Fort Cooper State Park

Breakfast was cold cereal and tea before we took the dogs on a long walk around the neighborhood. The temperature was already in the upper 70s by 8 am.

Sandhill Crane

We drove east to Fort Cooper State Park near Inverness where we hiked along the interpretive trail and read about the three Seminole Wars in the 1800s. The area is beautiful and has a lot of gallinules, egrets, herons and sandhill cranes. We spent a lot of time on the trails, especially along the shore of the lake.

Cooter Pond

On the way back to the house we stopped by Cooter Pond Park in Inverness. This small park surrounds a pond with Cooter turtles, fish and several alligators. We walked out on the boardwalk and through the park before driving west toward the Gulf Coast. We stopped at the Lowe’s store in Inverness so Cindy could get the materials and supplies to stain the Adirondack chairs on the dock.

We were hungry by then and decided to have dinner at The Freezer in Homosassa. Other than a few seasonal items, the menu at The Freezer is very simple: steamed shrimp. The Freezer serves shrimp fresh from the boats that harvest it in the Gulf of Mexico. The décor is like a seafood warehouse including the slit plastic coverings on the entrances. You order and pay for the pounds of shrimp at the window, and then an employee brings the shrimp out to you. We sat at a table on the water and watched pelicans and fish wait for diners to throw bits into the water. Mark had a bowl of chowder, and we shared a container of smoked salmon spread and a sleeve of saltines as we waited. Our 1 ½ pounds of shrimp was delivered to our table quickly and was worth the wait. The shrimp were well seasoned but not too spicy, and the amount of food was just right to give us our fill without leftovers.

We came back to the house, took the dogs on a shorter walk, then watched the finale movie for The Detectorists on Acorn before turning in for the night.