While I do love the time with my parents in their new, well a little remodeled and extensively cleaned, beach-esqe cottage in Mt Dora the time I spend outside of their house makes me realize both how much I have changed since leaving Lake county in 2002 for college and how much I now take for granted. Every time I come here I am shocked by the lack of customer service, the huge amounts of old people EVERYWHERE, and how spread out every thing is. I love Mt.Dora, don't get me wrong, but I can't stand the idea of having to drive everywhere.
I now live in a type of neighborhood that all my life I've only dreamed of living in. Well let me give a quick run down and explanation here so you can understand where I am coming from. This is a rough summary and dont hold these dates to any level of exactness
6months old-5- Mt. Plymouth--A house in the woods, on a dirt road a few wooded lots from the paved road and golf course. My earliest memories are of my parents and I walking through the woods to our neighbors house, past an abandoned playground overtaken by the woods. Also memories of walking along the golf course (modeled after the St. Andrews course in Scotland )in the evenings with my parents. There was also a peacock who seemed as interested in me as I was in him. He even brought his lady friend over to our house one day as I messed around in the backyard. From there we moved to a rental property.
5-6yrs old- Mt Dora-- This was the most urban place I ever lived. We rented this house while building our house in Yalaha. It was a small house on a cul-de-sac. We lived next to my elementary school principle. Each day we would walk through the cemetery across the street and would feed the goats in the retention pond area nearby. It was a few blocks from downtown but still have a very suburban feel to it. From here we moved to the middle of nowhere in a place called Yalaha (yes the same Yalaha now made famous by the Yalaha Bakery).
7yrs old-Yalaha--We lived in a huge house (3 finished bedrooms with 4 partly unfinished ones upstairs), with 30 foot ceilings in the living room on top of one of the biggest hills in all of Central Florida. From my splattered painted bedroom I could see the fireworks at Disney every night. While our house was amazing it was in the middle of nowhere and after a year my parents driving back and forth to Mt Dora each and every day we moved.
Part of 7 and 8-Tavares--From Yalaha my parents bought some land in the middle of nowhere near Umatilla, Florida (close to Lake Dalhouise for my readers familiar with Lake county). While our next house was being built we rented an apartment in a small single story complex in Tavares. This was my only experience ever living in an apartment till I moved off to college. There were many kids in the neighborhood. I practiced basketball, would bike ride around the circle of the apartment complex, I would go explore the woods behind the apartment complex, climb under the fence to explore to orange grove. I went to friends house when his parents weren't home and we watched Disney Channel. It was the most people I ever lived around and I loved it. Then we moved back to the middle of nowhere.
8-17years old-Umatilla/Eustis--On Halloween weekend of 1993 we moved into our brand new house in the middle of nowhere between Mt. Dora, Eustis, and Umatilla. We had just started going to church in Umatilla and I was now going to a new school in Mt. Dora. We were about 3 and half miles from Umatilla, about 8 miles from downtown Mt Dora but around us was nothing but a few mansions (on the lake) and cows.
We lived about a quarter mile from the original retirement compound/castle of Dr Edgar James Banks, the early 20th century archeologist that Indian Jones is said to be based upon. While it was cool living near semi-famous people and former mafia owned mansions the idea of having the only kids in the neighborhood be the calves that I witnessed the birth of. There were a few kids in the neighborhood across the street but for whatever reason I never really met them or hung out. After moving much closer to my school my school moved far far away. It was originally close to our house but after the first year it moved to the other side of Leesburg, a good 45mins from the house. My mother would wake me up early each morning and I would do the drive. I tried a closer to school for about half a year but it just wasn't for me so back to the 45min drive. I did have friends from our new church (the very Willow Creek style church that was first church in Lake county to have a contemporary service) but most of them lived up in Umatilla. So whenever I wanted to hang out with them I would get on my bike and ride along the country roads past the orange groves and lakes around the tight curves up to the Umatilla. The school I went to was only 4 days a week so I usually would ride my bike up on Fridays and wait on my friends to get out of middle school.
