,000 hectares) of plantations.
Orlando's first airport opened in 1922. Orlando also plays a significant role in the defense and aerospace industry: during World War II bomber pilots were trained here. A missile factory was built by in 1956 by a forerunner of the Lockheed Martin company, which still serves as the backbone of the area's technology industry today.
Tourism became Central Florida's main draw. From an early entertainment park in 1895, to the creation of the Cypress Gardens Adventure Park in 1936, the opening of Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom in 1971 really laid the foundations to Central Florida's tourism boom. Other Disney attractions followed, including Walt Disney World Resort, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studies, and Animal Kingdom. Universal Studios Florida opened in 1990, followed by Islands of Adventure in 1999 and Universal City Walk, an entertainment complex.
Indeed tourism is Central Florida's main industry today, with more than 50 million visitors annually and yearly revenues of $28 bllion. Tourism combined with high-tech and the citrus industry are the three dominating economic sectors in Central Florida.
After our walk around historic Lake Eola we strolled back into downtown and grabbed a table on the street patio of "Tijuana Flats", a Mexican restaurant located right on Heritage Square, and just one of many diverse kinds of eating establishments in the downtown core.
While savouring some tasty and very filling Mexican food, we watched the early evening street life in Orlando's downtown. We reflected on how different the downtown area is in comparison to the newer and very spread out tourist-oriented hotel and resort areas, which often seem rather devoid of character. Here in the downtown area you really get a feel for the history and the community that started developing in the first half of the 19th century. The downtown and Lake Eola areas, all of which are on an easily walkable scale, have a much more authentic ambience to them which we thoroughly enjoyed.
For more information about Orlando contact the Orlando Convention and Visitor Bureau. The Orlando Regional History Center can be found at www.thehistorycenter.org.
About The Author
Susanne Pacher is the publisher of a website called Travel and Transitions (www.travelandtransitions.com). Travel and Transitions deals with unconventional travel and is chock full of advice, tips, real life travel experiences, interviews with travellers and travel experts, insights and reflections, cross-cultural issues, contests and many other features. You will also find stories about life and the transitions that we face as we go through our own personal life-long journeys. Submit your own travel stories in our first travel story contest (http://www.travelandtransitions.com/contests.htm) and have a chance to win an amazing adventure cruise on the Amazon River. "Life is a Journey Explore New Horizons". The story with photos is published at Stories and Photos (http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/orlando_regional_history_center.htm) Susanne Pacher sq@travelandtransitions.com
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Do You Really Need A Fishing Guide?
Do You Really Need A Fishing Guide?
by: Dan Farrell
"Do I really need a guide?" is one of the most frequently asked questions from anglers going on their first fishing trip to a remote lake. It's impossible to accurately answer that question with a "yes" or a "no", but we can give you the information you need to know to answer the question yourself.
Guides can frequently be worth having as long as you know just exactly what you're getting.
For example, hiring a guide is no guarantee that you're going to catch a ton of trophy fish. The guide will take you to the places known to have fish, but catching them is still up to you.
If you don't know what you're doing, the guide can only help you so much. But, that said, if that's the case, a guide may be well worth it to you.
Since you will be arriving at a lake you've never been on before, and you only have a few days to catch fish... a guide can really be a big help. Without a guide,...
Do You Really Need A Fishing Guide?
Lake tahoe > Do You Really Need A Fishing Guide?
Safe Driving on Ski Trips -? Part 2 -? If You Get in Trouble
Safe Driving on Ski Trips -? Part 2 -? If You Get in Trouble
by: Loren Varner
Whether you?re leaving the city heading to the Mammoth Mountain/Lake Tahoe High Sierra country for its beauty and relaxation, or planning that ski trip from Scottsdale to Snowbowl, here are some tips for a safe and pleasant journey, and how to deal with trouble, should it arise.
Slow down.
A highway speed of 65 miles per hour may be safe in dry weather, but an invitation for trouble on snow and ice.
Snow and ice make stopping distances much longer, so keep your seat belt buckled and leave more distance between your vehicle and the vehicle ahead.
Look farther ahead in traffic.
Actions by other drivers will alert you to problems and give you extra seconds to react.
Remember to avoid sudden stops and quick direction changes.
Do everything slowly and gently.
Anticipate turns and stops. Leave plenty of distance...
