Ocean Blues in Sarasota, FL

With Kelly's visit, we get to experience things other than what we normally do... Normally, we watch the weather, watch TV, watch nature, take photos, do outdoorsy things, travel around and blog...She's great for coming up with different ideas for things to do...She has some friends in the entertainment industry that are ROCKIN' blues singers. They often play in clubs along the Florida coast and they were in the Sarasota area, close to where we are staying. Did we want to go hear them sing? Does Sparky like taking nature photos?  Heck, yeah!

Off we went to the Ocean Blues Club on Hillview Street in Sarasota, FL,  for some top notch entertainment. The Ocean Blues Club is the kind of place that makes you think "supper club"..It had an intimate atmosphere, tin stamped ceiling, dark wood, cozy booths and tables, romantic lighting, and good bar food...The top notch entertainment was Rebecca Bird, vocalist and Steve Arvey, vocalist and guitar player along with their drummer (sorry, I didn't catch his name) and female bass player, Patty. They put on a tremendous, high energy show at the club this evening.....Steve is one of those guitar players who plays the blues with his heart and soul...he WORKS that guitar...the constantly changing expressions on his face were priceless as he wholeheartedly got into his music. It was fun to watch him....Rebecca is a terrific singer who puts an equal amount of heart into the lyrics, and together, they worked magic on the crowd....Kelly has known the duo for some time and seen them in several different locations around the country. Steve and Rebecca are the kind of entertainers who remember their fans and are genuinely interested in the people who follow them, and they gave Kelly (and family) a nice shout out for being there this evening.

Rebecca, Steve and Kelly

At one point, they brought out a guitar player, a young man from Lithuania, who had only been in the U.S. for three weeks. His name was David Smash. His English was excellent..He played the electric guitar, harmonica and sang, and he was AMAZING!  At one point, he was playing the frets of the guitar with his TEETH! The energy generated from his performance got the crowd onto the dance floor, and Kelly and Mom boogied for a bit! Eldo was a bit under the weather, fighting a chest cold, or he would have been out there, too!

We had such a great time listening to Rebecca and Steve, we stayed up WA-A-Y later than normal...It was a great time and a wonderful experience jammin' to the blues this evening at Ocean Blues in Sarasota....We've got just a couple more days of visiting with Kelly before she goes back home...Tomorrow, we plan to shop till we drop at the St. Armand Circle area in Sarasota...eat a little brunch, window shop and check out the beach at Lido Key....

Running a 10 K ---or NOT!

Sparky ran a 10K? Heck, no! But her daughter did! We got up at 6:00 AM this morning and traveled to Temple Terrace, FL, about an hour's drive from the Manatee RV Park for a good cause--to see Kelly run a 10K and to support the Pediatric Cancer Foundation. It was the 31st annual Wish Farms Strawberry Classic 10K-5K-Mile Race. The competitors got a pint of  Plant City Strawberries when they were finished, among other great handouts...There was a raffle for prizes if you entered the race, a cool tee shirt, and lots of other goodies.

Waiting in line for her numbered bib that has an electronic chip in it for photo finish

Stretching a bit

She wasn't very happy with her time, but Mama Sparky was thrilled that Kelly competed in the race! Here she's coming into the final hundred yards of the 10K.....Sparky moves into place to get a photo of Kelly crossing the finish line....

Doggone interference!

It was fun to see the race and watch all sorts of shapes and sizes come through the finish line....Moms with their babies in strollers running, very elderly people in their seventies and up running, the latest running wear, and all the cool shoes!

Sparky's favorite race that she has seen her daughter run in, was the South Bend, IN, SUNBURST Marathon race...they have the coolest music to rev up the runners before the race starts, and a terrific atmosphere that makes you want to take up the sport. But---Sparky has resisted the urge to start running....bad pronating ankles, arthritis in her toes....yada, yada, yada....

It takes a LOT of discipline to run regularly and travel to different sites for races, getting up an ungodly hours of the morning--I can say that now that I'm retired! To keep yourself physically in shape to do those things gets a lot harder as you get older and travel full time...We admire people who run as their choice of exercise...It can be very grueling. Kelly just ran a half marathon not too long ago! Wooo-eeeee! That's my girl! Running is not something that Sparky could ever do...never did, never liked it, never wanted to do it...Instead, Sparky has tried to stay fit through the years through aerobic exercise, Jazzercise, racketball, tennis, swimming, working out at the Y, and ballroom dancing. Since we've gone out on the road, it's a lot harder to find places to work out regularly, but it can be done. Sparky has kayaked quite a bit, used the fitness centers that are found in the "resort" type of places, hiked a LOT of trails with Eldy, and taken up bike riding much more consistently. She also has a little set of  8 pound free weights on board and some stretchy bands. When there are exercise classes offered at parks, Sparky will check those out...the main thing is, we all need to KEEP MOVING!

Great job, today, Kelly! You did it! And I am so proud of you!

