I go back once or twice a year but only to see my parents. Back in the 60s there were some piney woods south of Lakeland where I'd go horseback riding, but most of the wild land I remember was either mined out or has been developed (or both since some of the mined land was reclaimed and developed). A good place to see the real Central Florida without development or introduced species is either the Kissimmee Cow Camp in the Lake Kissimmee State Park just east of Lake Wales - http://www.floridastateparks.org/lakekissimmee/default.cfm - or the Circle B Bar Reserve just south of Lakeland - http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/recreation/areas/circlebbarreserve.html.
Lucy Ho's closed - after Mrs. Ho retired no one else in the family was able to keep the business going. I can't place the "restaurant shaped like a hat" unless it was that one on South Monroe just past the railroad underpass? That's now gone, too, as are the Talquin Inn and Silver Slipper restaurants, which were infamous as places for lobbyists and legislators to make deals in their little private dining booths.
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