Lake Manatee State Park, Bradenton, FL, to W. P. Franklin Corps of Engineers Campground, Ft. Myers, FL:  Left Lake Manatee this morning under clear blue skies.  Only about a 2 hour drive to Ft. Myers.  We were all ensconced by 12:00.  My brother, Ron, and his wife, Jan, came over and I made some chili.  We sat around outside enjoying this beautiful day.  They left shortly after dinner.  Ron gets up at the crack of dawn to go into work.  While we were sitting outside later the eagle came back to his favorite perch in the tree across the river from us.  He’s been here every year we stay here.  A really pretty park on the Caloosahatchee River surrounded by really nice cattle and horse ranches and some really nice homes.  Mid-80s today.

Our resident eagle

Beautiful, isn't he?

Our pretty site right on the river.

People in this really nice boat came by to check out the eagle.

Lake Manatee State Park, Bradenton, FL:  Another really nice day today.  After lunch we went back to the Gamble Plantation to take the tour.  Construction of this Greek revival style mansion was started in 1843.  At one time Gamble owned 3500 acres.  His was the largest sugar mill in the area.  He owned 180 slaves.  Everything was done by the slaves—including the building of the mansion.  After the tour we came back and relaxed reading for a while.  Another cold front is supposed to come through tomorrow and bring the temperatures down quite a bit.  Hopefully Ft. Myers won’t be too bad.  And we’ll be in the Keys in just a few days.  Low 80s today.  More left-over turkey tonight for dinner.

Gamble Mansion & Plantation
Oldest antebellum plantation in south Florida

Lake Manatee State Park, Bradenton, FL:  We went out for breakfast this morning and then did the laundry and picked up a few groceries.  An apt activity for Black Friday.  Some pretty nasty shenanigans taking place in some of the stores.  One woman used pepper spray in order to get the item she wanted.  Unbelievable!   What a great way to get in the holiday spirit!  Low 80s today. 

Let's hear it for "Shop Small Saturday"--promoting small businesses.

Lake Manatee State Park, Bradenton, FL:  This morning dawned bright and sunny with a little chill in the air.  Watched the Thanksgiving Day parade and put the turkey breast in the oven around 1:00.  While the turkey was baking away we enjoyed a couple of cocktails.  Watched the football game between the undefeated Packers and the 7-3 Detroit Lions.  I was rooting for the Packers and Mike was for the Lions.  Good game.  Packers won.  Our dinner was delicious and we stuffed ourselves.  Upper 70s today.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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

Lake Manatee State Park, Bradenton, FL:  Another warm, sultry day today.  Lots of clouds though.  We headed out for some breakfast and then drove north on I-75 one exit to the Gamble Plantation and mansion.  It was the largest sugarcane plantation in the area in its day.  Unfortunately, it is closed for tours on Mondays and Tuesdays.  But we walked around the grounds anyway.  We’ll go back on the weekend.  Stopped at Publix on our way home and bought all the stuff we need for our Thanksgiving dinner.  Sat outside reading for a while and we had another tortoise come through our site.  Went for a walk down by the lake after lunch. Didn’t take long to get all sweated up.  84 today. 

Gamble Plantation

Gamble Plantation

Another tortoise visited our site
(picture by Mike)
I've been told that wherever there are tortoises, there are rattlesnakes who like to hang out in the tortoise dens

Lake Manatee State Park, Bradenton, FL:  Another beautiful, warm day.  I got up and waited for Mike to get up.  He didn’t get up until 10:30!  After lunch we drove over to Anna Maria Island which is a cute little island residential area.  No high rises.  Stopped at a beach and walked around.  Saw a big bridge across the bay.  Turns out it was the Skyway Bridge outside Tampa.  On the way back we stopped at another beach to check out the sand sculptures.  Temps ranged from 81 to 88.  Got some sprinkles in the evening. Oh, and Happy Birthday Mom!

We love this park.  Our site is really private--tucked into the lush vegetation.  Mostly live oaks, a few pines, palmettos, and everything covered in Spanish moss.  Gives it a primeval feel. 

One of the sand sculptures