Film, Television, Food, Photography, Culture, Travel

I recently traveled to Florida. I have a few friends out there and was in desperate need of a vacation. For reference, I haven’t taken 5 consecutive days off since 2017. #TypicalAmericanWorkaholic.

So…Florida. One of my absolute must visit spots while in the sunshine state is Mt. Dora. If you’re ever in central Florida, make the time to visit this gem of a town. It has cutesy little shops filled with fun tchotchkes that you just cannot pass up. I purchased a sign for my bathroom that reads “Dont be gross…wash your hands.” Which still makes me chuckle. Another bonus is it’s a great place for a cocktail (side note: you can walk around with an open container). I still believe to this day that this is a plot against mimosa drinking, basic brunch loving gals like myself. They just want us to be “buzzy buyers”, but hey, it works! Visit the HandleBar on 4th Avenue, they make the most spectacularly beautiful craft cocktails…ever. I drank some rum concoction out of a blue ceramic hippo, and it was fab. It’s also the main photo of this blog post. Visit Mt. Dora, you won’t regret it.

Another must while visiting Central Florida is Sanford. Sanford is stacked with unique bars that are completely walkable. Spend the afternoon bouncing from bar to bar, drinking fun cocktails and eating scrumptious food. Here were some of my faves…

The Imperial – You walk in and its an….antique shop? No, no, it’s a…bar? Hah! Syke! It’s both. Want a spicy jalapeno margarita with some type of unidentifiable salt substance on the rim? Check. Want to purchase a vintage armoire that is gorgeous, but completely unnecessary and you have no idea where it’ll even go in your place? Check. You can do BOTH at the Imperial. With a mixture of that weird smell of an antique shop and craft cocktails, this place is the shit. You’re literally sitting on the merchandise, which I must admit is a bit worrisome at first. Because you’re like, “ok someone might want to buy this and I’m putting my jalapeno marg on top of this table.” But then you think, Fuck it, it’s vintage, it’s all in the wear and tear character, right?

Tuffy’s Bottle Shop/Lounge – Ok, so nothing crazy at this spot in terms of cocktails, they were delicious, but nothing super fancy. What’s awesome about this spot is it’s food. I’m not a huge fan of fried chicken sandwiches, I know, I know. They’re just so damn cumbersome and messy. With that said, I always ask the servers/bar tenders at any place that I have not been to before…”What do you recommend?”. I highly recommend doing this, they work in this joint ALL DAY, they’ll know what’s good/popular. So…I got the chicken sandwich and let me tell you…hoooooollly mooooollly was it delicious. No joke, I’ve been dreaming about that sandwich since I left. If you’re in Sanford, stop here for lunch!

Last but not least, Loggerhead Distillery. – We did a fun little tasting at this fine establishment. If I wasn’t super buzzed before I came in…I sure was when I left. We tasted a wide variety of liquors that either sent a quick shiver down your spine OR made you think you weren’t even drinking liquor, which is definitely the more dangerous of the two! I purchased two bottles, a Watermelon Moonshine and an Apple Pie Moonshine. I was so incredibly excited to bring these back to California with me, but I didn’t have enough room in my bag and ended up leaving them with my friends. I was thinking I would be able to ship them after leaving. Yea well, turns out you cannot ship alcohol. Which, I don’t understand, at all. So I’m considering this a “thanks for letting me crash gift” for my friends. I digress…stop in for a tasting, purchase some Apple Moonshine for the Holidays and don’t try to ship that shit yourself. 🙂

Those were some Florida highlights! Until we meet again…