OK — I’ve got a lot of catching up to do after my night off. Quite frankly, it’s all a blur. Yesterday seems like a year ago from all the driving I’ve done.  The dogs got one last run on the beach before I steered inland for the day. Tons of stuff in and around Orlando to take care of. The dogs also got to two dog parks. Paw Park in Sanford was smallish but well-fenced and lots of fun with a misting station, a giant fallen tree for the dogs to climb on, etc. The only other person there was a guy from Boston with his German Shepherd who was down visiting his son in Tampa. He’d found out about this park from a big book on offleash dog places. So, here we were, two out-of-towners, with this wonderful little place all to ourselves. The other dog park was really incredible: Fleet Peeples Park in Winter Park was huge with lots of trees, secure fencing all around, with one side completely open to an enormous lake. It was a welcome relief in the afternoon for everybody. Highs have been in the high 80s the past couple days.

But I have a LOT of photos to share with you so let’s get to it. I love these plastic clock signs but I don’t think I’ve ever seen or photo-ed any before. “Scottamus” has a few in his Flickr stream. This one is from Daytona Beach:

Lots of citrus groves and stores around the past couple days.  This one in Edgewater, FL:

This one is citrus-related:  a honey store, also in Edgewater.  I don’t know what happened to their great sign which I shot in 2005.

A detail of the small image above the door:

In Winter Park, I noticed these towering palm trees blocking billboard advertising space.  It’s nice to see that they are protecting the bases of the trees and letting, for once, nature triumph over man-made development.

Also in Winter Park, the towering remains of a sign.  Does anyone know the history of this thing (across the street from Skycraft)?  “…ists” = Tourists?

Another thing that’s been intriguing me — I’ve seen a lot of these super pylon-ed buildings in my travels in the past couple days.  They must’ve been part of a chain — but what?  Gas station?  Store?  Here’s one in Orlando:

And another in Orlando.  I imagine the roundie part was added later:

Just next door to this one, is this former station which I’m told was originally a Sinclair.  I guess the projection held a circular Sinclair logo like this?
 

More help from the locals needed.  This building is in Orlando — but just what was it originally? (on Orange Blossom Trail just below Colonial)

This sign in Orlando is a little scroungey but still neat.  That Ford Mustang was probably brand new when this sign was produced.

The security at Orlando’s “Gatorland” uses these cool gator-fied John Deere trucks.  Acutally, I believe John Deere calls this model the “Gator”.  But I don’t think you can buy them with this canopy — or can you?

This Orlando building was constructed in 2006 as the “Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies”.  It is enormous and has interesting shapes and patterns.  Try as I might, I could not get the whole thing in one frame.  Time to get a SLR camera with some mega wide angle I guess.

Towards the end of the day, I made a point to go see this creation.  The Monument of States is in Kissimmee:

A rarity for me, at home or on the road, I did a little socializing (hence the delay for this post).  I met JennRation Design (aka Jennifer) for dinner and had a great time. Over the years, I’ve emailed back and forth with a number of people who have similar interests. When I can squeeze it in, I try to meet one or two of these people on these trips. What a wonder the internet is!