Bok Tower Gardens

My parents and I have never really explored outside of the Kissimmee/Orlando area before. We've always spent our week going to multiple theme parks, going to the pool, and shopping. Now that I'm older and we've done the parks a million times and as much as I still love the theme parks, we decided that this year we'd only go to one and then try to find something new and different to do. After doing some research on the Interwebz, I came across Bok Tower Gardens. It looked really nice and I love outdoor activities, so my parents and I agreed to try it out.

The park is located in Lake Wales, which is about an hour south of us. It was a nice drive there through the backroads of Florida. It seemed like we were going through the more poor parts of Florida, but there was one stretch of road that was lined with orange trees and the air smelled amazing. I would love to drive down that every day! It was very tempting to pull over and pick some, but we didn't. haha.

When we finally got to the park, there were more orange trees that led up to the visitor's center. I don't think I've ever seen so many oranges in my life. In the visitor's center, they have exhibits, a cafe with a patio, and a gift shop. The place has been around since 1929. I'm surprised we never heard of it before!

The gardens have lots of pretty flowers and trees, and even some cacti! There's even a garden specifically for endangered species plants and flowers. And of course, there's the Singing Tower, complete with carillon. The carillonneur actually plays the bells in the tower. They have concerts throughout the day and he plays different songs at different times. The tower is really cool looking, and beyond it there's an overlook with a nice view of distant orchards.

The top I'm wearing is one of the finds I got from the American Eagle outlet while down there. It kind of reminds me of Jasmine! Luckily, I had brought these burnt orange shorts down with me and they made for a nice match. And I even ended up kinda matching one of the flowers!

Top: American Eagle//Shorts: Forever 21//Shoes: Gap

It was so peaceful walking through all the paths. It's so quiet and serene and there are lots of interesting things to see. It was definitely a change from the crowded, fast-pace atmosphere of the theme parks. I would highly recommend checking it out if you're ever in central Florida!

Afterwards, we decided to test out a local legend called Spook Hill since it was in the same area. Apparently, if you park your car on the white line at the bottom of this hill and put your car in neutral, it will seem as though your car is rolling up the hill by itself. It didn't end up working for us, unfortunately. We just ended up rolling backwards and not defying gravity at all. haha. It was neat to try, though!