Lake Manatee State Park

Sunday January 25- Well before we leave this great park and head out to another we decided to go back to Suncoast Church. It was as good as last week with a special surprise. As we turned to leave the church I saw someone from our home church in Keokuk Iowa. John Mott and his wife Chris. We visited for a little bit and we headed on home. Check out time here is 1 o'clock and Lake Manatee isn't far away. We finished packing up . Jeff got out of the truck to make sure we were going to make it when some rude lady honked her horn. I couldn't believe she did that, never had that happen before. We weren't even blocking the road that long a minute or so. I guess she was in a hurry. Our drive over was uneventful. The weather was good for traveling. We knew the route to Lake Manatee. Our site number is 21. Backed right in with no problems. After setting up we got the dogs out for a walk. We knew that some friends of ours are here. We saw there spot but they were gone. Probably fishing. John and Joan love to fish. Came back to work on the blog. I turned on my computer and it was doing some major update or something it seemed to take forever to finish so I could download my pictures. I'm so not computer savvy . I get very aggravated.

Monday January 26- It was a bit cool when I woke up. I went for a walk and stopped by John and Joan's to say hi. We had planned on maybe putting the kayaks in but too much wind and too cool. Since the weather is cool I decided to make homemade noodles. I also worked on the blog and cleaned. Still having problems with this computer. Oh will I ever learn? We ran into the store and mostly just relaxed around here. We really like this park and the atmosphere.


Tuesday January 27-Again another cool morning but great weather for walking. Both Jeff and I got in a nice walk. I thought I'd get my sewing machine out and start sewing blocks together for another quilt. Decided to get back outside and we did a few geo caches. They have added lots since we were here before. Took the dogs out for a walk and we walked by a couple and said hi......Jeff turned around and asked him his name because he looked familiar. It was Tom Lavender, we took scuba from him years ago. He has been living in Key West for 15 years. Its so neat when you run into unexpected people. It really is a small world.



Wednesday January 28-Still chilly but the suns shining bright. After walking we got in the truck and headed in to town. We went to the big red barn. Its a flea market with just a little of everything. We went mostly for the produce. First thing I spotted was the strawberries....yum. After picking out some wonderful produce we wandered thru the rest of it. I remember they have a candy place that has these giant maltballs, kinda excited about them and I found them.

On the way home we stopped for lunch at the Cracker Barrel. As we were walking in we spotted a Sonny's BBQ across the street and quickly changed our plans. When we got back we did more geo caches. Jeff seems to be on a roll. I have some catching up to do. He seems to be quite the geo cacher these days. We had some fresh green beans for supper with new potatoes. Both purchases today. Dessert was strawberry shortcake, the strawberries we got today as well. Everything was really good.


Thursday January 29-It was still kinda cool this morning but its suppose to warm up. We packed up some snacks and all the kayak stuff. Off we go to kayak. We found a launch just outside Fort Desoto.
We had to drive across the sunshine skyway.

 

We unloaded the kayaks and headed out. The water was a little rough when we took off. It was still cool too. Found our way out to the ocean and the dolphins. It was a really beautiful day. We tried some fishing but they weren't really interested today. The dolphins were very tricky today, hard to get pictures. As we were heading out there is a little island that is home to lots of birds and pelicans. When we left the tide was pretty low. Had to find the channel to get out.

Jeff did some more fishing, he did catch one, wasn't sure what it was. We also pulled onto an island and looked around at the shells. Had a bite for lunch for lunch and headed back out.

We might not have caught a lot of fish, the weather was a bit cool, but the day was a great one. The trip back was not like the one out. The water was so flat it was a bit eery. So glad we made the trip over and will definitely be back.



Friday January 30-We had plans to meet John and Joan at the dock to try fishing. It was nice to visit with them, the fishing was no good. Came back and made brunch. We took the dogs for a walk and ran into Tom's wife Debbi, she invited us over tonight to visit. We had an early supper because we were going back to the dock and fish. It was very slow but they caught a few.

The fishing didn't really pay off but the sunset was amazing. The longer we watched the prettier it got.

We left and walked over to Tom and Debbi's. We sat outside and visited the night away. We had never met her so we learned some about her and caught up with whats been going on with them. It was a wonderful night.



Saturday January 31-We didn't have much planned today but the camper coffee here at Lake Manatee is a must. Jerry the camp host has a blazing fire going with hot coffee for the taking. You can bring breakfast pastries if you want. I made cinnamon rolls again. Its the only safe way to make them. If I make them for us, we eat them all. If I make them to share, we only eat 1. Good diet plan.

After leaving the camper coffee we decided to go get a couple movies in town. It seems there is a race track down the way and that's all we have been hearing today. The loud motors. On the way back to the park we stopped at O'Brien family farms. Jeff had BLT and I enjoyed a giant strawberry shortcake. After we went out and picked some strawberries.

Those strawberries were perfect....giant, red and full of flavor. I had to try one on the way home. We spent the rest of the day watching movies and me sewing. We had a visit from John and Joan. They went fishing and came by to show us there catch. Looks like we have plans for supper on Monday. Wow another week gone...it just seems to fly faster and faster. I just keep reminding myself to enjoy each day. It doesn't really matter what you're doing, we are blessed to be doing what we are doing.