A Little Picnic Lunch in Kissimmee
After our exhilarating airboat ride and swamp buggy tour at
Boggy Creek, we snaked our way north towards Orlando and decided
to have a picnic lunch in the Orlando suburb of Kissimmee. This
town is located at the doorstep of Walt Disney World complex and
offers a variety of tourist class accommodations near historic
downtown Kissimmee. The historic downtown districts feature
walking tours, antique shops, shopping, dining, or sightseeing.
According to the City of Kissimmee's web site"local historians
have offered many variations of the origin of the city's name.
Most agree that Kissimmee is a modern spelling of a tribal word.
The book Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe by Jerald
T. Milanich, links "Kissimmee" to a village of the Jororo, one
of Florida's lesser-known tribes. Historian John Hann researched
Spanish documents about missions estabilshed to convert the
Jororo and other groups to Christianity in the late 1600's.
Spanish records indicate that a mission was built near the
tribe's main village, also called Jororo. Another mission was
called Atissimi. Milanich writes, "Hann suggests that the name
Atissimi, sometimes given as Jizimi and Tisimi, may be the
source of the modern place name Kissimmee." A 1752 Spanish map
used the name "Cacema" which has evolved into today's spelling,
Kissimmee."
Kissimmee's main strip features a variety of local merchants and
restaurants. The town was festively decorated and even the
police department showed itself in a festive pre-Christmas mood:
Kissimmee is located at the north end of Lake Tohopekaliga and
one of its squares is appropriately named "Toho Square":
We noticed several murals throughout town, illustrating the
town's history. My husband tried to check if he could blend into
the mural without being noticed, I am not so sure that it
actually worked:
We decided to have a nice little picnic lunch and settled in on
a bench right in front of the "Big Toho Pier":
Here is another view of the Big Toho Pier, a serene place where
we enjoyed the warm December sun:
A gaggle of seabirds was congregating just on the other side of
the pier:
On a brief walk along Lakeshore Boulevard we discovered a war
memorial that commemorates the Second World War:
For more information about Kissimmee contact its Convention and
Visitors Bureau. Call 800.333.KISS (5477) or visit their website
for more information.