1 Month In Inverness, FL: Here’s What We Did

Talk about unfortunate timing!

Shae and I booked a month-long stay in Inverness, FL just before COVID-19 cases really started spiking in the state. It was a non-refundable Airbnb reservation, so canceling it would’ve meant we’d have been severely out of pocket. We therefore decided to still go, but limit what we did while in Florida.

Thankfully the Airbnb was lovely, so it wasn’t a hardship hanging out there for a fair bit of our stay, but we did still get to enjoy a few things while in the Sunshine State.

Here’s everything we got up to during our month in Inverness, FL.

Where We Stayed

As I mentioned earlier, we stayed at an Airbnb for the entire month. Shae’s mom and stepdad were joining us for a couple of weeks, so we booked a property with extra bedrooms. It actually had a third bedroom, so we used that one for storing stuff and as a makeshift office.

This was the Airbnb we stayed at and it was perfect. The host lived next door and she was lovely, while the property itself was even nicer than in the photos. The best part of the house though was the swimming pool out back.

The pool area was screened in, so we never had any issue with bugs, mosquitoes, etc. Although the pool wasn’t enormous, it was large enough to be able to get some actual swimming in, so that was my exercise in August seeing as it was far too hot and humid to go jogging.

We ended up swimming most days during our stay and were very sad to say goodbye to the pool, so we had a final late-night swim the night before we left.

What We Celebrated

The main reason Shae’s mom and stepdad came to join us is because both Shae and her mom celebrate their birthdays in August a day apart.

Shae’s mom’s birthday was first and it was a big one.

To celebrate her birthday, we went swimming with manatees, so there’s more about that a little further down. Then that evening we had a pool party in the back yard.

The next day was Shae’s birthday where she turned the big 3-9. I’d like to claim credit for making the chocolate birthday cake, but a certain Winn-Dixie gets to take credit for that.

Her most sizable gift came from her mom and stepdad and she was a little confused as to what it could be.

Shae loves travel and Harry Potter, so what was inside was perfect.

A week before their birthdays, Shae and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. We gave each other some fun gifts, but Shae got me the best one – a mini barrel in which you can make your own whiskey. Due to its small size, the aging process is much quicker, so it should be ready to drink any day now.

Shae and her mom weren’t the only ones celebrating their birthdays though. Truffles turned 7 during our stay, although her celebrations were low key compared to last year when she had her birthday party at a dog-friendly brewery with a bunch of our friends, their kids and their dogs.

Where We Ate

One of the best parts of our time in Florida was some of the great food we got to eat.

Angelo’s Pizzeria

Inverness is home to Angelo’s Pizzeria which had some of the best pizza we’ve ever had – I think it’s definitely in my top 3 of all time. Shae went with her standard cheese and tomato pizza and loved it.

I got their meat pizza and the toppings were incredibly generous. The pizza base was incredible too, so we ended up ordering pizza from Angelo’s a couple of times during our stay.

Sonny’s BBQ

We first ate at Sonny’s BBQ in Corbin, KY last year and at the time I thought it was a standalone restaurant. I subsequently discovered they’re a decent-sized chain, so I was excited to discover they had a restaurant in Inverness because our meal at the one in Corbin had been really tasty.

Similar to Angelo’s Pizzeria, we ordered dinner from Sonny’s BBQ a couple of times. The second time I decided to try out their tater tots topped with pulled pork, onion straws and BBQ sauce and it was as delicious as I’d hoped it would be.

City Fire

Shae and her mom had a mother/daughter day out one day and they headed to The Villages which is where the people with all the money in Florida seem to live. They decided to take a break by having lunch outside at City Fire.

They enjoyed their experience so much, they brought me and Shae’s stepdad back for lunch there a few days later. Shae got the Chicken Black Bean; I tried a little and it was very flavorful.

I went for the cod sandwich with jalapeno coleslaw. That was very tasty as well, although the sandwich fell apart in my hands, so it was a little messy to eat. It was well worth it though!

Peck’s Old Port Cove

After going swimming with manatees, we asked Crystal River Watersports (who we did the tour with) where we should go for lunch that was by the water. They recommended Peck’s Old Port Cove and it was in a lovely setting.

