Visiting Homosassa, FL

After leaving Montgomery, we decided to try another Harvest Host location for a night on our drive to our next location. I chose the Tallahassee Automobile Museum for our overnight stop since it was along the route and pretty much right off of I-10. It was definitely a good choice. They directed us to a large grassy area lined with trees in front of the museum to park for the night. It was easy to find a level spot which made it easy to park and put out our slides. The only drawback was that it was a very warm day and even though we were under trees, it was pretty hot. Definitely a drawback when we didn’t have enough power to run the air conditioner.

The grounds to the museum were gated and locked at 5 PM so we had to quickly run some errands and pick up dinner before we were locked out. During the evening we enjoyed walking the grounds and viewing the outside displays as well as watching a beautiful sunset over the fields behind the museum.

The sunset added such a pretty yellow/orange glow over the field.

I loved the patriotic car outside the museum

In the morning, we toured through the museum before we hit the road. It was very interesting to see all of the older cars as well as some iconic cars like the batmobile. All in all, another great place to stay. We definitely like having our Harvest Host membership. It will be even better when we have either a generator or solar so we can use more electricity. Our current set up just lets us run a fan, the refrigerator and my CPap.

The Blues Brothers were enjoying the museum.

After the night in Tallahassee, we headed to Homosassa where we are staying for a month. We stayed here over the Christmas holidays last year and really loved the area. It is a perfect place for spending time outdoors, especially for bike riding, hiking and boating. The RV resort we are staying at is along the Hall’s River and just a mile or two inland from the Gulf of Mexico. The surrounding area has many lakes, rivers and natural springs; such a beautiful area to explore.

I love these trees although we are happy we don’t need to drive the trailer down this road!

I especially like driving down the tree lined roads through the small towns in the area. This is the road to the downtown Homosassa. It is a cute little town along the water and home to The Freezer Tiki Bar. We had the best shrimp ever there last year so of course we headed there on our first day in town. The shrimp was as good as we remembered but we didn’t like that the staff and most of the patrons were not wearing masks. So we ordered our food to go and sat outside with a beer while we waited for it. Masks seem to be optional in this area so we haven’t tried out any other restaurants in the first two weeks here.

In the past two weeks, we have visited the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park 3 times. It is located only 2 miles from us and with our state park pass, we get in free. What a perfect place to walk in a beautiful surrounding, and watch the animals. It is a refuge for many animals who have been injured and can no longer live in the wild. It is also a natural habitat for many Florida birds and fish as well as home to manatees in the winter time due to the warm spring waters. We like watching the animals and water views as we walk. Here are just a few shots of the locals we meet along the way.

Down the road from wildlife park is a a very small state park: Yulee Sugar Mills Ruins State Park. While small, it is worth a stop to check out the old mill. David Levy Yulee was a prominent businessman in the area in the mid 1800’s who had a plantation and a sugarcane mill in Homosassa. All that remains are the remnants of the sugar mill and cane press. The mill operated from 1851 to 1864.

We headed over to Inverness to visit my Aunt and Uncle one day last week. It was great to see them again although visiting right now is difficult. We want to keep them safe so we visited outside and kept our distance. We would love to spend more time together but since we are out and about a bit, we don’t want to take the risk. While we were there, my Aunt gave us a local publication listing many things to do in Citrus County. It lists many other parks and trails in the area so I have checked out a few of them this past week.

One day while Tim was doing some errands in Inverness, I took a long walk on the Withlacoochee State Trail. This is a 46-mile paved rail-trail that runs right through Inverness. We parked at the Inverness Trail-head in town and I walked out the trail for 30 minutes, then turned back. In town, the trail initially goes past the lake, then passes some marshes and has a long shaded stretch. It is a wide, paved trail so even though it was busy with many bikers, it was very easy to walk it and not be in the way. I would definitely like to go back with my bike and ride further out the trail.

Much of the trail was shaded by these beautiful trees

The book listed a state park in Inverness, Fort Cooper State Park. The park is named for Major Mark Anthony Cooper, who built the fort in 1836. The fort was built for him and his men to protect the sick and wounded left behind during battles with the Seminoles. While waiting for relief troops, he and his men dealt with daily attacks while they held their position in the fort for 16 days before relief arrived. The fort is no longer there but there is a nice trail to the fort site with informational plaques telling the history of the Indian settlements and battles in the area. The 2.5 mile loop trail was a great place to walk, enjoy the scenery and learn some history at the same time. It is a very pretty park with a few other trails as well. I will have to return on another day to hike a different trail.

We are here for another 2 weeks and I have a list of a few more parks and trails to visit as well as to check out the local beach. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with continued nice weather and we will be able to do that next week. More to come in the next blog entry.

Blog

Exploring Tomorrows

Welcome!