We haven't really told you much about the town of DeFuniak Springs, where we've been staying the last couple of months. It's a small city of around 7,000 in the Florida panhandle located off Interstate 10 between Tallahassee and Pensacola and is the county seat for Walton County, Florida. It has one of only two naturally round spring fed lakes in the world located in the historic downtown DeFuniak Springs area; the other being located near Zurich, Switzerland. The town was developed in
the late 1800s as a railroad town and named after Fred R. DeFuniak, who held many high offices with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. A Christmas tradition in DeFuniak Springs is called Christmas Reflections, where more than 5.5 million lights make up displays surrounding Lake DeFuniak. The one-mile circumference area of Circle Drive and the approximate 400 feet to the shores of Lake DeFuniak is illuminated with lights draped in the towering pines and oaks. Also, animated lighted figures, characters, Victorian silhouettes, Nativity scenes and holiday characters are spread throughout the ground
s of the park and many of the surrounding homes are lit as well. The cost is $3 per person with the money going towards the following year's displays and various community projects. When we arrived in late October, we drove around the lake and saw inmates from the Walton County Correctional Institute dressed in black and white striped prison uniforms assembling the annual Christmas Reflections show. I didn't get any photos of that but did get these photos when we took the tour the night of Christmas Eve.
the late 1800s as a railroad town and named after Fred R. DeFuniak, who held many high offices with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. A Christmas tradition in DeFuniak Springs is called Christmas Reflections, where more than 5.5 million lights make up displays surrounding Lake DeFuniak. The one-mile circumference area of Circle Drive and the approximate 400 feet to the shores of Lake DeFuniak is illuminated with lights draped in the towering pines and oaks. Also, animated lighted figures, characters, Victorian silhouettes, Nativity scenes and holiday characters are spread throughout the ground
s of the park and many of the surrounding homes are lit as well. The cost is $3 per person with the money going towards the following year's displays and various community projects. When we arrived in late October, we drove around the lake and saw inmates from the Walton County Correctional Institute dressed in black and white striped prison uniforms assembling the annual Christmas Reflections show. I didn't get any photos of that but did get these photos when we took the tour the night of Christmas Eve.
The historic district has many quaint little shops and buildings, one of them being the Hotel DeFuniak, built in the 1920s and restored in 1997. From what we've read the entire hotel is full of 19th century European and American antiques, and every room has its own unique theme from the Safari to the Dutch Romantic to the French Country. It's a very popular bed and breakfast location.One of the great things about this lifestyle (as we may have mentioned before) is the flexibility to make last minute changes. As you know, we were scheduled to stay here until Jan. 3, but Christmas Day Russ asked me if I'd like to got to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Now if you remember, that is where our University of Missouri Tigers will be playing the University of Arkansas Razorbacks on New Year's Day. Well, didn't seem like a bad idea to me! We debated a little as to whether to spend the extra money since Dallas isn't exactly on the way to Baton Rouge, but then we thought 'hey, this is what fulltiming is all about...having the flexibilitiy to do these last minute, crazy things!' Mizzou had released some more tickets for sale so Russ got online yesterday morning and bought two. The Cotton Bowl grounds has onsite RV parking, which opens at 1pm on Sunday, Dec. 30. So tomorrow morning we are leaving DeFuniak Springs, will spend a couple nights at a campground in Monroe, LA, then head to Dallas on Sunday. We'll be boondocking at the RV parking site for 3 nights (meaning no water, sewer, or electric hookups), but between the generator and batteries, we should be ok. We've only boondocked for one night at a time before so this will be a new experience! But, hey, that's what this is all about! The game will be televised on Fox at 10:30am, Jan. 1, so maybe you'll catch us on TV. GO TIGERS!!!
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