Sparky's Dangerous with Barber Shears

Eldo was looking pretty scruffy! What's with men and their not wanting to go get a haircut while full timing? At least my man...Eldo will go weeks past needing a haircut until Sparky bugs him enough to go get one somewhere at the local barber, or she has to get out the barber buzzers and threateningly wave them around!  (Well, I was just waiting for my honey to get out the barber clippers, that's all!) Kelly, Sparky's daughter is here for a visit, and Sparky wanted Eldo looking his finest! The evidence:

I rest my case! No sign of Eldo going to get a haircut....sigh! Out came the barber clippers and.... TADA!

And here's the front...I don't have a before photo that came out well...but doesn't my man look a LOT better!?  He cleans up really nice! :-)

I think he worries that I'm going to go hog wild with the clippers and just buzz his whole head! The thought HAS occurred to me...He's got the perfect shaped head to be an egg head! I did manage to buzz the fuzz on the top of his head without him saying a word. (Of COURSE I am not going to say a word! The woman has the fuzz busters and my head in her hands...I'm gonna be a good boy, not move and just pray she trims the top and doesn't buzz it all off!) I hate to tell him, but I did buzz off the top....Now he's presentable for taking Kelly to a ball game today..... :-)

They drove to Sarasota today for the Baltimore Orioles vs. the Boston Red Sox at the Ed Smith Stadium....Here's  a cute photo of Kelly before the game.....

Kelly and Eldo had a great time at the game, but it was HOT, HOT, HOT...miserably hot and humid...That's why Mama Sparky stayed home...She visited with the neighbors, Ritchie and Nick at the pool for a bit, and then went for a bike ride in the neighborhood again where we rode yesterday. More turtles! This time a hard shell turtle or tortoise, not sure which.....They should put up a turtle crossing sign...this turtle was about in the same area as the last one...He wasn't in danger of getting hit by any cars, so on Sparky rode......

And then....a SANDHILL CRANE! Woo-hoo! Just one no partner anywhere in sight...coming up over the embankment from the golf course.....

He briefly stopped by Sparky's bike, probably wondering what kind of "bird" it was, then decided to go for a walk down the street in search of bugs.....

The Heritage Harbor/River Glen area is full of model homes, new development going up, lots of wildlife everywhere.....And beautiful ponds and marshes interspersed among the residential areas....

Complete with resident ducks...Anybody know what kind of duck has the white swath through the middle of their bodies?

Tomorrow, Kelly runs a 10K! I'm so proud of her for having the discipline to take care of herself and run  these races.

We'll see you later!

A Beachy Keen Day on the EAST Coast

Kelly's first day with us was a trip to Anna Maria Island and the beach.....My sister had paid a visit to the island a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. It's about a fifteen mile trip from Manatee RV Park where we are staying this week, to the island.....The beach was crowded, the surf was calmer and there weren't any purple (dangerous marine life) flags flying today, just the yellow one...yay!

We set up our little cabana, had a picnic lunch and Kelly and Eldy had a beer at the little restaurant/bar at the beach. You can't take the beer onto the beach unless you want to incur a 500.00 fine.  You have to have it at the restaurant stand, but it was still refreshing for them to be able to do that.

We like our little cabana but it's not holding up as well as we hoped. Stretching the fabric and getting the poles extended into it cause stress to the fabric and the stitching is starting to pull apart....It's been a great way to stay cool and protected from the sun, though....We are now looking at a "Super Brella" or a "Sport Brella"... a common sight here at the beaches both on the east coast and the west coast. The wind doesn't seem to affect them much at all, and they are a LOT easier to put up! Sparky HAS to have her protection from the sun with skin cancer running in her family. Here's Kelly and Eldy enjoying the cabana....

It's always fun to people watch at the beach....These are quite the glasses! Sun shades? Readers?

Earlier this morning, Kelly and I went for an 8 mile bike ride all around the area surrounding the park. There's a brand new county park going in next door to Manatee RV Park..It's called the Tom Bennett Park. It's going to be beautiful in a couple of years when the trees get established. You can ride quite a bit in the park now on paved trails.....Terrific playground for the kids....

Then we found a wonderful area to bike ride that didn't involve crossing the overpass by our park. It was  a residential neighborhood, a series of beautiful swanky houses, golf courses and just a wonderful area to ride with bike lanes provided and not much traffic to worry about....So we rode for quite a ways into the River Glen subdivisions.....The photo doesn't do it justice as far as how pretty it was....

We saw a huge, soft shell turtle trying to cross the road. Kelly was worried someone would hit it, as it looked like a bag of trash from afar, so I got off my bike, nudged it with my foot, and he went on his way, safely crossing the road.....Sparky to the rescue! Even if he did look slimy and a little on the ugly side!

Kelly said the bike markings on the road reminded her of the band "Devo".....a band popular in 1972. Remember that song "Whip It?" You don't? It was #14 on the Billboard Hits charts. They definitely had a very interesting take on music...sort of punk and new wave music, They were among pioneers of the music video, and have had an influence on today's alternative rock groups.  Here's the band:

Here's the road sign:

It DOES look like Devo!

