Out and About - Ocala/Leesburg, Florida

Our second contract brought us back to Florida, the state in which we earned our DPTs! This time it was with Fiber Staffing. Andrew worked in West Ocala and Alyssa worked in Leesburg, each with the same general outpatient PT company. We made our Home #5 in the Floridian countryside of Weirsdale.

When you think of Florida, you think of its coastline, flat, white sandy beaches. Weirsdale is central Florida country livin’, in a hilly landscape. This little town is the home of Lake Weir and the Orange Blossom Opry. It is just a short 2.25 hour drive to Jacksonville, 1.25 hour drive to Orlando (think Disney), 1.25 hour to Tampa Bay, 1 hour drive to Crystal River (manatees😄), 1 hour drive to Gainesville (GO GATORS), and a 15 minute drive to The Villages. 

This contract did fly by. We spent some weekends at Alyssa’s parents house in Jacksonville, some weekends at their beach house on the Gulf Coast, separate weekends hosting Alyssa’s parents, her brother, and our PT friend. Between all of that, we traveled to Disney Springs, Crystal River to kayak with some manatee friends, explored The Villages, Ocala, off-road riding through the Ocala National Forest, and some rest and recovery.

We’ll discuss everything we have been to and done based on the towns during this contract to create a Trailguide of our Central Florida travels. 

Weirsdale

This small rural town sits around a huge lake named Lake Weir. Even though this lake was huge, we did not find any public access to the lake. This may have been a good thing due to the legend of a huge alligator roaming the waters. Lake Weir did have access points for boats, as well as two lovely lake restaurants and bars, Eaton’s Beach Sandbar & Grill and Gators Joe’s Beach Bar & Grill, that we visited a few times to catch some sunsets, drinks, and food. These two restaurants had small beach access, but were always overly crowded. We lived in a Furnished Finder cracker style home just a short walk to the lake.

• Eaton’s Beach Sandbar and Grill

  • This place is a mixture of a fancy restaurant, family restaurant, and a local bar all in one. We ventured to this establishment 4-5 times for food, drinks, and sunsets. A great mixture of surf & turf and Louisiana cuisine.

• Gators Joe’s Beach Bar and Grill

  • This is another place on the water, and on the opposite of Lake Weir from Eaton’s. The outdoor seating is on a pier. Fried food, alcohol, and more of a rowdy crowd is located here. They have a public beach access, but it is tiny, and full of people on a nice weekend day.

• NYPD Pizza

  • Since we had a cozy place, we ordered pizza twice to enjoy at our home. One for a movie night, and another with Alyssa’s parents. We had this place for our movie night. Solid pizza, no complaints.

• Big Bob’s Italian Restaurant and Pizza

  • We liked this pizza a lot. We always wanted to try some of their Italian dishes, but we never got around to it. Again, solid pizza…hard to go wrong with pizza.

• County Line Smokehouse and Spirits

  • Definitely the local dive bar late at night, but during the day, a great place to get some BBQ and bar style food. The parking lot is always packed here, it’s crazy!

• Cafe Lucia

  • A decent size coffee shop with signature coffees, breakfast, and lunch. Plenty of indoor seating and outdoor sitting near the water.

• Dragon Flower Winery

  • A cute local winery close by to our house. Lots of wine to choose from and well-priced tastings!

Belleview

We actually tried to stay in Belleview since it was halfway between our clinics. We were making moves on a Furnished Finder house, but the owner mistakenly wrote “Bellview” instead of “Belleview”, which placed the home on the panhandle vs where we needed to be in Central Florida (a good lesson to always look into your rental units before booking!). We mainly just drove through this area a few times, but we did eat at a few places, and went to a huge flea market. It seems like Belleview has everything that you would need for a town.

• Todd and Shelly’s Farm Fresh Cafe & Pub

  • Fresh! Comfort foods! And a large amount for a cheap price! If this place was closer, we would have frequent this place for our lunches. It’s a place that you wonder how it passes code, but it is always packed, and full of great food.

• Flying Boat Tap Room

  • The name of the place describes it. Large variety of draft beers, charcuterie, woodfired pizza, handhelds, and tacos. 

Leesburg

This is where Alyssa worked. A decent sized town with shops and restaurants. We never got to try some of the doughnut places around here or the other small and local restaurants, but we heard good things about them. 

• Ski Beach Bar and Grill

  • The exact same place as Eaton’s Beach Bar in Weirsdale. We ventured to this place when Alyssa’s parents were in. Solid place, great views and a park to walk around, a few different items on the menu.

The Villages

This place is truly wild. A large area of 55+ retirement communities in the area from folks all over the States. The Villages have 3 unique town squares of Spanish Springs, Lake Sumter, and Brownwood Paddock Square. Another wild stat is this area has over 711 holes of golf, with more being built! Everyone drives in golf carts around here. And believe it or not, you do not need a driver’s license to drive these… so watch out, these drivers follow no rules haha! This is just a fascinating place, great for people watching, so many opportunities, places to eat, many shops and stores,  and things to do. We lived close to the Spanish Springs Town Center, where we did our grocery shopping. 

• Tequila Cantina

  • Average Tex-Mex. Best of luck trying to find a seat here between 4-6pm due to all the retirees and snowbirds if you are here in the winter months. We went to this place the first weekend when Alyssa’s brother stayed with us.

• Gator's Dockside

  • We love Gators in Gainesville and one by Alyssa’s house. This is located in the Spanish Springs Town Center. We went there one late night (8pm) and it was a ghost town. The wings were still great!

There are so many things to do. Most people live around The Villages and work in The Villages. Definitely a cool area to check out and a great place for older people who retire, but still want an outgoing social life with entertainment.

Best Wishes,

Andrew & Alyssa