Ocala FL

Posted by Sparky on April 16, 2017

Painted horse

We have stayed in the vicinity of Ocala several times before, but have never explored the city. This time I planned an extra day, just to give us time to look around. My tentative plan was to visit Silver Springs State Park and, perhaps, take one of their famous glass-bottomed boat tours. We did, in fact, get to the park, but it was breezy (too breezy for a boat trip?) and Jett was not in a walking mood, so we didn’t go in. A pity because the park looks very interesting. Florida has some wonderful state parks.

Instead we explored downtown Ocala. It is a small downtown, so it didn’t take long to see the whole thing. A craft beer festival was underway and that was enticing, but the entrance price was not: $35. Instead we walked around the perimeter and listened to some nice live music (“Sweet Home, Ocala”). We liked the painted horses that were scattered around downtown. These were the product of a 2011 public works project, the theme being to celebrate Ocala’s claim to being the thoroughbred horse capital of the world.

We completed the day with a Chinese dinner at China Lee Buffet. The selection was huge and the dishes I sampled were good to very good. And inexpensive – the total bill, with tip, was $30. Jett loved it and, for once, did not have an upset stomach after dinner. Recommended.

On our way home we picked up a 100 oz insulated mug for Jett. She plans on using it to keep her crushed ice cold while traveling. And if she want soda she can now get a 100 oz refill for $1.59. And lots of bathroom breaks along the way…

Painted horse

Guitar door

We also dined out Friday night – at about twice the cost – at the Ivy House Restaurant, an Ocala institution that bills itself as providing “genteel Southern dining”. It gets very good reviews on TripAdvisor, Yelp and Google and, overall, we were pretty impressed, too. It has a very old-fashioned décor, old-fashioned plates, traditional southern drinks (raspberry tea and lemonade) and excellent service. But some things are not quite what they appear. The furnishings were replicas, the decorations were fake plastic and even the chipped “china” was plastic. We did love the breads and salads and the green beans were very flavorful – probably sautéed in bacon fat. But Jett’s chicken entrée was ordinary and I think I made a mistake in ordering the BBQ shrimp and grits. While I enjoyed the shrimp and grits that I had last year in Charleston, this one was very, very sweet with a BBQ sauce that completely overwhelmed the delicate shrimp and grits flavors. I would not order it again.