WINTER PARK STROLL

One of my FAVORITE spots in Orlando is Park Avenue in Winter Park. It's this idyllic little area near Downtown Orlando with brick roads, beautiful parks, gorgeous houses and tons of outdoor shopping and restaurants.

We live about 40 minutes away so it's not often that we visit, but when we do, it's always a great time!

This week, we decided that it would be fun to take a trip to Lake Eola Park and stroll around and then head over to Winter Park for a little window shopping and some lunch. So, that's just what we did.

Lake Eola//

We actually had set out that morning to rent the swan boats at Lake Eola, you can rent one for $15 for 30 minutes and it seats up to 5 people! They're these adorable little paddle boats that look like swans because Lake Eola is known for their many swans that occupy the grounds.

They're so beautiful and the first time we saw them, we were amazed! You rarely see swans just casually out and about in Ohio, so it was pretty cool to see them up close and personal here.

Unfortunately, being 22 weeks pregnant, I just can't tolerate the heat as well and the boats weren't available to rent until 11:00. It was only 10:00 when we arrived, so instead we decided to just take a stroll around the path and enjoy the scenery. We'll definitely be going back later this fall, when it cools down, to ride the boats. They just look like so much fun!

Lake Eola is incredibly charming and though I didn't get a great picture of the lake itself, the grounds are just beautiful.

There are several rest areas with benches and shade to relax and read a book, or have some lunch. We came once before with Cooper (our dog) and brought a blanket and laid in the sun for awhile. This is a dog friendly park, so be prepared to see some furry friends along the path!

The wildlife here is truly incredible. These cuties let us get so close to them we could have touched them and there was a bale of turtles (group) resting on a rock in the water. I had never seen so many turtles in one spot in all my life, it was hilarious to watch them all sunbathing together on this one rock! haha

We made our full loop and headed back to the car because this mama was getting HUNGRY!

Winter Park//

This was my favorite part of the day. There aren't many things that I love more than old brick roads, sunshine and shopping, so this was essentially heaven for me! We found a few adorable boutiques to browse, one of which had a doggie there who comes to work with the owner. She was so sweet.

We also found a bookstore! Bookstores around Orlando seem few and far between, I just discovered the first Barnes and Noble here the other day and we've lived here for almost two years now, so this was a big discovery!

We spent at least forty minutes in this bookstore, just meandering around at the books and trinkets they had. I bought a birthday card and a poetry book for a friend (which apparently I got for a steal because they didn't have a price on the rack haha) and we even saw an author come in to get a copy of his newly released book (of which I didn't catch the name).

I giggled at this post card book and told Jacob that I was glad we're having a boy because he'll appreciate this style of humor. haha

Lunch//

By the time we left the bookstore, I was ravenous! We had intended to eat lunch first, but we got distracted and then we couldn't decide what we wanted to eat so Jacob wound up texting his friend at work who had recommended a pizza place to him awhile back and we headed that way. It was about 15 minutes from where we were in Winter Park, a place called the Lazy Moon.

We weren't sure what to expect, but she told us tales of slices of pizza bigger than our heads, so it sounded right up our alley. It was a nice place, not busy that day because it was a random Wednesday afternoon, you could custom order your slice of pizza and they had a wide variety of sauces and toppings. The prices are really good, one slice of pizza starts at $4.95 and they add .80 per topping.

We took a seat and I edited some of these photos while waiting for the pizza to arrive, not knowing what to expect. Boy, am I glad that we just ordered one slice a piece, instead of an entire pizza!

When they said bigger than your head, they weren't joking!! We also got a side of cheese bread and it was sooo good.

I mean, you can never really go wrong with a slice of pizza and cheese bread, can you?

After we finished eating, we were both pretty tired and ready to go home and fall into a pizza coma. No joke, we both literally slept for an hour when we got home and woke up wondering what year it was. haha

I'd say it was a pretty dang good day and we can't wait to it all over again!