Clermont

This morning we thought it would be nice to laze in and around the pool.  However, on closer inspection, it appeared that our pool had not been cleaned for some time.  We expected to see small insects and bits of debris on the surface as this is completely normal.  There were also larger black 'things' in patches over the bottom of the pool.  We suspected that the pump wasn't working to filter it.  We weren't happy about Harrison going into the water so Bernard called the rental office.  They assured us that somebody would be round today to clean it out and get the pump working. 

Rather than hang around for the pool contractor, we had our lunch and headed off to explore Clermont which is approximately 30 miles north of Davenport.  We'd heard that this was a lovely place to visit as it was situated on a lake.  We followed the signs to the 'historic town' which took us through completely contrasting neighbourhoods to the modern Floridian ones that we were used to.  The area reminded me of Carmel and Monteray near San Francisco minus the wealth!  There were many 'shacks' but below is one of the larger properties:

As we neared the lake the quality of the housing visibly improved and we could see that there was a huge fete in progress. 

We had emerged from a deserted, time warped town into a bustling, almost carnival like atmosphere. It had a very uplifting vibe about it.  Special event parking had been allocated in the fields adjacent to the lake shore and it was crammed full with cars - obviously an extremely popular event!  As we followed the queue searching for a parking space, we were fortunate that somebody decided to reverse out of their space just in front of us.  We pulled in and got out to explore. The heat hit us! The temperature had risen to 97F but we didn't need a thermometer to tell us that!  

We walked along the pretty promenade to the entrance of the fete to find out more about it.  It was a celebration of African Americans - food, merchandise and entertainment. Had it not been so hot, we'd have definitely gone in there but it was all set out in a massive field devoid of any shade. We'd only been out of the car for around ten minutes and were already wilting badly!  We turned back towards the car looking out for an empty bench under the trees where we could sit and admire the scenery around the lake.  All of the picnic tables in the vicinity of the fete and beach area were occupied by groups celebrating birthdays.  Bunches of balloons, colourful tablecloths, bunting roping off their area and numerous cool boxes showed that it wasn't the first time that these families had been here!  A lovely location for a celebration, especially under the shade of the trees.  We found a seat in the shade by the nature reserve area and sat for a while watching the wildlife (feathered and human(!)) playing on the lake.  Harrison thought he'd like to have a go on a jet ski.  I told him that would be fine once he can swim well.  Hopefully that'll take him a few years and he'll have forgotten about the jet ski by then!

When we could stand the heat no longer, we returned to the car and turned the air conditioning onto maximum! We left Clermont wondering what all the fuss was about.  It was 'nice' but had it not been for the fete, we weren't sure why people raved about it.  Perhaps because everything else around here is far more modern, the Americans view this town as quaint? I suppose for us English we're used to towns that look like that.

After checking that we had the sat nav with us (that had been programmed with our villa address), we headed towards central Orlando just to see where we might end up.  Nothing really to write about except that we've decided that the area we're staying in is much nicer than any of the neighbourhoods that we drove through today.

By the time we were back in familiar territory, Harrison was considering his options for dinner.  We'd found somewhere to stop for an ice cream but he couldn't get the thought of Walmart's ginormous pizzas out of his mind.  We relented and let him choose one.  Last year he'd really enjoyed a steak and cheese which was no longer available 😟.  He selected a bacon one instead.  I have to say that it was a great choice!  We thought we'd eat that and head out again later.  The last Harry Potter film was on TV so we all decided to stay in and watch that instead.