SOOO MUCH TO DO*** SOOO MUCH TO SEE***NOT ENOUGH TIME

         
                           This past week we had the pleasure hosting Kent's sister &
                            brother-in-law,  Terry & Kathy.   They arrived last Tuesday
                           making it in here ahead of the ice & snow in Tenn. & Ga..
                            It was definitely warmer here than back in Indiana where
                            They came from.  Kathy had brought a list of things that they
                            wanted to check out & I had a list of things I had looked at
                            of things to do, but needless to say neither list got totally
                             depleated.  First thing on the list was go to the BEACH.  So
                            since we are so close we first took them to Siesta Key
                            Beach.  Wasn't overly hot but comfortable at first.

                                                                

Mid morning at Siesta Key Beach

                                  Then we drove down to Caspersen Beach about 2 hours later            

                                                                        

What a difference a couple hours makes
And by the way we did NOT find any sharks teeth this time.

 

                                Terry found a car show he wanted to go to up in Zephyrhills &
                                 also up that direction at (Exit 246 at the Big Bend Power Station
                              at Apollo Beach  for anyone who is going to make the trip down in the
                                NEAR FUTURE.)  You can view the Manatees and they say an
                                occasional shark, but we didn't see any shark.  The Manatees don't like
                                the water any cooler than 68, so they gather at the power station
                                and stay there until it warms up.
                                There must have been a 100 of them the day we were there.  It was
                                posted Manatee watching out on signs on I-75 near that exit.  If
                                your watching for the signs you can't miss them.  You can also see
                                the big smoke stacks from the Interstate.   It is only about 3 miles
                                after you get off the Interstate.



                                                                        

                                                                        

Big Bend Power Station at Apollo Beach
 Going to see the Manatees

                                                                  

They were all over in the water.  They just float mostly.
It was hard to get a picture of one coming to the surface.

                                                                               

                                                      From here we went to the car show

It was very cold today too.

                                                                               

Kent found a project he would like to work on
It was a very rough 57 T-bird like he used to have.

                                                                               

                                                                              

                                                                               

Has he got a smile on his face or what !!

From the car show we went to Parkdales in

Plant City for strawberries.  Unfortunately I

did not take any pictures, we just ate and got

back in the car.  Kathy's teeth were chattering

it was so cold that day.   One guy at the car

show posted a sign at his booth.  TOO COLD

FOR ME, I WILL SEE YOU SATURDAY!

 

We took them to the Ringling Museum

 

Cold this day too

 

  We took a ride on the Legacy Trail.  We rode round

trip just .3 shy of 10 miles.

 

Kent & I had rode the 2.3 miles from our RV

to the trail, but this time we transported to the trail

 

Time to rest

10 miles doesn't sound like much but there were some tired puppies
or was that" behinds" before we got back to the car.  Just think if we
would have had to ride on back to the RV another 2.3 miles!
Guess being so tired means we're not conditioned enough.  Guess
we'll have to try it again with Von & Jenny when they come.  Sure
we can find some rentals.  lol



It was nice one day that we did eat on the patio.

                                                                          


 

This Egret showed up so we fed him and he stayed.lol
There is a guy in the park that makes them.  He makes
some larger, some smaller, so we just got a smaller. They
are made out of PVC pipe(schedule 40 Kent says)  ( Nick- project for you)
Our undercarriage is getting realllllllllll tight.  I had Kent go
pick it out so if it was too big he can't blame me.  Pretty sure
the car is going to have a lot of cargo in it going back north.

We went to the beach one more time, to Siesta Key & to
another about 2 miles away called Turtle Beach.  We saw no turtles.

 

This is at Turtle Beach** Kathy is taking Terry & Kents

picture.  

 

 

Sunday afternoon we went to the "Circus Sarasota"

It has been in Sarasota the whole month of

February.  The big name draw is Nik Wallenda

The guy that walked across The Grand Canyon

and Niagra Falls and his family all performed.

 

 

 

 

The ringmaster

 

                                                                            

We didn't have elephants, tigers, lions & others but we did
have PIGS***   

This was the jewel of the show.  The Wallenda family doing
their 7 man pyramid on the tight rope.  Nik is on the bottom
far right.   Doing this act was the way Nik's father & grandfather
died when they fell.    That's what I understand but I don't know
all the facts.
 

                                                                              

 

 

This is Nik.   He & his family signed autographs

after the show.

 

 

 

Terry & Kathy left Monday morning to head back

to that cold weather.  They went through some

bad weather through northern Georgia they said

but not sure how far after that.  Kathy called this

morning & they did have a frozen pipe to the outside

heating line.  Hope they can get that resolved

without a lot of problems.

