I could not wait to get out of the bug-ridden hotel so I got in to town early. Mt. Dora is a pretty town sitting in the middle of ugly central Florida. It is isolated and self contained enough so you could live there and not really know that just 3 miles away the world was much different. The Town is upscale and sits on a little hill overlooking Lake Dora. Lake Dora is really not much to write home about. It is surrounded by scrubby low lands not particularly attractive. The water is sort of a putrid green, Not something your going to swim in. They do some bird watching and stuff but I saw little evidence of major lake activity. As I said there are some nice looking inns here and restaurants. The town is well kept and pretty. They have a bunch antique shops I browsed through. Hardly a real antique in any of these stores. Lots of other stuff mixed in. I don’t really have anything against the town but frankly it just felt old to me. By that I mean old people old. Everyone seemed to be in their mid 70’s the town seemed to lack vibrancy. I am sure I would be happy here pushing my walker down the street in another 25 years, but for the moment I think I’ll take a pass. I left and headed northwest. Just below Gainesville is a small town called Micanopy. There was a sign on the highway claiming the largest antique center in the area so I stopped to check it out. There are a number of barns near the highway several exits apart that house a really good selection of antiques. These are dealer shops and there was hardly any repros or craft crap in them. Worth a stop if your into collecting something. I turned and went to downtown Micanopy. They have a very nice historic little downtown set under huge oak trees. It consists of a café, a gift shop and about 10 antique shops, all of which were pretty decent. This area obviously draws a lot of dealers from up North. The community itself is quite small. Houses sit under the shade of oaks on small, often dirt roads. It is kind of a nice stop but there is nothing here in the downtown area. People who live here go elsewhere for normal daily needs. I will mention that they do also have a strip bar. I believe “we bare it all” is their slogan. Now I am not going to say I stopped there, as that would upset people I love. My guess is you should bring lots of money, as your wallet will be emptied quickly by naked nubile woman. My last stop for the night was Tallahassee. I have a friend who lives there so I stopped for the night to see him. I have been to Tallahassee several times in the past. While I really don’t have that on my list of places to go I have to say it seems to be a pretty livable small city. My friend lives in a very nice little neighborhood, again with these big oaks. The town is also surprisingly hilly which adds a nice touch. I would say if you were looking at cities in Florida to Jacksonville, Orlando, Gainesville etc. Tallahassee is well worth a look. I would pick it over all others.
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