May 1 - 4 CAMPING

Thursday through Sunday:  Late morning on Thursday, David and I headed out to Manatee Lake State Park to set up at the campgrounds there. Carol joined us Friday afternoon after she was finished with her work day. I am posting many pictures from these few days, many of which are of alligators! I have a tiny obsession with seeing alligators in their natural habitat and enjoying that thrill. David and Carol found the perfect place for me to go alligator "hunting." This, however, did not happen until Friday morning. Setting up camp Thursday afternoon took several hours. It always amazes me that David has the patience and the know-how to hook hoses and wires and use remote controls, etc ... he gets this knowhow from my dad, I think.

Anyway, Friday morning we drove about 30 minutes further south to Myakka River State Park to see ALLIGATORS. We saw so many!

Isn't this a beautiful place? We counted eight alligators while we were looking down from this bridge.

Aren't they cool?

Then we decided to walk UNDER the bridge, just in case we missed something exciting ... and look! This is where we met "Big AL". He's quite a beastie!

There are many hiking trails in this park--but it was truly HOT that morning. It was all I could do to keep up with David as we were walking.

This is a pretty side trail too ...

We didn't see as many alligators along this path .. but there were a few that were resting in here!

We grabbed a hotdog lunch over at the little gift shop area. 

We drove back to Manatee Lake, to our campground there, and Carol came up in the early evening. We enjoyed playing games and ... I can't remember what we watched unless it was "Enola Holmes 2" which Carol enjoyed very much. David slept through a lot of it, but the parts where he was awake, he liked.

Here are a few pictures of their camping trailer:

It has room to sleep 4 or even 5 people comfortably because of the front and back pop-outs. It has a nice little kitchen area with everything you need, as well as a small bathroom. Not being a camper anywhere in my history, it's a little bit of a stretch for me ... mostly because ... I am not sure why! It's something I would have to get used to if I did it on a regular basis. David and Carol love it.

We also borrowed an outdoor tent from Andrew and Alison to use for just relaxing outside without the fear of mosquitoes and other bugs. It was very nice, but a little challenging to set up.

Sunday morning, David and Carol packed up the campground--which took two or more hours--and then we drove back to Safety Harbor to their house. These two are like a well oiled machine. What one doesn't do, the other does! They work really well together. It's a rare thing, I think, for people to be married almost 46 years and still enjoy each other as much as these two do. How wonderful for them. Their anniversary is coming up on the 19th ... must make them a card!