The Villages

We woke early for our 7:30 departure to The Villages. Mark and I took the dogs on a short but brisk walk to the public boat launch on Morris Creek.

The drive to The Villages took a little more than an hour. We dropped Cindy off at her hair appointment a little before 9 am, where we met with Jodie. We drove back to the town square area at Sumter Landing on Lady Lake. We learned that The Villages has at least three commercial centers with gated residential “villages” clustered around each. There were many stores, restaurants and pubs in the town square as well as a golf cart dealership, gazebos for nightly concerts, a radio station and many walking paths. We walked along Lake Sumter and saw a lot of birds and watched the rowing teams in the lake.

Steve at a cigar shop in The Villages

We left The Villages around 10:45 to meet Cindy, Jodie and Grant for lunch. We all got sandwiches at Chicken Salad Chick and enjoyed the lunch and visit.

On the way back to Homosassa, we stopped at the Rainbow Springs State Park where we walked a couple of miles by the springs and small waterfalls. The area was a developed tourist trap in the 1960s with large gardens. By talking with the rangers, we found three good places to launch kayaks. One spot is in the spring where rentals are launched. Another spot is behind the Winn Dixie, and the third is near Swampy’s Restaurant in Dunnellon where the Rainbow River connects to the Withlacoochee River.

Rainbow Springs State Park

We drove the 30 miles back to Homosassa, stopping at Dollar Tree to get canned fish to use as bait for the fish trap. Then we drove through the Twistee Treat for ice cream cones.

Mary, Cindy and I walked the dogs while Mark fired up the grill. We had charcoal grilled pork loin with rice and broccoli for dinner then watched a few episodes of The Dectorists on Acorn before retiring.