Last Updated on May 16, 2020 by Marybeth
Stubbornly sticking to Florida’s coastline has been keeping us from discovering so many hidden gems. Living landlocked has been shown to constrict breathing* but vacationing within sight of water can happen almost everywhere in Florida.
Today as we woke up and checked the news on our phones, we, with heavy hearts, cancelled an upcoming weekend trip. Waiting to see what happens with the scary Coronavirus, like all of you. The unknown can strike us dumb and fearful. If we could only have the facts – and I know we will, eventually. But in the meantime we can make plans for the future, when this all goes away and we can once again jump in the car and go, without a worry.
Land O’ Lakes is not just butter. Did you know there is a town in Florida called Land O’ Lakes? Named so because of the 15 lakes within 18 square miles.
We didn’t visit Land O’ Lakes, nor did we stay in the town surrounded by the most lakes, Clermont. (Though my husband had just built a house there, up on Sugar Loaf mountain, when I first met him.) Nor did we vacation in the county with the most lakes – Lake County! Over 1,000 lakes in 202 square miles. Next in line for that superlative is Polk County with over 554 lakes.
As you drive through Polk County pay special attention to the road ahead of you because you’ll be wanting to look left and right, as in a tennis match, because most streets are bordered by picturesque lakes.
But enough about lakes – onto the more pressing topics of tiny home stays (and why we stayed in one) and historic villages. The villages themselves aren’t necessarily tiny, but for the sake of a good title I stuck that in since ‘tiny’ is trending right now.
Have you heard of a babymoon? Where couples go on one last trip together before the baby is born and their nights become nightmares and just a trip alone to The Dollar Store is golden. We scheduled this trip as a sibling babymoon; my three children getting together before my youngest daughter, Mae, makes her siblings an aunt and an uncle and me a grandmother for the first time! And I tagged along, because the whole thing was my idea.
My oldest daughter Maggie lives with her girlfriend, Ash, in a 16 ft. camper, parked at an RV resort with a view of a large lake in Winter Haven. You’re not here to tour their camper, but you will later on in this post (if you’d like.) I’ll put photos at the end – because they’ve done amazing things making this “tiny house” into a cozy, stylish home.
Luckily for us, not too far from their RV resort is a circle of tiny homes, almost like an old-timey wagon train settling in for the night, two of which are vacation rentals on AirBnb. So Mae, Max (my middle child, favorite son) and I rented a tiny home for our visit. Called Disney/Legoland Lakeside Tiny House! And as much as I rave about tiny homes, posting lots on my Instagram, I’d never stayed in one.
You know how almost everywhere we stay for our blog I say “THIS is all we need” as we plunk down our overnight bags and survey the small, carefully curated scene of each bungalow, mom-and-pop, or boutique hotel we choose? We are becoming true minimalists in our personal lives as well. How much stuff do we need, really?
Here is what I learned about staying in a tiny home: a great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. For one reason. Privacy.
As cute and as well-planned out as they all look, and as perfectly “THIS is all we need”, you can’t go into a room and shut the door and be alone. Except for the bathroom, and in this one (and many I’ve looked at) the door is a sliding barn door that doesn’t offer any sound privacy. Yikes.
Sure, when staying/living with your significant other in a small house certain sounds become like white noise and are therefore not embarrassing. Just another day living side by side, breakfast eggs sizzling, coffee percolating, the dogs barking for no reason, the slam of the dryer door as another load goes in. All the sounds of domestic life, some of which we are deeply grateful for and others we just stop hearing. In our babymoon tiny home there were two loft beds upstairs, on opposite ends of the house, and a tiny love seat downstairs that was supposed to fold out into a bed. But between the four of us we couldn’t make that happen and so unselfish, sacrificial me, saying “I can sleep anywhere!” folded myself up into a small package and slept (or rather, didn’t really sleep) there.
