florida vacation, days 7 and 8 -- local color

So after a lovely afternoon on the coast, our friends followed us back to our home-away-from-home in Davenport. 

You'd think, after such a huge lunch, that we'd never be hungry again.

You'd be wrong.

We headed over to International Drive -- about a 35 minute drive -- and Boston Lobster Feast. It's an all-you-can-eat buffet featuring clams, mussels, shrimp, crab legs, and yes, whole steamed lobsters.  A bit pricey for a buffet, but well worth it.

Next morning we  drove to Kissimee and had breakfast at Cracker Barrel. (If I'm going to eat at a chain restaurant while on vacation, I like to choose one that we don't have in New York.)  I enjoyed browsing through the country store while waiting for our table.  I found something I hadn't seen in years:

 

Had to buy two packs, of course. I don't usually find sour cherry hard candy...

 

But the breakfast? It was OK, but...well, next time I'll stick with IHOP.

 

And then we went to the Florida Blueberry Festival.  The Festival ran Thursday-Sunday, and we were there on Friday, so while it was fairly busy, it was not overwhelmingly so.  I tasted (and eventually bought) some incredibly good salted caramel fudge, and tried a lot of jams and barbecue sauces.

 

And then...I was admiring the hand made jewelry at one of the booths, when the owner noiced my Jewish star.   "I didn't expect to see a Jewish star here today," she said, "I didn't put ours out on display. Yours is lovely."  Then she called her partner over to see my star.  and she called me a landsman, which is Yiddish for a countryman. when you spend that much time talking to the artisans... I wound up buying two bracelets. 

 

 

We spent a couple of hours at the festival. 

 

Then we spent a few minutes in one of the local gift shops.You can get all sorts of souvenirs in these shops, and pay a lot less than if you bought them in the theme parks.  The exterior of these shops can be...interesting:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Our friends went back to Tampa after that, and we went back to Regal Palms.  We planned ot go for a swim, check out the other resort amenities, enjoy the afternoon... but we were both so tired ...naps are good, aren't they?