Weekend Getaway

I guess weekends aren’t really that much different from the week days in our retired lifestyle. But it seemed the only time we could get away from our many activities and commitments. Besides our schedule, we needed to coordinate with our friends who went with us.

Anyway, last Friday we packed up the coach and headed west to Homosassa Springs. We’ve been to that area several times, but this was the first time in the RV. We stayed at Nature’s Resort which fronts the Halls River and was not far from the Gulf Coast.

Friday night we went to the Margarita Grill, one of our favorite restaurants. It was every bit as wonderful as we remembered. Our friends liked it so much they wanted to go back on Sunday night, which we did.

On Saturday, our friends went to Homosassa Springs State Park. We stayed at the RV since we’d already been there several times. It’s a great little park, though and we highly recommend it.

Julian wanted to do some fishing, but that just didn’t pan out. The brochure from Nature’s Resort refers to a fishing pier, but there were too many boats docked there to allow any fishing at all. He went out looking for a nice place to go, but was unable to find anything. So we spent the afternoon reading and napping – great activities for a chilly, overcast day.

The guys grilled steaks on Saturday night and they were wonderful! We sure eat well when we go “camping”.

On Sunday, we decided to drive down the coast to Weeki Wachee Springs. In case you’ve never heard of it, that’s where the mermaids live. They’ve been there since the 1940’s and it’s quite famous as a Florida attraction. There is a natural spring there and the temperature of the water is 74 degrees, year-round. That’s pretty cold for swimming in if you ask me!

The first show we went to was “The Little Mermaid”. They did a great job and here are some pictures.

See, mermaids DO exist!

After this show, we hopped on a boat and went down the river which was fed by the spring. The water was crystal clear. And, unfortunately, not very deep due to the drought conditions we’ve had over the past several years.



It was a trip through “old” Florida. Beautiful! If you look closely, you’ll see a bird perched in this tree.


Then we went back to the theater for another mermaid show.



It just amazes me that these people can be in that water at 74 degrees. I’ve been in spring water and it is COLD!


Last stop of the day was at the animal show. (Talk about low budget!) I think most of these performers were rescued in one form or another. And I’m all in favor of that!




By this time we had seen all the shows and were VERY hungry. Here’s a shot of our friends and the front gate as we were leaving the park.


We went to Applebee’s for a late lunch, and really enjoyed it. They’ve really improved the menu.

After a hard day of sight-seeing, we spent the afternoon napping and reading and generally relaxing. This was followed, of course, by another terrific meal at the Margarita Grill.

We packed up on Monday morning and were home before noon. It was less than 60 miles from home, but a really nice getaway with some really nice friends. It was a great weekend.