Day Trip to Mount Dora

A couple of days ago I promised you more photos from our day trip to Mount Dora, Florida. If you are not familiar with the area, it's located not too far northwest of Orlando. My husband recently flew with someone who grew up there, and he had nothing but good things to say about his hometown. We decided that we should give Mount Dora a try for ourselves!

We drove the 'back roads' from the Tampa Bay area to Mount Dora, and upon arriving we met up with another one of my husband's coworkers. We had not seen him since they were both in new hire training in Las Vegas together months ago. After a little searching on the internet, we decided on visiting The Goblin Market for lunch.

We found the restaurant entrance located off of a quaint little cobblestone alley. The first thing we noticed inside the restaurant were all of their interesting Halloween* decorations. Even with a plethora of holiday decorations, the restaurant was very cozy and intimate. The dining rooms were inviting, almost like eating at some one's home, and separated among two floors. Upstairs I found a gorgeous bar area, similar to the downstairs area where we ate, with bookshelves lining the walls. If you know anything about me, you know that I love books. Eating my meal surrounded by shelves of books was like a food/book lovers heaven.

* (I asked our server if the restaurant was always decorated with skeletons and spiders.

With a name like Goblin Market one can never be too sure. They were indeed for the upcoming holiday.) 

Our server was more than helpful answering all of our my questions about the food on the menu. I finally settled on a burger and was a bit disappointed, but my husband and his coworker Jim both loved their meals of an ancho-rubbed chicken sandwich and blackened salmon salad. I typically end up wanting everyone else's meals. My husband usually orders the more tasty option, and I almost always steal bites of his meal. That's how I roll; somehow I almost always choose the less appealing menu option.

After eating lunch, we walked around town a bit and wished that we had taken part in the Segway tour of town. We watched as the tour members zipped past us on a couple of different occasions. However, after hearing my husband's coworker tell us about watching someone get thrown from a Segway, I'm not so sure I want to hop on one any more. My own two feet work pretty well, and they rarely throw me to the ground by accident.

We loved the walkable downtown of Mount Dora!

Do you have a favorite small downtown?