Lake Placid, FL

 

Wednesday, we drove 1 ½ hours to Lake Placid, FL. On our way, when we were stopped at a traffic light, we found ourselves in the midst of a lot of tractor trailers. It reminded me of the times we have traveled, I-81 in southwestern Virginia where there seems to be more of these trucks than any other place we travel.

 

 

This was our fourth visit to Lake Placid in the past 5 years. We discovered this delightful town by accident as we were making our first winter trip to Florida. Today, we planned to spend the day there with my cousin, Kurt, and his wife, Ruthie, who had traveled from their home in Virginia to spend a week in Kissimmee. If we had not extended our time here, we would not have been able to meet up with them.

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Placid has two nicknames—"Town of Murals" and "The Caladium Capital of the World." There are more than 40 murals painted on buildings throughout the town, and 98 percent of the world's caladium bulbs come from Lake Placid.

 

 

There are also several geocaches hidden around the town. We spent a few hours walking around while looking at the murals and finding caches.

 

 

Cordell and I enjoyed watching Kurt and Ruthie look for a cache that we had previously found. It was placed inside the swinging lid of this cleverly constructed trash receptacle. Kurt finally found it while Ruthie was diligently searching the other side.

 

 

 

I liked this smoker that resembles a pig.

 

 

There is a clown school in town and Lake Placid proudly claims the highest percentage per capita number of clowns of any community in the state.

 

 

We had lunch at a restaurant that buys its meat from local suppliers.

 

 

We spent some time in a museum and I was interested in a folding bench wringer. As a young school girl, I often helped my mother wash clothes while using a wringer washer, but I never saw a contraption like this one. The instructions were amusing as was the spelling,

 

 

 

We spent some time in one of the shops where I noticed this display for Mother’s Day.

 

 

 

We saw this amusing sign in the parking lot at the post office. We didn’t see any golf carts or a golf course though.

 

 

We enjoyed some tasty sugar free chocolate ice cream at Cow Pies Country Store and Creamery. These chairs were so large that two people could have fit in each of them. There was a tic-tac-toe game on the table that used rocks for the playing pieces.

 

 

 

Kurt and Ruthie reached a milestone today when they found their 100th geocache!

 

 

 

 

 

One of the most difficult caches we visited today was placed in one of the supports for a huge sign. Kurt was the first one to see it.

 

 

 

 

We stopped by a cache site on our way back to Fort Myers. A previous cacher had written in their log that they had rousted a rat. So, I made sure I had my hiking stick with me and I was ready to defend myself.