I procured a half dozen ears of corn for $5 (91cents an ear in Publix and not as fresh) plus some beautiful Roma tomatoes. I love the way some of the produce is displayed– Check out these cabbages!
We headed north again to the city of Labelle. There we made a lunch stop at the Labelle Brewing Company. Even though it was almost two o’clock, the taproom was busy with several large groups having lunch as well. The building is just over two years old and has a contemporary barn like interior with high ceilings.
My husband ordered their house made meatloaf and mashed potatoes and it was huge! We ended up getting two full meals out of it. I had their French Dip sandwich with fried sweet plantains—also very yummy as well.
We arrived at the campground and took a brief siesta before taking a walk around the campground. They offer day use as well as overnight camping. Bikes,canoes, kayaks, and paddle-boards are available for rent. As it was midweek, the campground was quiet. We walked along the creek and admired the flying buttresses of cypress roots from the tress growing at the waters edge
The creek widened into a large lake before constricting itself into a very narrow and shallow passageway. It was beautiful! As we paddled we passed all kinds of birds and turtles sunning themselves on submerged cypress roots as we paddled through a forest made up mostly of cypress and swamp maple trees. The only noise you could hear was the sound of bird calls and a faint roar of traffic in the distance. It was one of the prettiest creeks I had ever paddled!
We paddled for almost an hour and turned around when the creek became too shallow to paddle. We headed upstream with only a minor current to hold us back, paddling past the campground to see the large sandbar. A flock of Turkey Vultures mixed with Black Vultures were gathered on the sandbar. We followed a Woodstork and watched him feeding along the creek bank. He was impressive as he repeatedly flapped his wings to stir up the fish.
The trail twisted around for over a mile before returning to the campground. We had another relaxing evening before packing up early the next morning to attend our next event. More to come in my next newsletter!