Lake tahoe > Safe Driving on Ski Trips -? Part 2 -? If You Get in Trouble
Mount Dora: Southern Charm in Central Florida
Mount Dora: Southern Charm in Central Florida
by: Susanne Pacher
In my quest to find unusual destinations to visit in the Orlando area, I stumbled over a little town by the name of Mount Dora just about 45 minutes north of Orlando. I had read that it was a very picturesque small town located on a lake, and one of its main attractions was a scenic railway.
Mount Dora City Hall
Mount Dora is only 27 miles or 43 km northwest of Orlando. It has an elevation of 184 feet above Lake Dora, which makes it Florida's only "mountain top town". Indeed the rolling hillsides and winding roads are a welcome unique feature in the generally flat topography of Florida.
Mount Dora's history dates back to the 1800s. In 1846 Lake Dora was named for Dora Ann Drawdy. She and her husband homesteaded two miles south of Mount Dora. In 1880 the town?s first name was Royellou, named after the three children of Postmaster R. C. Tremain - Roy, Ella, and Louis....
Mount Dora: Southern Charm in Central Florida
Lake tahoe > Mount Dora: Southern Charm in Central Florida
Family Canoeing Vacation
Family Canoeing Vacation
by: Peter Shannon
Canoeing is a wonderful vacation idea. It can be a real family-type adventure that is challenging yet not too difficult. Besides being a distinctly fun activity, it is also a form of travel. With a canoe you have the means to safely access wilderness areas that otherwise might not be possible for a family. In more touristy places you have the means to slip off across the river or lake for more private family fun.
If you have your own canoe, great. It is easily carried on your car to where you will be using it. Or you can rent a canoe for long excursions or for as little as a few hours. This is a very flexible way to travel and explore.
Canoeing as a family is a slow paced activity which provides the opportunity to really get close to nature. The kids are involved not just as spectators but as an active part of the effort. This can be an exceptionally rewarding and confidence building experience...
Family Canoeing Vacation
Lake tahoe > Family Canoeing Vacation
Why I Want A Swimming Pool
Why I Want A Swimming Pool
by: Ric Wiley
So you want a swimming pool. I know I do but that?s because my body is getting flabbier as I get older and I want a pool for 2 reasons. I hope by exercising in a swimming pool it will tone my muscles, help me loose some of my flab and make me fitter and the other reason is I don?t want to scare people when I use a shared pool. When I?m in a public swimming pool people think there?s a whale loose in it when it?s only me. Oh dear, I think I need to diet as well.
I spent last summer vacationing in Europe. I started in London ? it rained, travelled through France and stayed in an old converted remote farmhouse with its own pool and then travelled down through Spain to the Costa del Sol where I then spent 3 weeks in a villa high in the Andalusian mountains with stunning sea and mountain views and of course its own swimming pool. Both pools were unique and were self-builds. The swimming pool in Spain had been...
Why I Want A Swimming Pool
Lake tahoe > Why I Want A Swimming Pool
Easy Invention Ideas
Easy Invention Ideas
by: Steve Gillman
Easy invention ideas? Why easy? Sometimes it's just too intimidating to think about building a new type of car, television, or other complicated invention. So these are ideas for garage or basement tinkerers. Coming up with a prototype for most of these will cost no more than the money in your pocket. They are not patented yet, as far as I know.
Wild Game Carrier
Deer hunters regularly die of heart attacks while carrying their bucks out of the woods. The invention here would solve that problem. It would have an inflatable wheel, using coated nylon that won't puncture easily. Once you get your deer, blow up the wheel, and using the clamps on either side, you attach two poles or sticks that you cut on site. Attach the simple nylon sling between the sticks, and you have a wheel-barrow-like device that will carry a deer over even rough trails. Probably weighing no more than two pounds, it could be carried...
Easy Invention Ideas
Lake tahoe > Easy Invention Ideas
How To Write Poetry
How To Write Poetry
by: Steve Gillman
If you want to know how to write poetry, the first thing you have to do is write some. It doesn't matter how it turns out. Your own mistakes will become your teachers. Your own writing will motivate you to greater creativity. Now, once you start the process, how do you improve it? Here are three tips.
1. Use nouns and verbs more than adjectives. Which is stronger: "She was as beautiful as a flower..." or "Roses wilted in shame as she passed by..."? "He looked at the depressing clouds..." or "He watched as dark clouds moved in, covering his sky..."?
2. Don't tell the reader how to feel. Let the words elicit the emotions directly, without explaining. "The tragedy touched them all," is more touching to the reader as "Men and women, doctor and workman... thirteen people looked upon the scene... with tears in their eyes."
3. Use dramatic and emotional words. Not all words are equal in their ability...
How To Write Poetry
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