The person who recommended it mentioned that service could be hit or miss there, but we got lucky and had a server – Courtney – who was excellent.

The food was fantastic too. Courtney brought out what they called Fish Nets which were really good onion straws and came with a mild horseradish sauce which complemented it perfectly. I could’ve happily eaten several plates of these.

We also got a starter of gator bites which were also good dipped in that horseradish sauce.

For my entree, I ordered the Fisherman’s Platter which came with fish, shrimp, oysters, clam strips and scallops. All of the seafood was very good, although the scallop size was unexpected. I’ve only ever seen scallops that have a diameter of an inch or more, so I was surprised at how tiny these scallops were – slightly smaller than a dime.

Shae and her mom both ordered the garlic crab legs. I’d assumed they would be garlic because of having garlic butter to dip them in, but the crab legs themselves actually came coated in garlic.

The crab legs came with a side of cheese grits, coleslaw and hush puppies.

Wildlife We Saw

The main reason we’d chosen Florida to celebrate Shae/s and her mom’s birthdays was because her mom really wanted to go swimming with manatees.

Shae and I therefore booked a snorkeling trip with manatees as her birthday gift and it was an awesome experience. Check out this post for much more about the trip.

Manatees weren’t the only wildlife we saw though. While having lunch at Peck’s Old Port Cove, our server pointed out that Steve the Armadillo was wandering around just off the outdoor deck where we were eating.

Shae loves getting selfies with animals, so there was no way she was passing up an opportunity like this.

Although the swimming pool area at our Airbnb was screened in, we saw a bunch of friendly lizards scurrying around during our stay.

Insects in Florida are enormous, especially the grasshoppers. This is one that was sitting on the back of a chair at the dog park, but wasn’t even the largest one I saw there.

What Truffles Did

Truffles isn’t the biggest fan of being out in the sun, so any attempt to take her on a walk around the neighborhood was generally short-lived.

She’s not the biggest fan of the water either, so she was never tempted to jump in the swimming pool which was no bad thing seeing as dogs weren’t allowed in the pool.

She still loved the swimming pool area though because there was enough room for her to run around to chase after her ball. She’d drop the ball in the pool while we were swimming, so stopping to play with her gave me a bit of a breather.

She was a little sneaky though. I was sitting in a poolside chair one afternoon while Shae swam and Truffles seemed to want to jump up on my lap. It turns out I was just being used as a springboard though so that she could be queen of the castle by then leaping from my lap on to the table!

Poolside was also a great opportunity to have snuggles with Grammy.

Inverness is home to a wonderful dog park called Bark Central Dog Park. There’s a fee to visit, so we got a monthly pass seeing as we’d be there for all of August and knew we’d return.

There were separate sections for large and small dogs, with both sections being massive. Small dogs often get allocated a small area to play in at dog parks, but this was definitely one of the largest small dog sections we’ve ever seen.

Bark Central has a couple of great features. First, there are loads of trees, so they provided plenty of shade which was much needed seeing as it was the height of summer. Second, both the small and large dog sides had a water feature for dogs to splash around in.

I mentioned earlier that Truffles doesn’t care for the water, so we were pleasantly surprised when she decided to wade around in the pond-like feature. Apparently Florida was hot enough to warrant getting wet voluntarily!

Bark Central Dog Park also has a couple of places where you can rinse off your pup afterwards, as well as a grooming area inside.

What We Did

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, we decided to restrict our activities in Florida due to COVID-19. Our Airbnb host had some kayaks available to borrow, so Shae and her mom took them out on a nearby river one day while I worked.

It’s possible that Shae ended up a bright shade of red/pink after being out on the water for so long without putting on sunscreen 😉

Final Thoughts

We really enjoyed our month in Inverness, FL, even though we didn’t do much travel-type stuff due to the pandemic. We loved the Airbnb we stayed at and would highly recommend it if you’re ever looking for somewhere to stay in that area.

The restaurants we ordered food from were all excellent, swimming with manatees was awesome and if you have a pup with you, Bark Central Dog Park is definitely worth a visit.