Driver's card · Anna · Oct 2 & 3
Both days run in the morning on purpose. The forecast says thunderstorms are likely after 2 PM Friday and Saturday, and Friday she has to be in College Park by 4 anyway.
10:30 AM · Pickup
Fifteen minutes to Winter Park · park once on Park Ave or in the city garage
The hint: "Remember the forty windows? This is where the rest of them are."
11:00 AM · The rest of the windows
445 N Park Ave, Winter Park · Tue–Sat 9:30 to 4 · $8 each
The world's biggest Tiffany collection, and it's a $16 morning. Two weeks after she stood under forty Tiffany windows at Flagler, this is the follow-up: the chapel Louis Comfort Tiffany built for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, rebuilt here glass by glass, plus the lamps, the windows, and what was saved from his Long Island house after it burned. Sit in the chapel a minute. It's built for quiet.
12:30 PM · Lunch
Park Ave and the side streets · her pick
Walk out the museum door and pick a place. Keep it easy; the good part comes after.
1:30 PM · The walk
1365 Alabama Dr, Winter Park · on Lake Maitland · free · 8 AM to dusk
Five acres of old cypress on the lake, a dock, and the Exedra, a curved stone bench from 1930 that the whole garden was built around. Quiet on a Friday afternoon. This is the walk she needs after sitting.
2:25 PM · Home by 2:45
8:45 AM · Pickup
About 1 hour 15 to Lake Wales · US-27 south
Coffee for the road. Tell her to wear walking shoes and that there's music at one o'clock.
10:15 AM · The gardens
1151 Tower Blvd, Lake Wales · open 8 to 6 · $25 each at the gate
A 205-foot Singing Tower with a 60-bell carillon, on the highest ground in peninsular Florida, in gardens laid out by the Olmsted firm in 1929. Walk the long way around first. The reflecting pool in front of the tower is the picture.
11:45 AM · Lunch on the grounds
Outside food is allowed · picnic benches on site · café open 9 to 5
Bring a picnic. It's cheaper, and eating under the trees with the bells going on the half hour is the whole point of the place. The café is the backup.
1:00 PM · The concert
Heard everywhere in the gardens · no ticket · short pieces on the hour and half hour
Find a bench with the tower in view a few minutes before one. Honest note: until mid-October the 1 and 3 o'clock concerts are historic recordings from the tower's own carillonneurs; the live season starts mid-month. The bells are real either way.
1:50 PM · Five minutes away
N Wales Dr, Lake Wales · a public road · free
Pull up to the painted white line, put the truck in neutral, take your foot off the brake. The truck rolls uphill. It's an illusion, and it's on the National Register. Let her drive it if she wants the Face.
2:15 PM · North, ahead of the rain
Forecast from the National Weather Service, Sept 29 · bells at 1 and 3 daily · pay at the gate, nothing to book