Brenda and I took a short trip out of town last week. We spent two nights in a quiet Florida town called Spring Hill.
Why Spring Hill?
My wife and I are not fans of amusement parks. Going to Orlando sounds like the opposite of a vacation. We tend to look for places that most people wouldn’t go. As an example, several years ago we went to the Schnebly Winery in Homestead and loved it! So, now we try to go to places within reasonable driving range that have a winery or two.
It may surprise you, but there are quite a few wineries in the state of Florida. We thought that this would be a good year to hit a few wineries on the Gulf Coast. After doing some research, Brenda and I decided to go to Spring Hill.
Traveling
We live in Palm Beach County, which is on the Atlantic Coast in South Florida. Spring Hill is on the Gulf Coast, north of Tampa. Florida highway systems are great… if you are going north and south. But, if you need to go east and west, you don’t have good choices.
If you look at the map above, you can see the problem. Look at the red and green roads. Those are the fast moving interstates.
So, choice number one is to go across Alligator Alley (the green road in the south). This is a section of I-75 that connects Fort Lauderdale and Naples. It’s well maintained and moves fast, but it also means that we have to go a significant distance south just to get to the road.
The next big interstate roadway is I-4 which connects Tampa on the West to Daytona on the East. It’s not really a true east-west road. It starts in the northeast, goes through Orlando and ends in the southwest. And, in order to get to I-4, we have to go significantly north.
All of the other east-west roads are small.
We decided to go north on 95 and then 50 west on the way to Spring Hill. Going home, we went south on 75 and east on 80.
Christmas
Ok, that was a long section. For those that are still with me, we found a little town in Florida called, Christmas. It is located on 50 just east of Orlando.
Christmas is named for the Fort which was built on Christmas in 1837. Florida has numerous towns that are named after forts that were used in the Seminole Wars. This particular fort was briefly used and then abandoned, but it became a focal point for settlers.
This gave us a unique stopping point. Christmas, Florida has a beautiful park with a reproduction of the original fort. They also have wonderfully restored homes that help you to see what life was like for early Florida settlers.
If you have kids, they also have a playground area and places to picnic. A delightful find! But, you have to get off of the main roads.
Lakeridge Winery
Our next stop was Lakeridge winery. What a gem! Unfortunately, the weather was dingy and overcast when we visited so we weren’t able to experience the beautiful series of rolling hills that surround this winery. You can feel the stress rolling off you as you pull into the parking lot.
We walked in and were greeted cheerily. “Would you like to take a tour and tasting?”… Are you kidding? Yes!
The tour began with a brief video detailing the history of the winery. We were then shown the vineyard from one of the balconies and given a view of the bottling process.
The tour ended with a tasting of several of their wines. All of this is free!
Hotel
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Spring HIll. We’re a fan of Holiday Inn Express hotels. They are reasonably priced and usually in good condition. And, I like the hot breakfast. Well, to be completely honest, I love the warm cinnamon rolls that they have for breakfast! A guilty pleasure.
The hotel didn’t disappoint. The room smelled bad, but every hotel smells bad to me.
A day in Spring Hill
We don’t keep a tight itinerary on our trips. We knew that there was a winery in town that we wanted to visit and we were interested in experiencing some of the natural springs.
What we didn’t consider was HOW we would experience the natural springs. We like to walk and hike, but we aren’t water enthusiasts. We don’t kayak/canoe. And, that is how you experience the springs. So,… we sat at the boat launch and took in the natural beauty. Brenda particularly liked watching the fish jump out of the water.
We found a few nice natural areas and the historic Yulee Sugar Mill ruins. Later that day we went to Copp brewery and winery and pretty much had the place to ourselves. Very relaxing.
We finished the day by exploring various shops in town and then a burger at Pine Island Park.
Up and home
Most of our time away is just an excuse to have focused time together. I joke with Brenda that I like getting her in the car because I have her all to myself. She jokes that I talk her ears off. From that standpoint it doesn’t really matter where we go as long as we are together.
I asked Brenda if she would go back to Spring Hill and she said, “no”. It was ok, but the drive over and back was just too long.