If you’re a mom and one of the highlights of your life is having most of your adult children so close by you can hear them breathing as they sleep, then you’ll know that sleepless, balled-up me was truly aloft with joy.
One more thing about the lack of auditory privacy and how it would impact our lives beyond breathing and bathroom noises. Since we mostly work from home, without a room to shut ourselves in, conference calls and video conferencing would happen along with the cacophony of the above-mentioned barking accompanied by “STOP YOUR BARKING DAMMIT!”
THE SURROUNDING VILLAGES
Winter Haven, Lake Alfred, and Auberndale all have charming, historic downtown districts and are all within 5 miles of each other. Lakeland, another must-visit lake town that has boomed with all kinds of restaurants and shops lately, is 12 miles from here and we’ll write about that town another day.
Legoland Florida, which took over the botanical Cypress Gardens, is another attraction here, just under 5 miles from Winter Haven. We anticipate visiting here in the future with our future granddaughter but did not take the time this trip. And since our visit was short and mostly all about the sibling babymoon, we only walked around Winter Haven and will have to come back to explore Lake Alfred, Auberndale, and the surrounding area.
WINTER HAVEN
Winter Haven was named so with a winter resort-style place in mind by one of its earliest settlers, Peter Ecyleshimer. By the turn of the century Winter Haven had grown to a population of 400 and had built a school, post office, canning factory and the headquarters of the Florida Citrus Growers Association.
Winter Haven is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Florida’s favorite grocery chain, Publix. In 1930 22-year old George Jenkins (just 22 years old!) opened the first Publix Super Market in downtown Winter Haven after learning all he could by working at Piggly Wiggly.
Along the Winter Haven Chain of Lakes you can go freshwater fishing, water skiing, paddleboarding, kayaking, pontoon boating, and flyboarding (I had to look that one up! Yes, you actually fly above the water by controlled water pressure, see how at Winter Haven Watersports.)
The northern Chain of Lakes is made up of 10 lakes with appealing names like Lake Echo, Lake Fannie, and Lake Smart. Interconnected by canals (the accessibility changes depending on the water levels) you can traverse between the lakes.
The southern chain has 18 lakes, 16 of which are interconnected. For a fisherman this means way more chances of catching a largemouth bass, sunshine bass, bluegill and crappie. As a peaceful retreat, away from tourists, Polk County is a lesser-known, safer haven. (Haven! I just realized I typed that without thinking of the town I’m talking about. My BRAIN THESE DAYS!) for exploring during this Coronapocolypse.**
The skies were heavily gray that day in Winter Haven but I was able to get some good snaps around town:
Along with what I photographed were places I wanted to, including Old Man Frank’s, if only for that name. Waterfront and dive bar-ish, it called to me as I pulled in to the parking lot, this is my kind of place. But my photo didn’t turn out. You’ll have to go explore yourself. Old Man Frank’s and beyond, when it feels safe to you. This day will come, I’m certain. Put lake-lined Polk County on your to-do travel list.
*Yes, I made that up.
**Not to make light of this frightening time, but humor does help.
Winter Haven is located in Central Florida, 49 miles east of Tampa and 46 miles south and slightly west of Orlando.
And having nothing to do with recommending where you should stay, dine and shop, here are some photos of my daughter Maggie and her girlfriend Ash’s “tiny” abode that is parked in an RV Resort not far from the circle of tiny homes. I feel compelled to share because what they’ve created feels even larger than most tiny homes. Also I’m a proud parent, and as publisher of this blog, I often remind myself that I can talk about whatever I want here! And so I am.
Ash planned and pulled off the loveliest vegan dinner, seemingly without effort, for us that night that honestly put me to shame. I try to be fine with Mae and Josh being vegan – and I am. But for some reason, cobbling together a meal for them makes my head spin. “Oh! They’ll love that Southwest dish I make… wait, it has cheese.” ” This salad dressing should be fine… oh jeez, it’s got milk.”
