Hanging Out with Joanne and T

We woke early to see the beginning of the lunar eclipse starting at 5 am and continued to full eclipse at 6 am. The eclipse was very visible to us over Mike and Pam’s house across Standish Drive. We sat on the front porch drinking tea as the moon darkened from top to bottom. As the eclipse continued the moon took on a pale red color. We were glad that we had awakened for the event. Sadly, the sky was too overcast in Georgetown and Cincinnati for our grandsons to get a view of the eclipse.

After a breakfast of oatmeal with craisins and pecans we took the dogs on a longer walk around the neighborhood. Mary and I returned the house and left at 9 am to pick up Joanne and T at the Comfort Suites in Dunnellen.

We met them in the hotel lobby a little before 10 am and loaded a few of their things into our car to take a trip around the “Nature Coast” area of Florida. We wanted to give them an overview of things in the area that might interest them in future visits. They live less than 2 hours from Homosassa so a day trip for them would be likely. Mary had planned a general itinerary and sequence of stops for us to visit today.

Tour boat at Rainbow Springs

Our first stop was to the springs at the head of Rainbow River at Rainbow Springs State Park. We paid the $5 park admission fee and parked in a shady spot. We walked down to the springs that form the Rainbow River and saw people swimming in the designated area. The water there and throughout Rainbow River is as clear as glass. We walked along some trails with azaleas of all colors. There are waterfalls along the trails that were developed in the 1940s and 50s. We chatted with two volunteers who were very helpful in directing us to the right trail to walk for our day.

When we left the springs, we drove past the access to the KP Hole at about midway on the Rainbow River. We stopped at the downstream takeout point of the Rainbow River but there was no available parking. We parked across the road at Swampy’s Bar and Grill. Since it was nearly noon, we decided to have lunch there. We had eaten there many times before and had found the food to our liking. I ordered the gator dip appetizer and T got chips and salsa. For the meal, Mary got the grilled fish Caesar salad, I had a bowl of seafood gumbo. Joanne and T split a Reuben sandwich with sweet potato fries. Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal.

After leaving Swampy’s we drove over the Cross Florida Barge Canal and gave them the history of the ill-fated project. We pointed out the access to the “Follow That Dream” Parkway leading the island where the Elvis Presley movie was made and some of the beach scenes were filmed.

We stopped at the Crystal River Archeological State Park to explore the nearly 2000-year-old mounds and earthworks. Although the visitor center is closed on Monday and Tuesday, we enjoyed walking around and reading the signage. Joann and T are very into some of the Ancient Astronaut theories. They believe that the mounds support theories about early cultures being aided by extraterrestrial civilizations. We sat on top of the large temple mound for some time before resuming our walk along the back of the Crystal River. We saw how a landowner in the 1950s and 60s had bulldozed much of the temple mound to fill in a swampy area. Fortunately, the land was purchased by Florida’s park system preserving the mound.

When we left the archeological park, we drove Joanne and T back to the Comfort Suites in Dunnellen and drove back to Mark and Cindy’s house in Homosassa.

We got our things from the car and started helping Mark and Cindy prepare for dinner. Kenny and Jodie were coming over for a snook fish fry. Mark heated peanut oil in an outdoor deep frier to 360 degrees. Kenny rolled snook chunks in a mixture of egg and oil then covered them with panko crumbs and seasoning. The fish was deep fried at 360 degrees for 3 minutes. Kenny used the same treatment for some small portobello mushroom caps. Cindy had made Cole slaw and Jodie brought potato salad. Everything was delicious and we all ate our fill and more. After dinner we had Cindy’s brownies and Jodie’s peanut bars. Jodie also made margaritas while we visited after dinner.

The evening ended with Mark, Cindy, Kenny, Jodie and Mary playing cards.