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!

April 29 and 30

Tuesday and Wednesday:  David had a several hour appointment with his dentist Tuesday morning. They were thankfully able to diagnosis what exactly happened with his front tooth and they were able to make a temporary "bridge" for him. He came back with a sore mouth, but much more normal looking. We didn't actually do very much on Tuesday, but lay low. We may have gone swimming back at Andrew and Alison's again--but I can't remember. 

We played our usual rounds of Parcheesi and I enjoyed every minute of it. I especially enjoyed it when Carol was home with us and we could compete with three on the board instead of just two--it makes the game so much more interesting that way. One of the evenings we also watched: "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" (which is one of my very favorite movies) ... I wasn't sure exactly if David and Carol would like this story--but they loved it! I was so glad! 

Wednesday, David and I drove into Clearwater, walked the beach, and ate lunch at "Frenchies". YUM. David ordered clams, and I ordered shrimp, and then we shared with each other. We ate right on the beautiful sandy beach!

Last year we could walk the Clearwater Pier all the way to the end. But this year, we were not allowed to! It is still under construction from the two hurricanes last fall.

This was a little disappointing, because the end of the pier is so beautiful. It's where I met many interesting birds last year and I was looking forward to doing the same THIS year. Sigh. We didn't let this spoil our day, however. We got a good long walk in at the beach and then explored many of the cute shops along the main drag of Clearwater.

David loves it here. Just a little north of Clearwater Beach is Honeymoon Island, where David used to walk a few miles several times per week. But Honeymoon Island was very negatively affected by the hurricanes. David said that much of the western end of the island still needs so much work because of the erosion and destruction of the dunes there. A few years ago, I remember we boated on out to the island and it was amazingly beautiful.

April 28 with Robbie

Monday:  David drove me over to meet with Robbie first thing Monday morning. As usual, we met at her daughter Aimee's house, which is closer than all the way to Riverview where Robbie lives.

We had such a nice EIGHT hours together. It flew by like eight MINUTES. We laughed and talked and reminisced ... it was wonderful. I love Robbie deeply, and her friendship has been a treasure to me. 

This is Aimee's beautiful house. Aimee is an artist and is married to a physician--they have four children. Robbie and I sat right here in the main room to catch up with each other.

This is my brother, David, talking with Aimee--who turned 50 last year but doesn't look a day over 25. Honestly. I was born fatter than she is.

This is the only picture I have of Robbie and I from our visit. I handed off my camera to David when he came back to Aimee's to pick me up. He said he shot about eight different pictures, but this is the only one on my camera! We can't figure out what went wrong. It's a horrible picture of me but such a nice one of Robbie.

I am so thankful to have had this lasting friendship with my college roommate. We only see each other once per year, but 54 years of friendship has been very rich. I love you, dear roomie!
 

April 27

Sunday:  David and Carol are members of a small church in Safety Harbor where they are very active and are able to serve the Lord. We attended morning worship as well as an afternoon dinner at the church where I met many of their friends. It was a really nice time.

Carol's sister, Doreen (one of the nicest people ever) arranged a shuffle board tournament (!!) in the evening over at the "park" where they live. Doreen and her husband, Pete, own a little house just down the street from David and Carol; however, Doreen and Pete only stay at this address a few months out of the year. Here are some pictures of us playing shuffleboard.

A few years ago, Andrew and Alison were in an unfortunate motorcycle accident in which Alison was thrown in the air off the bike and needed hospitalization. Andrew sold the bikes afterward and said he never wanted to see Alison in that kind of danger again. A little while ago, Andrew purchased a SLINGSHOT for both of them to enjoy. It's a very cool ride--Andrew even took me for a spin on my last night of vacation!

Carol's sister, Doreen, organized our shuffleboard tournament. I haven't played the game since I was a little kid on the beach at Sarnia! None of us were experts at the game, but it sure was a fun time.

This is Carol (although not a good picture of her because I caught her off guard and she has a surprised expression on her beautiful face) and Alison (married to Andrew), and to the far right is Karrie (Alison's mom). I remember praying, years ago, that Alison and her mom would come to a better relationship with each other--and they have! I was so thankful to see this and hear Alison talk about how it has been a gradual and positive improvement.

Alison is a truly genuine and hilariously funny person. I love her honesty and her humor. I really enjoy watching she and Andrew together--they do a good job at loving each other.

This is David, Carol, and Pete (Doreen's husband of nearly 50 years). Pete didn't play--he was an observer.

Doreen and I played opposite each other and actually our scores were not too bad! David said it's because we were too nice to each other. David and Carol, as well as Andrew and Alison, were out for blood! They were hitting each other's pucks off the board and were quite relentless! Andrew ended up with the best score of any of us.

I love Andrew. What's not to love?! He is such a nice person. He and David are truly good friends. They are so much alike in the way they live their lives. I'm so glad they can be close friends.

Our shuffleboard games ended with laughter and fun. Playing the game made me almost wish I could take it up here at Leisure Village! 

April 25 and 26

Friday and Saturday:  David's truck broke down last weekend up in Homosassa (where Jonathan, Starr, and family live) and needed to be towed back to Safety Harbor. AAA said David had to be present when they towed the car away, so Friday morning we drove up (using Andrew's truck) to meet AAA to get that accomplished. 

I am very sorry that I didn't take a single picture up in Homosassa! I was super happy to see Starr and five of their six beautiful children. We enjoyed about a half hour together, with all of the children talking to me almost at once--such delightful little people! I met their little dog, and heard all about their outside animals (they have a goat, a donkey, rabbits ... and I forget what else). 

