January 2, 2017 - Lake Wales, Avon Park & Sebring, FL
I was up early before the sunrise. It was foggy out in the forest. It was beautiful with the civil colors in the back of the forest. The sun was not shining brightly because of the fog. I was really glad that the pictures came out very good.
Erwin and I went over to Bon & Marilyn’s campsite, and Bon was already busy getting stuff packed away. Marilyn took care of her two grandsons, Chase and Mason.
After Bon & Marilyn left we took Route 27 N to go to Bartow & Lake Wales, FL. We wanted to check out recliners at Camping World in Bartow. However, we could not find the store on Route 60, so we continued on to Lake Wales downtown.
There are murals in downtown area. I parked the Jeep, walked to several areas to get pictures. The last time we visited Lake Wales there was an old, but beautiful 10-story Dixie Walesbilt Hotel on North 1st Street, but was fenced off and in bad shape. It is now being renovated. When it is all finished it is going to be beautiful.
Downtown -Not so lively, it was very quiet even at noon time
Dixie Walesbilt Hotel
I had read so much about the attraction in Lake Wales that is called Spook Hill, so we went to check it out. It is a gravity hill, an optical illusion where vehicles seem to roll backwards. You put the vehicle in neutral, then sit and be amazed by the laws of science!
After checking Roadside America app we went to see the ruins of St. Anne's Shrine, about 7 miles from Lake Wales. The shrine was built around 1920 by French-speaking Catholics to honor a local miracle in which a terminally ill cancer-ridden boy was healed. The shrine has a church and sets of statues. A statue of St. Anne is in the lake on a raised stone platform. Most of the shrine was badly damaged.
Ghostly looking Erwin!
We were starting to feel tired and were ready to head back "home". As usual, I would look up at the last minute to see what we could visit before leaving a town. I told Erwin to take a detour to check out Maxwell's Maxwell's House of Fruit. It is the last fruit packing house in that area, sells all kinds of oranges and grapefruits. It also sells ice cream. Out on the porch are orange rocking chairs, a conversation piece.
Inside the store
Orange flavored Creamsicle ice cream It was DELICIOUS! Too bad we ordered just one
It is for a squirrel to sit in a chair and eats corn
We were heading back to Sebring when we made few stops to check out, take pictures, etc. We wanted to see if Turner Furniture store has recliners we may like. There is one we like, but the fabric was not to our liking. The saleslady was not very helpful, so we did not hang around long.
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