Lake Manatee State Park
Trip Start
Nov 19, 2007
1
117
170
Trip End
Ongoing
Bradenton,
Florida,
United States
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Leaving the Keys has been a mix of emotions. We felt sorrow leaving the sun, sand and friends, as well as excitment to have new roads to travel and new parks to see. Lake Manatee is a wonderful park as all of Florida State Parks are but we were distracted by the Inauguration, cold snap dipping down to 20 degrees at night and getting to see our friends....Louise and Sass!
The cold snap that is keeping NY in minus zero temperatures has us trying to keep our water from freezing in Crazy Fish as it dips into the 20's. [We are trying on the name Crazy Fish for our RV. It has taken over a year to give her a name and we hope she likes it. We will see if it sticks or not.] After biking the roads and hiking the mile long walking path we were ready to head to the beaches nearby.
It took about 30 minutes or more to get across the bridge onto Anna Maria Key from Lake Manatee Park. She is a tight and funky little key full of cottages every shade of pastel with flamingoes and fancifully painted metal lizards decorating the many and assorted cafe's and art shops. The town has many public walkways to get onto the beach on both the Sarasota Bay side and the Gulf of Mexico. The beach is beautiful with unbelievably soft sand. Although it was a bit nippy and the wind rather strong, there were plenty of beachcomers and surfers taking advantage of this natural wonderland!!
Home to the park to have hot showers and a warm meal. Sleep was good.
Inauguration Day!! Totally amazing day with such high energy from the throngs that came out to witness our first African American President!!! Our Astologer, Richard Roe in Poughkeepsie, NY, wrote in his weekly column that it would be best for Mr Obama to become President Obama after 12:30 when the Moon went into Aquarius, etc etc etc lending these next years a greater flow of communication, hope and illuminated forward thinking. When Mr. Obama finished his oath by 12:15 Andy and I were disappointed that he missed the 12:30 mark by 15 little minutes. THEN....he took it again!!! Making his transition to Mr.President after 12:30!! We need all the help we can get in these next years!! The Stars and Planets and everything!
I hope you all enjoyed the Inauguration music, Aretha, (her hat), the speech and Michelle's dress as much as I did!! I found it all charming and regal and a wonderful beginning to what I want to be a time of hope and strength for America.
Wednesday
Louise and Sass (you will remember them from Blue Ridge, GA; Memphis and Nashville, TN) have rented a house for a couple of weeks on Longboat Key which is just over another bridge from Anna Maria Key. So plans were planned and off we went to visit them and hear all the news! They have just come back from spending a week in Puerto Rico with Louise's brother, Allan and his wife Gloria. They were all tan and too cute for words!!
Sass at the grill (in way too cold temps) cooked us up some fantastic pork loins!! Louise put out a fantastic appetizer spread for starters and a great salad to top off the loins. We then shared some fresh fruit and Organic Paul Newman oreos. Great conversation with friends that we love, full bellies of great food lovingly cooked!! Life is good in Crazy Fish living.
Happy, tired and full Andy and I went to sleep in Crazy Fish parked in the driveway. How great it is to bring our own house to dinner!!
The morning broke clear and sunny and still a bit chilly. Sass, Allan and I took off to the Beach for a long wonderful walk. The air chilly and the sun warm! Absolutely divine.
They all took off to explore the Islands and we took off to get settled into the next park a little north...Little Manatee River State Park....
Comments
Crazy fish!
I like it. I definitely approve.
Louise Brown
TravelPod Community Manager