Visual Arts Center

   The Visual Arts Center offers classes for all ages in many different mediums. From February to early March they host a national juried art exhibition with 130 paintings and drawing displayed in three galleries. Other exhibitions fill the galleries throughout the rest of the year. This is a fairly short stop but well worth it if you’re in the area.

  Everything is accessible.

  RVs will fit in the lot if parked across the spaces. Center
26.9261, -82.06187
 

Brownville Park Campground

   With only 24 sites and a boat launch on the Peace River that is popular with canoeists, this park can be busy on the weekends. However during the week it’s almost empty and very quiet. Amenities include restrooms with showers ( kind of shabby), electric and water hookups and a dump station.

  None of the sites are specifically accessible but most can be used. The parking pads are hard packed, crushed shell. Most of the tables are on concrete pads, level with the ground. The tables have short overhangs. The toilets are accessible but the shower stalls are not.

Most of the sites are very long with plenty of room for slide outs. Campground
27.29818, -81.84408

Pioneer Park Days

The first Pioneer Park Day was in 1967. In the beginning it was a small gathering of antique gas engine enthusiasts who set their machines going for a few hundred visitors. It’s grown to include a large flea and antique market; a frontier camp with demonstrations; and a stage where bluegrass and country bands play all day for four days. There’s a small fee, $2.00 a day/$5.00 for all of the days, which includes admission to the Cracker Trail Museum.

  Most of the market and engine display area is hard packed, grassy ground so pushing is fairly easy but there are some soft sections. It’s also very big and the fumes wore us out so we didn’t make it through all of the aisles. The seating area for the stage is accessible and the bands are easily viewed from any section. The four bands that we saw were all excellent.

  The park has a small campground which fills early. The rest of the park is opened for dry camping so there’s room for everyone. Festival
27.50121, -81.80211
       
      

Polk County History Center

  This little museum covers the early history of Polk County with nicely done exhibits and artifacts. Displays about the Civil War, cattle ranches, orange groves and tourism fill the rooms on the first floor of the old 1908 courthouse. Two of the rooms have hands-on exhibits for kids.

  Everything is accessible. The entrance on North Central Ave. has a ramp. The sidewalks and curb cuts are in good condition.

  One hour free parking is located along E. Main Street. RVs will fit by using two spaces.  Museum
  27.89674, -81.8428
        
       

Mead Botanical Garden

   If you’re in the area this is a nice little park to visit but don’t make a special trip. The park has a large camellia garden, a couple of small flower gardens that are a little overgrown, a short section of paved bike trail, interconnecting dirt trails that wander through the woods, a beautiful performance stage which looks like it doesn’t gets a lot of use and a boardwalk in need of much repair work.

  Most of the park is not accessible due to soft ground and slopes.

  RVs can be parked lengthwise across the parking spaces. Watch for low hanging branches.  Garden
28.58411, -81.35809
      
      

Gatorland

  Hundreds of gators! If you want to see alligators while visiting Orlando this is the place. We were a little hesitant about Gatorland because we thought that the animals would be hugely exploited for our entertainment but most of it was okay. Watching the gator wrestling and the added attraction where members of the audience can sit on the back of an alligator (for a fee) was not enjoyable for us but the breeding marsh is great. Native birds have made the marsh a nesting ground and there’s a lot of activity. The marsh is home to 100 female and 30 male gators so even though very little alligator merchandise is sold by the park it appears that Gatorland is an active alligator farm, something that’s not mentioned anywhere. They also provide a home for nuisance alligators and animals that have been rescued and can not be released into the wild.

  The park is accessible but the railings are at eye level for wheelchair users making it difficult to see everything. The gator wrestling arena has railings that block the view to an extent. The Jumperoo Show, where the alligators jump out of the water to grab chicken meat, has a section with plexiglass for children and wheelchair users. The observation tower has a long ramp with flat landings that accesses the first level.

  We had the pleasure of spending the week with our daughter who came to Florida to help out after Tony’s surgery. She works at Seattle Childrens Hospital as a photographer and also takes photographs for her own enjoyment. She got some beautiful shots of the birds. For more click here.

   Parking for RVs is in the grassy area at the south end of the parking lot. An accessible sidewalk leads to the front entrance.  Park
28.35333, -81.40369

Silver Springs State Park

  Silver Springs, where glass bottom boat tours began in the late 1870s, is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Florida. The state has owned the land since the 1980s, leasing the springs to a private company. Dwindling attendance and increasing pollution in the water has made the attraction unprofitable and the state has taken over control of the springs. The park is being restored to a more natural state and some of the attractions, such as the small zoo, have been removed. The daily vehicle fee ($8.00) is good for admission to the glass bottom boat spring area and the adjacent park where the campground, picnic area, pioneer cracker village and the Silver River Museum and Environmental Education Center and trails are located. Boat rides have an additional fee.

  The boat rides are the main attraction at the spring area. The boats are not wheelchair accessible due to steps, very narrow aisles and no wheelchair parking area on the boat. The paved trails in the gardens are all accessible. The small history museum is accessible. The trails in the campground area have roots and deep sandy spots but may be accessible with an energetic helper. The pioneer cracker village and the Silver River Museum and Environmental Education Center are opened on weekends only so I didn’t get to check them for accessibility.

  We didn’t visit the campground. Reservations must be made far in advance. More information about the campground can be found on Dave’s and Marcia’s blog - GoingRV Way The parking lots at the springs and trails are large enough for any RV.  Park
29.21729, -82.05398

Juniper Springs Campground

   This recreation area is one of the many places that benefited from President Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps program which provided jobs for unemployed young men during the 1930s. The CCC men built the campground, trails, swimming pool around the springs and even a small water wheel to supply electrical power. The swimming pool is not accessible but the water wheel building, which houses a few interpretive signs, and the boardwalk trail are both accessible. The boardwalk is a little over one mile long, out and back. It follows Juniper Creek with views of the creek and ends at beautiful Fern Hammock Springs. A very steeply arched bridge (not accessible) crosses over the spring where it’s possible to look down into the crystal clear water and see the spring bubbling up through the sandy bottom.

  None of the sites in the campground are marked as accessible but most are useable. The ground is hard packed sand and the tables have long overhangs. The campground has flush toilets, showers, potable water and a dump station.

  Many of the campsites are pull through and fairly long but because of the angles and trees it may be a little difficult to maneuver a large RV into place.  Campground
29.18193, -81.7107

Alexander Springs Campground

   The two accessible sites in this campground are excellent with large, paved parking pads which extend under the tables and around the fire rings, grills and lantern posts. The tables have long overhangs, the fire rings have high sides, the grills are low enough to use from a seated position and the lantern posts have two hooks, one low and one high. A paved path leads to the accessible restroom/shower house. The dump station has a potable water faucet. There’s enough foliage between the sites for some degree of privacy. No electricity at the campsites.

  An accessible boardwalk starts at the swimming beach and travels through the forest about 1/3 a mile before a large tree blocks the way for wheelchair users. Shortly past the tree the boardwalk ends and the trail become sandy.

  Many of the sites are long enough for larger RVs. Campground
29.07955, -81.57889

All Better

                         

   A little sore and groggy from the anesthetic but other than that Tony’s feeling pretty good!