By high school the 45 min drive and lack of local friends, along with some other reasons, convinced my parents and I that it would be best if I went to the high school in Umatilla. So for all of high school I went to Umatilla High, this was some of the best and worst times of my life, not to worry though I think there were more good than bad, I think. While I was bit, no a full fledged, religious nut at this point I still somehow managed to keep lots of friends and was well known by almost everyone in the school. I still felt like the new kid though and didn't ever really fit in to the country lifestyle of the school.
As soon as I started driving I would take one of my best friends, Big D, and together we would head out to Orlando. I spent many nights (many more than I told my parents about at least) driving I-Drive. We would met the coolest people and do the craziest stuff that seemed like a world away from Umatilla. We would eat at the tacky McDonald's, make fun of tourist, and do some celeb spotting. I helped Tiger Woods Christmas shop for his kids, sat beside N*Sync and O-Town at dinner, chat with PGA players, and shopped at Armani Exchange.
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| XS was were I spent many nights, 3 floors-1st was a restaurant, 2nd was huge arcade, and the 3rd was an indoor/outdoor club. now this great business and its cool building are long gone :-( |
We would also explore The Villages, Daytona, and even a boring trip to Paltaka but somehow we would always end up back in downtown Orlando or on I-Dive. MY first true urban experiences weren't in a city CBD or in a time of trying to make it, they were along a road of fantasy and dreams. I fell in love with the city as I drove past countless putt putt golf courses and endless hotel towers.
As college come closer I wanted to stay near my family but wanted to escape the country life that had for whatever reason been all that I had really experienced my entire life. By this point I knew I was very different than these gun toting, animal killing, teeth missing, drama creating, rednecks that seemed to surround me. So I chose the school at the only other place I knew and loved. I chose a college on Hwy 192 in the heart of Kissimmee. At the age of 17 (yes I was 17 the first week of college) I started college on 192. I attempted to commute but after one semester I was so over the country lifestyle that I moved onto campus. I was now laying in bed at night just minutes from the bustle and international flair of the Orlando tourist scene and I loved it. I spent many nights eating at all the nice restaurants and I swear I have been in every gift shop in Orlando. I moved around some after leaving this college, Lakeland for another school, Tampa, and then to where I live now.
So I tell all of this to say now I live in an apartment building with shops on the front, a brick lined street out front with retail and restaurants, celebs are spotted walking past my apartment (well not big celebs but Carrot Top is at least kinda famous!).
While I do want an actual house it must be in a neighborhood like this one, never anything less urban than this. At night I take strolls past windows with Chihuly art on display, past windows of upscale restaurants and art studios. I now live in a community full of festivals, a block from a major bus line, a block from a weekly farmers market, two blocks from a Hagen Daaz (this could be dangerous) and even within walking distance of any fast food I could imagine!
Whenever I come home to my parents beach-esqe cottage home on a cul-de-sac on their half acre with their neighbors on each of their half acre lots. It is by far the most urban of any setting they have lived, except for the rental homes, but its suburban to its core. Strip malls, retail chains, and SUVs are all around. After a few days I miss my urban peace of mind. I love the idea that I can walk wherever I want. I now live in a place that my whole life I dreamed of. I rode my bike all the way to downtown Orlando before. Sometimes real late at night I get in my car, roll the windows down, and drive around the city. Its the most peaceful place I can find. I grew up in the country but somehow, for whatever reason I find the city much more peaceful. Albeit Winter Park is not the big city by any means but its the most urban I've experienced and its much more urban than what the average person ever gets to experience.
Sometimes I forget how much I love where my life has brought me but after a few days of riding around in an SUV going from strip mall to strip mall I miss my Winter Park lifestyle more than I ever missed the lifestyle I grew up around. Needless to say tomorrow I head back home.
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