Orange Box Cafe in Frostproof, Florida has RV parking

February 10, 2015July 2, 2022 / Roadtirementvintage / 7 Comments

L to R: Nicole, cook Robert, and Libby in front of the salad bar with the Antique store in background

During our travels this winter in Florida we have been blessed to know a couple of couples who we met last year in Ohio during festivals. We have been in contact with them at some of the flea markets we have attended. They told us about a small local cafe near our next event.

The Orange Box Cafe is a favorite of the local residents, and our friends have been here before. The cafe is not only a restaurant, but also a produce store and antique store as well. There is live music on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturday nights.

All six of us had supper there last night. The salad bar is small, but has fresh ingredients including marvelous home made cole slaw. The soup of the day was potato and it was delicious.

Sher and our friends ready to enjoy supper

Sher enjoyed the soup and salad bar and I had the same plus the evening special: meatloaf and mashed potatoes. The serving of meatloaf was huge and very tasty. The slice was about 2 inches thick and covered half of the plate, smothered in gravy. One of our party made a special request on the preparation of a Reuben sandwich. No problem with that, the cook will prepare about anything you want.

The service was excellent and we had fun talking with the waitresses. We enjoyed the meal and the company. In addition, this place has a large parking lot for truckers, and they also had six sites suitable for RV’s. So we stayed there overnight and were able to plug into the electric service at the picnic shelter for no charge. This is one of those interesting places you find when you are on the road.

Nice parking spot at the Orange Box Cafe. No charge but be courteous and patronize the cafe.

Enjoying a relaxing day at Tarpon Springs, Florida

February 5, 2015July 2, 2022 / Roadtirementvintage / Leave a comment

We decided to take a day and just do some fun tourist things. So off to Tarpon Springs we went this morning. Sher and I had been here before last year but had not really explored the Sponge Dock area very well.

I say just some touristy type things, however we did spot a sign for an estate sale and had to stop. What a great stop it was. The building was packed with some beautiful things ranging from high end antique furniture to some nice glass ware to some old saddles and about everything in between.

Statue honoring the Greek sponge divers. That is a real sponge boat tied to the dock.

Sponges for sale in the market

We had a great time just walking along Dodecanese Blvd. and visiting most of the many shops. We met some nice people and I even found a leather vest that fit. We decided to grab a bite to eat at the Parthenon, one of many Greek restaurants in the Sponge Docks area. I’ll have a full review up soon, but I can tell you it was good eating!

Right now we are back in the RV enjoying some rest time, and planning the rest of the evening. There are a couple of beaches and some parks that look interesting. We may have to stay around here overnight and continue sightseeing tomorrow.

Tile mosaic on the side of one of the market buildings

Plaque with the sponge diver mosaic

Sam’s Beach Bar in Hudson, Florida

January 23, 2015July 2, 2022 / Roadtirementvintage / 3 Comments

Nice sidewalk, sand, but not next to the water.

Today Sher and I headed over to Hudson, Florida in hopes of going to an auction nearby. The auction was not what we expected, and we were glad we got there early as we did not waste any time there. That is when we headed on to Hudson. We had yet to see the Gulf since we have been in Florida this winter. We found a great little “beach” in a city park. Note the quotes around beach. The sand was there, however it stopped at the sidewalk before the water!

The bar at Sam’s Beach Bar

Right next to the sidewalk was a cute establishment named Sam’s Beach Bar. What the heck, let’s see what was on the menu. Things looked good, so we were seated out on the patio. The sun was out, the temperatrue was in the mid 70’s, and there was a very nice breeze.

Open air patio in the background at Sam’s

I ordered the 1/2 pound burger, topped with fixin’s including a great slab of cheddar cheese. It came with a good serving of seasoned fries. Sher had a side of fries and a large bowl of freshly made cole slaw. Tasty, tasty, tasty! We really enjoyed the meal. It was also fun sitting on the patio. We kept wondering how the place kept all the seagulls from attacking everyone’s food. There were tons of those birds, but they would not fly over the open patio at all.

Burger with all the fixin’s and seasoned fries: it doesn’t get any better!

Delicious freshly made cole slaw

Sam’s Beach Bar is worth your visit if you get to Hudson, Florida. (Hudson is north of Clearwater on Highway 19.) The parking was a city owned lot, pay your $2 and you are good ‘from dawn until dusk’ as the sign says. The view over the water was calm and peaceful, as was our meal at Sam’s.

Brava’s Pizza & Pasta in Snohomish, WA

October 1, 2014July 2, 2022 / Roadtirementvintage / Leave a comment

Sher found some great deals on restaurant dot com the other day. One was for Brava’s Pizza and Pasta in Snohomish, Washington. This place is in downtown Snohomish, and apparently used to be in Seattle. When we got there we were in time to cash in on the lunch special: half price on any pizza! Brava’s also has pasta, salads, gyros and other menu items.

The gal who took our order was very nice and brought our pizza right to the table. It was excellent! I devoured my half, Sher had a couple of pieces left for take home. The restaurant also had a very good connection to free WiFi, and there were outlets on one wall since I needed to plug in my laptop.

We highly recommend this place, and we will definitely be returning. Check out the menu at Brava’s website.