Best way to start this blog is to say farewell to a Florida legend, Chalet Suzanne. After more than 83 years, the creation by the eccentric matriarch, Bertha Hinshaw, is closing its doors. Originally opened in 1931, multiple generations of the Hinshaw family worked to keep the one of a kind experience.

We last stayed at Chalet Suzanne over New Year’s 2010.  Our sleep, eat and repeat regimin worked well given its remote location in the middle of Central Florida’s citrus country.

So like I said, if we weren’t sleeping, we were eating. Nate ordered the roast chicken 3 times in our two night stay… And if you took one bite of the restaurant’s soups, you too would bring some to the moon as the Apollo missions were equipped to do. This. Is. TRULY. FLORIDA.

Oh and we also imbibed. We had to, the Swedish Wine Bar was like getting lit at Willy Wonka’s! When you needed another, you rang a bell and a waiter would literally climb through a tiny door from the kitchen into the back of the bar to serve.

Being the freak for architecture that I am, we spent a ton of time ogling over the tile detail and incredibly wacky scale of the structures on the property. Only a person with a totally unique vision and amazing imagination could create these fantastical cottages. Definitely reminded me of one of my favorite visionaries, the Austrian artist Hundertwasser.

The Hinshaw family has decided to retire and sell the operation as of July 2014. We hope this is a brief “vacation” for this amazing place.  Until then, we thank Chalet Suzanne for being TRULY an inspiration.

ALL PHOTOS SHOT WITH PANASONIC DMC-LX5