Windy, downtown Arcadia, cows - Yr 1, Day 241

Arcadia, FL

Today felt like we were in a hurricane with very high, non-stop winds.  The rig was shaking like crazy.  It was very scary, but we made it through ok, thank God.

The cows on the other side of the road were out grazing this morning:

My workload was pretty light today, so we decided to check out the downtown area - all 3 blocks of it.  It's a historic district, but mostly the history is old Victorian homes on the outskirts, as well as a train depot from the early 1900s.  The streets themselves reminded me of the style of the Old West (there was even a restaurant resembling a western saloon).  There's a lot of construction going on, and a lot of stores for rent.

A view of a downtown street

 

Not sure what this building was - looks like 2 buildings with a floor and ceiling to attach them added later.  Saloon is thru the doors.

Mural inside the Italian restaurant

The main attraction about this town is the ANTIQUING.  Just about every single shop is an antique store!  There is even an old Opera House that was turned into an antique store.

(I love looking at antiques, but only from the perspective of being in a museum: I have no intention of buying anything as I have nowhere to put stuff.  Therefore I didn't go into any stores because it would be wrong to raise the store owner's hopes for a potential sale).

Other than the saloon which is attached to a fancy Italian restaurant, the only other place to eat in the downtown area is a small coffee shop.  I wanted to experience the small town flavor of eating in one, but Mitch's knees were bothering him, it was very windy and a bit chilly, and too early to eat lunch.  Oh well - there are many other small towns in the US that I'm sure we'll visit.  Besides, there usually aren't very many vegetarian or kosher choices anyway.

We left the area and found a roadside produce stand nearby.  Mitch stayed in the truck while I loaded up on much needed fruits & veggies (at really cheap prices).  This lovely creature was on the other side of the fence.  She was looking right at me, but turned her head away when I took her photo.