Doug had to work briefly this morning, but was off for the rest of the day due to the Good Friday holiday. The weather was beautiful and it was very nice to spend the day together touring Central Florida. I had picked out a few places within an hour drive of our home for us to explore, some I had been to before, but others were new to me too.
Our first stop of the day was on the east side of Crystal River - Copp Brewery & Winery. It had received good reviews from Facebook and was the only winery in its county. It didn't look like much from the outside, but it was really neat on the inside. There were big copper brewery vats in the back, tables set up with games, a friendly bartender and a beer garden with corn hole. We knew that the boys would really enjoy it too. Doug ordered a flight of wine and later a flight of beer to try. We also split a pretzel that was delicious.
I next took Doug on a tour of the town of Crystal River. I wanted to show him where my parents and I saw the manatees last January and the beaches along the river filled with kayakers. From there we drove out to Fort Island Beach. It is a small local beach on the Gulf of Mexico that I visited when Doug first started working in Ocala. The wooden walkway was closed due to damage from the hurricane last August, but the beach was filled with people enjoying the sun, sand and water. We had fun checking it out before we started back to Ocala.
Our last stop on our day trip was StumpKnockers in Dundellon. It had been recommended to me by several people in my church group. I wasn't sure about it when we first pulled up as it looked like a shack by the river. We walked in and Doug liked it immediately. We ate outside at their Tiki bar by the river. The service was slow, but the atmosphere was really neat. The area reminded me a lot of Peace River near my Grandma's home in Arcadia. Doug ordered Louisiana style gator and I got the blackened catfish. Both were delicious. It was a great way to end our day trip through Central Florida.
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