2016 Mar 21-22 - Arrive at Lake Manatee SP and dinner with Art & Jo

On Monday, after driving a whole 35 miles and stopping at Publix for some groceries and Internet access, we arrived at Lake Manatee State ark in Bradenton at about 2:30. We have a very large campsite, complete with wildlife to great us. The weather is great, so we just walked around the park in the evening until it go a bit chilly outside, about 65 degrees, so we went inside.

Tuesday, we asked the park ranger where the nearest laundry facilities were and she said the best, and safest, laundromat was about 15 miles away. We're only about 13 miles from Jo & Art's, so we called to see if their laundry facilities were open. We go there about 2:00 and Marsha started laundry and visited with Jo while Art and I hung out in the barn drinking adult beverages and discussing manly things.

Next thing I knew, we were sitting down to a nice dinner. We got back to camp around 10:00 on the brightly moonlit night. I took a picture of it, but it didn't turn out very well. Oh, well, you get the idea.

2016 Mar 18-20 - Steve & Paulla, Mall during the storm, Selby Botanical Gardens

Friday evening, we went to Kris & Larry's friends' house. Steve, Paula and the four of us went to the Thai Bistro in Venice for dinner. It was delicious! Steve and Paula had to go home, but Kris, Larry and we went to Ciao Gelato for desert. It was also delicious! We walked around and checked out a few shops before heading back to the campground.

Saturday, the forecast was for heavy rain storms. We went to Eggstraordinairy for brunch. While we were there, it started storming pretty hard, so we headed down the road to a VERY large mall that included a Costco store. We shopped at Costco and walked around the mall while the storm was raging.

When we go back to the park, we learned that the electricity was out. It was out for a total of about six hours, but only about two hours after we got back. The WiFi service was also knocked out and will probably not be fixed until Monday. One of the rangers who lives in the park and had been in the area for fifty years told be that it was the worst lightning storm he has ever seen. Four utility polls in the park were hit along with one on the highway near the park entrance.

About 4:45, I but a pork tenderloin on the grill for dinner. The four of us ate very well. It was really good!

Sunday morning at 9:10, Larry and Kris headed for home. Marsha and I decided to go to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota. On the way, we stopped at McDonald's for lunch and to use the WiFi. Then, we saw a Trader Joe's store, so we just had to stop in and buy some wine and other goodies. We finally made it to the botanical gardens at about 2:00. It was beautiful. Enjoy the pictures!