Lake Manatee State Park, Bradenton, FL:  Really cloudy this morning—harbinger of things to come.  But it was still really warm.  It was so humid the mirrors all fogged up.  We’re not complaining though.  It was sure better than the chilly marine layer out along the California coast.  We decided to drive down to Sarasota taking Rt. 41 instead of I-75.  First mistake.  Lots of traffic lights and slow going.  Wanted to have lunch in old town Sarasota and walk around some.  Followed the first sign we saw for old town and then never saw another sign.  So we ended up at a Longhorn Steakhouse just before I-75.  Turned out to be a better decision since the sky was looking pretty stormy to the north.  Mike had pork chops and I had a really nice grilled chicken salad with strawberries, grapes, mandarin oranges, candied almonds, feta cheese, and all topped off with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Really good.  After lunch we dodged rain drops back to the truck and got on I-75 heading back to our pretty park.  The traffic on 75 was very heavy.  We were glad to get back to our park which is 9 miles east of I-75 and really out in the country.  Got ensconced inside with the book I’m reading—“As time Goes By”—which starts where the movie, “Casablanca”, ended.  A very interesting read.  My brother-in-law, Dan, let me borrow it.  80s before the rain.  70s after.

The beautiful Ringling Estate--Sarasota, FL