alison and i are going to my home town(s) this weekend, so i decided to do some catching up online. here's some background: i was born in haines city, fl., (once considered the citris epicenter of the nation and the site of the first citris processing plant). except for a year when i was an infant, i live my entire life, up until about 19 in central florida in the towns of haines city (where i was born), davenport (1982-1989) and auburndale (1989-1994 /1995 / 1997).
according to the wiki entry, haines city was originally called clay cut. i grew up in what is called the lakeland-winter haven metro area. basically, its a bunch of small towns directly linked, and the residents often work, visit, go to church, shop, etc. - in neighboring towns.
davenport has seen a lot of development for rental and tourism use, north of the city, heading toward orlando. a lot of these have been used by british tourists who continue to perceive northern polk county as some sort of shangri-la.
apparently there have been a lot of improvements and expansions in haines city / davenport in the past decade. polk county in general has seen explosive growth, based on the proximity to the i-4 corridor and disney/orlando. the road that links auburndale to the interstate has been completely filled with development since i left the area. on lake eva, the lake that connects to city hall, the library and a few schools, is also where my dad used to lifeguard in the 60's. they are redeveloping the city park there, and i'm looking forward to seeing it.
although i only lived there for about 5 or 6 years, i consider auburndale to be my home town. this is where i spend 3 years of high school, 2 years of college, and a few months after college. here's a map centered at auburndale, with winter haven to the east, and haines city/davenport to the north east:
here's a basic run down of where i lived in florida growing up, and here is the street view link on google:
1974-1975: haines city, fl.
1975-1976: rogersville, al.
1976-1977: lakeland, fl.
1977-1982: haines city, fl.
1982-1989: davenport, fl.
1989-1994: auburndale, fl.
1994-1994: st. augustine, fl.
1995-1995: auburndale, fl.
1995-1997: jacksonville, fl.
1997-1997: auburndale, fl.
1997-1998: miami, fl.
1998-1998: altamonte springs, fl.