Day 3 of our winter ride across Florida.
Journaling:
Brooksville to Winter Garden, 48 miles plus 21 miles shuttle

This was my favorite day of the tour, mostly because of the South Lake and West Orange Trails past the lakes and into Winter Garden. I think this was our third time biking there, and it's always delightful.

The morning was classic rural Florida, biking past farms and a little town, then through pine forest and a cyprus swamp on the Good Neighbor Trail and Withlacoochee Trail. After our picnic lunch we loaded up the van for a shuttle past the only major missing part of the route, a high speed highway through a state forest.

At the western end of the South Lake Trail we were back in the saddle for a beautiful afternoon past central Florida's lakes, with the Citrus Tower up on a ridge over Lake Minneola. We then transitioned to the West Orange Trail, dotted with railroad stations as trailheads, and an exciting bike/ped bridge over the Turnpike.

We stayed right in the heart of Winter Garden at the historic Edgewater Hotel; so historic you needed a human elevator operator. It was lovely to stroll down the beautiful main street, and warm enough to eat outdoors.

Also the recipe for a cocktail that I loved. The bartender told me how to make it:

Sweet and Salty
2 oz. Bourbon Old Forester
2 oz. Monin Lavender syrup
1 oz. fresh lon juice (about 2 lemons)
Rub glass rim in lime juice and dip in salt and sugar