Meanwhile, the tow truck hauled away David's truck and we left Homosassa to go back home. We did stop at a cute little nature reserve place and enjoyed their gift store for awhile. I purchased a toy turtle that is super cute. My kiddos will enjoy playing with it.

Saturday, David and I drove over to meet our step-brother and his wife for lunch. David and Sheri treated us to lunch at Culver's! It's a little bit weird having TWO brothers with the name of David--but then my David has TWO Carol's in his family; so I guess it just keeps it easy to remember names that way!

After we visited with them, we parted company and David and I drove to Cocoa Beach to take a walk. What a beautiful place!

David says the waves are always rolling in on the ocean side of Florida. I love rolling waves.

Cocoa Beach is one of the main cruise ship harbors. We saw four cruise ships go out to sea while we were sitting on the beach that afternoon.

Since it was a 2.5 hour ride back to Safety Harbor (I believe on I-4 which is traffic-thick and slow), we decided to catch dinner at a place called "The Grill." With our stomachs full, it made the ride back home less terrible. But I will say--traffic in Florida is ... horrendous! We didn't get back to Safety Harbor until after 9:00--so we just unwound a little bit and then went to bed, wanting to be alert for church the next morning.

April 23 and 24

Wednesday and Thursday:  I didn't take very careful notes of my two weeks in Florida, so I find myself a little bit at a loss to recount the events and document with photos; but I will try my best.

I believe on Wednesday, David and I walked around St. Petersburg because we had to deliver some equipment back to David's former employers. St. Pete has a really nice beach and shopping area. It was so nice to enjoy SUMMER weather. The sun and sky were so beautiful. Carol works full-time at a really nice financial office--so she didn't join us for our daytime travels, but joined us by dinner time back at their house. We introduced Carol to the game of Parchesi and she beat the socks off of us on her very first game! That evening, we watched "August Rush" together, which they liked very much--I knew they would!

Thursday, David took me to downtown Tampa Bay and we did the River Walk.

Here is one of the only pictures I will post of David with his missing tooth ... which he did very well with actually. He wasn't one bit self conscious about it! Good job, David.

Downtown Tampa is very pretty. I didn't even know it has a river running through it with a river walk! This is the Hillsborough River, which empties into Tampa Bay--fresh water mixing with salt water is called an estuary (I just looked this up). It's a beautiful place. In the picture below, you can see the huge Islamic Center just off the river.

David and I love all things to do with boats, beaches, lakes, rivers, etc. It was fun to share this with him today.

This "pirate ship" is used for tours all around Tampa and the Bay Area. It would be fun if David could pilot one of the boats, just for the sheer fun of it!

This is all I can remember of our time at the River Walk. It was a beautiful day. We enjoyed dinner with Carol, a few games of Parchesi, and then they introduced me to the movie: "The Gorge", which was extremely interesting, but kind of creepy. It was a very intriguing story, though, and I especially enjoyed the two main characters and their love story. 

April 22 Destination--David & Carol!

Tuesday:  I had a very relaxed and uneventful flight from Grand Rapids to St. Petersburg this afternoon/evening. Everything was on-time. No complications whatsoever. I chose a window-seat on the Allegiant flight because the very cramped space they put you in nowadays on airplanes makes me claustrophobic. My seat-mates (middle and aisle) were two ladies, sisters who talked my legs off during the entire flight. I only looked out the window twice because I was giving them all of my attention (which was opposite the window). My neck ached by the time the plane landed, but our conversations made the flight seem very quick actually.

My brother had a very tough few days before my arrival: (1) His truck broke down up in Homosassa (where John and Starr live) and was unable to be quickly fixed in order to drive it back to Safety Harbor; so Andrew drove up to John's and brought David back home. This does not sound like a very big deal--except David is quite attached to his truck (!!) AND we needed his truck in order to pull their camper to our camp site (we went camping the second week I was there). Andrew was very kind to loan us his truck until we could figure out what to do with David's. (2) He got FIRED from his job Monday morning, which he suspected was going to happen all weekend ... BUT STILL. David has never been fired from ANYTHING in his entire life! The firm gave the reason for his termination being that his son-in-law, Chris, quit the firm without notice on the prior Thursday afternoon--therefore, they were firing David Monday morning. Hmm. No job, even if it was part-time, was not welcome news. (3) And THEN ... while David was innocently biting into a frozen strawberry bar (low-calory!) his front tooth broke--it was a capped tooth ... or was it a crown ... I am not sure; but missing an entire front tooth is no small thing! 

David managed to take all of this in stride; but he was a bit more stressed in his demeanor than is normal for him. Two of these problems were able to be dealt with while I was in Florida with them--David's truck was towed down to Safety Harbor and repaired for a lot less $$ than what was feared, AND he was able to get a dental appointment early the next week to get a temporary replacement for his tooth. 

I didn't take many pictures of their sweet little house ... this is part of the front of it. David and Carol are super good at taking something ugly and making it pretty. They've done a lot of work inside and outside of their house. They work together very nicely.

This is a terrible picture of me, but I am posting it anyway because it kind of shows part of their dining area and a different angle on their front room. We were setting up to play a game (or three) of Parchesi. We played a LOT of Parchesi, sometimes just David and I--but we taught Carol how to play and she joined us (and beat us) many times.

This is the front room of their house--isn't it pretty? Carol is a "thrift" buyer. I can't believe the cool stuff she has picked up for amazing prices. 

I believe it was Wednesday or Thursday that David and I drove up to Homosassa to meet the AAA tow truck that took David's truck back to Safety Harbor. I got to hang out with Starr and her beautiful children for a little bit. It sure was nice to see them again. I saw everyone except Brandon, their oldest, who I think was at work. I did get to visit with Brianna, Moriah, Mico, and the two littlest girls--super nice kids.

More to come ...