Colorful Retro 1950s Signage and Vintage Cars at Old Town in Kissimmee, Florida

I've been meaning to share a peek at the rest of the area we explored the day I took a field trip down to Black Market Minerals in Kissimmee, Florida. Old Town coins itself as a mini amusement park, one of several in the touristy Kissimmee/Orlando area, which draws thousands of visitors to the Universal, Disney, and Sea World resorts and theme parks.

Opened in 1986, it's meant to evoke America's classic post-war 1950s era with lots of hand-painted signs, retro car shows, music, and a few themed rides and entertainment assortments. Mostly, it's a shopping mall with bells and whistles, but a fun one. Especially for lovers of all things retro!

If I was on my own it would have been tempting for my inner graphic design nerd to stop and photograph every single sign but I was with a group so I hummed right along past retro signs and vintage cars only stopping to snap a couple of shots here and there.

If I lived in the area I'd have to stop by this bar for a beer at night. Yep, just for the sign. Surely filled with the same regular boring patrons and not the 1950s retro dancing sort but who knows?!

There was also...

An anime shop! It bought me right back to youthful pilgrimages to Orlando with fellow nerdy friends to shop their anime/nerd shops which the city has in more abundance (and better quality) than we could ever dream of where we live in Jacksonville, Florida. They had exact replica gym badge enamel Pokemon pins and sets of realistic Dragon Balls that were really cute and day-brightening.

By the rides there were more cars.

I especially enjoyed the DeLorean, of course!

I'd visit for Black Market Minerals alone (so huge, so many low priced gemstones) but there are so many more shops and bits to explore here. I'll definitely make my way back on another Orlando adventure. It looks like I lost the footage but I meant to share video I captured of a guy's old fashioned piano-and-micro-phone-on-wheels show and other fun little kistchy antics. Stop by Old Town if you're a retro lover visiting the area! While writing this a vague memory of a near-dead similar Pirate-themed mini theme park in Orlando came back to me. My favorite thing is being in cabins in rustic nature but there's something to the kitsch, obvious artifice of these types of attractions that light me up, too.

Speaking of wooded cabins and wilderness! I'm taking off on a vacation with AJ to visit his family in rural Virginia. We're trying to make a stop in Washington D.C for the Smithsonian before heading back down south to stay at The Hostel in the Forest for a couple of nights. It'll be nice to have an extended no PC / No Work break to read, write, explore, and get some fresh ideas. I'll be back Wednesday next with new content (I'll likely have content before Wednesday, you know me, workaholic). You can see peeks of the journey on Instagram.

For daily updates, information, & Inspiration: Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram.