Zellwood Corn Festival

Back in "the day" when life was bringin' me down, my first reaction was to ESCAPE! Usually I wanted to go to Paris, sometimes on a cruise, occasionally to Fiji, but that's not the point. Now, when I have a hard day (which with 3 kids under 4 is usually every day) I no longer want to escape, which is huge if you know me, but I do usually escape down memory lane. My memory of choice is Mike's and my trip to Florida last year...

One of my favorite things in life is corn... Mmmmm.... lots of salt & lots of butter! I especially like this 'delicacy' when I'm pregnant (which I'm not if you're wondering). So, I thought I would post some memories of our trip. I guess the connection between "corn" and my trip to Florida will come soon...

It was our Last Hurrah before Jackson was born and we decided to go to Orlando. I was pretty pregnant (enough that I will NOT be posting any pictures of me from this trip) and wanted to go somewhere warm where I could just relax and lay out and get in the pool, etc. We found a great deal at the Omni there, which included a lazy river & lots of fun things to do.

We didn't plan on going to Disneyworld or anything since I wouldn't be able to go on any rides or really even walk around so we figured we would just play it by ear.

Well, our absolute favorite thing we did we found in an ad for a random "things to do in Orlando" book in our hotel room. It was the "Zellwood Corn Festival". It looked like a fun old, down home, small town festival in a little town North of Orlando (Zellwood), so we decided to go for it. Well, when we got there we found out that Friday night (the night we were there) was the Christian concert portion of the festival, the next day was country. We were so excited! Salvador, Bebo Norman and Chris Rice were all there, plus some others. It was such fun! But, just as fun as the surprise of the fun bands was the AMAZING all-you-can-eat corn!!! It was SO GOOD! We still talk about it and our mouths water. For that pregnant girl, I was in Heaven! I think we both ate more corn in one setting than total in some summers.

We still have such fun memories of the entire trip but especially our spontaneous trip to the Corn Festival. We both decided when the kids get old enough, we will only take them to Orlando during the festival. (and bring chairs & warmer clothes)

OK, enough chattering on- time for pictures! (but, none of me, of course!)

They cook the corn in "Big Bertha" which cooks 1650 ears of corn every 9 minutes! Yikes! Then they soak the corn in butter, and have plenty of salt available for you to clog every artery in your body! Mmmmm....

The fire department in Zellwood / North Orlando did all the cooking, which is part of their tradition.

Oh, palm trees & pools... You can't get any better!