(39) Orlando Florida, Moss Park

Orlando, Fla

I was a bit undecided as to which place would be my next destination. After much reflection, I decided to head out from St Mary’s on the Georgia/Fla border to Orlando (a 240 mile journey) with the hopes of being able to get a site for a couple of days at Moss Park.

To my surprise, I was not only able to get a site for a couple of days, but they had space for a full two weeks. Better yet, if I had listened to my good friend Ruth Hall, I would have realized that the county park system had recently changed their policy and now permit’s a person to make reservations over the phone. Fantastic.

Orlando is in Orange County http://www.orangecountyfl.net/ and they have 5 parks with campsites, so it is now a great option for anyone coming to the Orlando area. My two favorite Orange county parks are, the Mt Dora park on the north end of the county and Moss park on the south side of town. The city of Orlando has one park for camping and it’s called the Bill Fredrick/Turkey Lake Park which also accepts reservations over the phone. All charge $18.00 a night for non residence.

Moss park is my all time favorite park in this area at least. It’s surrounded by two lakes and has lots of hiking trails through an attached forest property. The campsites are in the back of the park and each site is new with elect and water. Dump station is available. The campsites are large and are all back-ins which are perfectly angled to make it an easy task.

I love seeing the oak trees with their Spanish moss hanging down, the pine and cypress trees with little glimpses of the water just beyond. Moss park has a great sandy beach for swimming. The lakes are full as they are both spring fed. A boat dock is available at the front of the park as well as at the campsite. Pretty cool if you have a boat or a kayak.

The park is filled with sand hill cranes. They come by the campsite once or twice a day. Squirrels scamper and play, running up trees and jumping from branch to branch. Deer graze along the roads and quickly leap out of the way as I drive towards the front of the park.

I’m in awe of the sparkling sunny days with temperatures in the mid 70’s and dry crisp air. It’s quiet out here in Moss park. It’s good to be back home where I lived for over 32 years. Everything is new here, not like all the small towns I’ve been traveling through this past year. Lots of new big box houses and apartment complexes that are like two story cigar boxes. Very plane Jane looking but all painted soft pastel colors or complimentary earthy colors. If a house does have any style I would call it Spanish contemporary.

Oh and lots of killings going on daily and of course because it’s election time, the local news has caught many politicians in naughty sex acts in public bathrooms etc. Even caught a major of a small town in the area accused of have sex with youngins the day before the election. Hmmm. Or the bride to be that almost doesn’t get her wedding dress in time for the wedding. Food scares are pretty popular around here too.

Lots of construction going on as well. The bad housing downturn hasn’t slowed construction down too much around here by the looks of it. Driving around town has been relatively easy as Orlando has the best timed street lights anywhere.