UPDATE:  Just heard from Kathy ***

The pipes are thawed !!!

 

 

 

 

Did some catching up on skyping Tues. night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEAVING YOU WITH CALMING THOUGHTS

KENT & MARTHA

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

               


                  One of our adventures in this episode was checking out the Myakka  State Park.
                   Pronounced      " My - ak - a
                  We were told this would be a good place to see alligators.  This is usually the
                  case and we did see a few but not a lot.  We also walked the "Canopy Trail".
                   A few pictures of our exploring.

The 76.1 foot tower that you can climb up

Hello Down There ---We're going up the tower

                 

On the Canopy Trail back to the tower.

At the top of the tower you walked across this somewhat of a
suspension bridge.  It did sway somewhat & only 4 people
at a time are suppose to be on the bridge.
Definitely not as bad as a real suspension bridge.



 

 

Sarasota was home to John & Mabel Ringling. They

Started the Barnum & Bailey Ringling Bros circus.

They had no children, so when they died they willed

their estate to the city of Sarasota.  Relatives contested

the will but Sarasota was awarded the property that

is VERY PRIME PROPERTY right on the waterfront.

Although Sarasota was awarded the property, they had

no money to maintain it so it sat for 50 years

deteriorating.  The city then gave the property to

Florida State University.  It took them several years

but they have made it as original as possible including

flooring and every piece of furniture is original.  They

even went to companies and had upholstery made like

original.  Mabel had photos taken of everything so

that's how they were able to make it like original. 

 

 

This is Mansion water side

 

The buildings in the far background are

Longboat Key

 

 

 

This is the front of the Mansion

 

 

 

You start the tour of the Mansion at the far

doors in the other room.

 

The chandelier in this room came from the

Waldorf Astoria in New York City.  Mabel

bought it when the Hotel was being tore down

to build the Empire State Building.  Mabel

was a world traveler and made many trips to

Italy.  She loved the Venetian style architecture,

so that is the style they built.   They only used

this house for the winters.  She only lived in

it for 3 winters, then fell ill and died.

 

 

                                                 Another look at the chandelier.  There is
                                                          an upstairs that you can tour too.

                                                                               
                                                                                   
                                                                                 

                                                 This is the entrance to the circus museum



                                             Inside the museum there is a circus display that
                                             one man built from scratch.  Every little detail
                                             was made by hand.  It took him a year to do and
                                             these few pictures do not do the display justice.
                                             I really can't believe for all he did it only took a
                                             year.
                                             If you are in Sarasota this would be a stop to put
                                             on your to do list.
            

 

 Muriel right inside the front entrance

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Before

 

 

 

After

 

 

 

 

This past Thursday we went to Plant City to meet

with some couples that we had been in a motorhome

club with.  We ate lunch at Outback, THEN we

went to Parksdale  Market.  They have a

variety of produce, but the main draw is the fresh

strawberries.   They have quite a gold mine selling

the strawberry shortcake.   You can have it anyway

you like.  Just strawberries, strawberries & shortcake,

strawberries with ice cream & whipped cream.  So

we went for broke!  (now be nice, I only had

                          a salad for lunch.)

Now don't get excited, they said there were no calories!

Gotta believe!!!

 

 

 

 

                                       Speaking of believing, I believed we were coming to
                                       Florida to have fun in the SUN & sun to me means warm.
                                                          Check out the photo below !

 

Yep that's the fireplace he's sitting in front of.

It has been chilly in the mornings, windy

during the day & cool again in the evening.

And running the furnace overnight!

      What's up with this!!  

We celebrated Valentines early by going out tonight

EARLY to beat the rush.  Found a really good

restaurant about 2 miles from us.  Looked interesting

so we went down to try it out.  Even got a window

seat by the water since we were EARLY. 

 

 





                                                                                     

                                                                                              

                                                                               

                                                                                

                                                                                     

                                                                                        

We both had Grouper just in different forms

I usually get fried but I tried it blackened.

DELICIOUS !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We do have to do some work while we are here.

Living in the motorhome it gets dirty just like

the house at home, so last weekend was cleaning

day.  

 

Took up the carpets, pushed in the couch and

used the steam mop we got at the camper

show.   Didn't think the floor could be THAT

dirty, but at least I know it's clean now.

 

 

While I mopped Kent drew dusting duty.

One thing about it, it took time to clean but

not near as long as home.

 

 

 

      


                                                                         

                                                       Leaving you with pleasant thoughts
                                                       
                                                            Have a wonderful Valentines

                                                                  From Sunny Florida

                                                                        Kent & Martha