CRAZY MARLINS: 2nd Week @ Lake Manatee

Sunday February 1-In all the excitement of arriving at this park, cause we like it so much, I forgot to tell you what it offers. They offer 30 amp service, water on site but no sewer. Our phones and internet were really good with verizon. This park is normally very quiet from what we can remember, but not this time. Its seems there is a race track down the road and both weekends there was lots of racing going on. The noise traveled right over the lake to the campground. There are lots of hiking paths, but they are short hikes. They have a day use area with swimming if you want, it was a bit chilly for that. They have a dock if you like to fish and of course the lake. Your motor needs to be 20 hp or less. The shower houses are well taken care of. One of the most entertaining thing about the park is the camp host in our loop. His name is Jerry and you can hear him coming on his golf cart, not because of the cart but because of his singing, hes a hoot.

Ok now on to our Sunday. Both of us were excited to be going back to a church we loved. Its right up the road from the campground. Since we were there last year they have rebuilt a big part of the church. Bayside Church is bigger and better then ever. The worship was great and the preaching was awesome. When we got to the church the cars were lined up to get in. They people there are so friendly, they make you feel very welcome.

After church we ran to the store to get some stuff for our fish dinner tomorrow. Got home and could smell the chicken in the crock pot which was supper. It was nice outside so we sat outside to enjoy the day. Then we got ready to watch the super superbowl. We didn't really have a team but so glad we watched it. That's one of the best superbowls I've seen. So it was very exciting. I worked some on the blog and enjoyed some of those yummy strawberries from O'Briens.

Monday February 2- I got up and started cooking. John and Joan are doing the fish so I made some potato salad to go with. Then I made pecan bars because who can have a dinner without dessert? Not me. While I was cooking Jeff went to the dock to fish, John and Joan were there. Its seems Joan is the official fish finder. They seem to like her fishing pole the best. Jeff came home with a stringer of fish but it was a group catch.

Jeff had to clean the fish. The weather cooled off so he took me in to Walmart so I could get the stuff I needed to put together a quilt before I start quilting. So happy they had everything I needed.

Well the weather held off and we went to John and Joans campsite located in the other loop. We had a nice dinner with the fish they had caught this last week. Everything was real good. We walked home with the light of a beautiful full moon. It was a nice day.

Tuesday February 3-Brrrr its cold outside this morning. I couldn't wait any longer on the laundry, I got started on it. Its cool out but there is sun and a breeze perfect for drying. We didn't do a lot today, John and Joan walked by and we visited with them. Since it is cool we used the leftover chicken and made some soup, it hit the spot. Jeff and I went back out for a walk and decided to try some more geo caches. I can't catch a break, that Jeff is on fire. After supper Tom and Debbi came over for a campfire and conversation. It seems we've been doing a lot of that lately.....conversing. So nice to run into old friends and have the time to catch up. Its been great.

Wednesday February 4-It was a bit cool to start the day but it warmed up nice. Jeff went down to fish, I went for a walk. When I got back Jeff had come back from fishing with no fish but a bag of tomatoes a camper had gave him. Well since we had the tomatoes all we needed was bacon and lettuce to create supper. We went in to pick them up. On the way back we stopped at O'Briens to pick some more berries. I can't seem to get enough of them. So after supper Jeff went back down to fish.

Thursday February 5- It rained all night long and was still sprinkling in the morning. We waited for it to quit and then took the dogs for a walk. We knew John and Joan were taking off today so we wanted to tell them goodbye. We got back home and decided to make it a movie day. Went for lunch at Applebees before the movie. When we pulled up at the theater we couldn't believe how busy it was. Went inside and had to wait in line for the popcorn and tickets. We picked the movie Black Sea. It seems everybody picked different movies because ours wasn't crowded at all. It was good but kinda slow to start. When we left if had really cooled off. I guess a movie day was a good choice.

Friday February 6- I got my walk in today before getting ready to go to town. Its back to the races....dog races that is. The dog track was hopping, busier than ever. It was a really nice day. It was cool but the sun was out. We didn't stay for all of the races but we had a good day.

We had some traffic on the way home but not too bad. We finished the night out over at Tom and Debbi's, again with the visiting...maybe that could be my new career, I'm pretty good at it.

Saturday February 7- Well this is our last full day at the park. We went back to camper coffee this morning. Its good to see where people are from and where they are going. Again visiting. We went back to our campsite. We have lots of stuff to start picking up. We leave tomorrow and so we like to get stuff put away the day before. Its another pretty day, the suns shining and its warm. We walked the dogs around one more time. When I was inside I heard a familiar noise. Not one that we'd heard this trip but from last year. Tap tap tap on the back window. I opened the shade and there he was....