You can get a really nice bike ride in riding from our park to and through this residential neighborhoods. We'll probably do it again tomorrow.....

Kelly and the park manatee mascot

Kelly, Sparky and Eldo say "See you later......"

Leaving Sebastian/Vero Beach

We had packed up our lawn furniture last night and loaded the bikes on the car. It was a good thing we did, rain was pouring down this morning. Eldy was bemoaning the fact that he was going to get all wet --he doesn't have any decent rain gear, can you believe it? So Sparky whipped out an early birthday present, a brand spankin' new rainjacket, guaranteed to be waterproof! Eldy's birthday is April 14th, but hey, he needed it early! So out it came......in handy!

We are going to miss the Sebastian/Vero Beach area....Sunshine Travel RV Park (Encore Park) was a great park to stay in to visit the local state parks, and all the free beaches along the coast. You could get to everything within a half hour's drive or less. Sunshine Travel was a little bit aged, but it had nice facilities, a nice pool area and a very nice laundry. When we come back, we might be a little more picky about our site. They didn't give us a very nice one, even though we requested a second site...The state parks are wonderful in the area, but we didn't stay at the state parks because it was cheaper to use our Thousand Trails membership for a "free" stay at Sunshine. A cautionary word....if you read the reviews about Sunshine Travel, you'll see a complaint about the gate bar breaking on somebody's rig. We saw the gate bar broken at least five separate times while we were there. The office said it was because people were trying to "tailgate" each other in after unhooking their tow in the parking lot or visitors were crashing through the bar to get to the site. !!!!  Really?  The gate bar is a wooden bar wrapped in foam so that tells you something. So be careful when you go through the gate bar entrance. The office recommends unhooking the tow AFTER going through the gate bar entrance. They give you a key card to use......


Manatee Encore RV Park, Bradenton, FL
On the road again...we traveled across the state back to the west side, over to Bradenton, FL to the Manatee RV Park, an Encore park...We are here for one week, while my daughter, Kelly, comes for a visit. This is another old RV park, but the facilities are nice, the sites are farther apart than at Sunshine Travel back in Sebastian. The park is VERY close to I-75, so the noise can be quite loud on some sites. It's a HUGE park! About 400 sites. There are many park models but there is plenty of room for RVs as well. Two pools, and one hot tub, fitness room, large dance floor in the 6,000 square foot clubhouse, and lots of activities going on, even for this time of year when the snowbirds are leaving. We are backed up against the river, but with our little portable fan running at night for "white noise", we don't hear the road noise.

Here is our site.....#1113....We just arrived yesterday afternoon, and they are having water problems...We're not sure why the water problems, but we're glad we have our water tank 2/3 full coming into the park so we don't have to worry about not having park water! Sites are old asphalt drives, on the small and short side. We have to park our car on the grass which is what everybody does.

The larger of the two pools here at the park....

And there's shuffleboard....but we're just not into that sport!  There are nice laundry facilities and very friendly people here....We've met our neighbors already! Nick and Ritchie, who were our neighbors in Webster, are our next door neighbors.

We'll be here a week, and tonight, Sparky's daughter Kelly, flies into Tampa to spend a few days with us!  It's wonderful to see everybody again, and to have family visiting.........Life doesn't get any better with friends and family near when you are a full timer. We treasure the moments with family and friends when we get to have those moments, that's for sure!

Bathing Beauty Cuties

I'll bet you thought today's blog was going to be all about bikini clad young women....heh, heh, heh! Nope, sorry! Today's blog is all about kids and other stuff at the beach...You can sign off now, or keep reading! Oh, good...you're still here...When we went to the Golden Sands Beach yesterday, we saw lots of wonderful sights at the beach...the colorful umbrellas.....

And some darling kids having loads of fun at the beach.....This little guy was being coached by his mom how to ride a mini boogie board.

This little lady was pretty in pink.....

And check out this little dude!

With his cool shorts.....

The beach isn't complete without a little guy and his truck......

And the gulls squawking for food from people's picnic lunches....

It was a wonderful day at the beach....We have one more day to enjoy the local beaches before leaving for Bradenton, the OTHER side of Florida...See you tomorrow.......

Up Periscope!

Sparky was out ON the water today, Eldo was AT the water....That means she was kayaking, and Eldo was ogling bathing beauties on the beach. (Now, now...Let there be TRUTHFUL blogging here...it was practically all families at the beach today, the college co-eds have gone back home and back to school, E. chides) He says he doesn't have any good photos of the beach goers from his camera phone today, heh, heh, heh.

Sparky went back to the Wabasso Parkway little park, off highway 510, and set out to see the dolphins again...They were  messin' with her today...A fin would slowly rise out of the water, just like a submarine periscope, then SLO-O-W-LY sink below the water. It was like they were just doing reconnaissance today...come up, check things out, submerge again.

Some of the time, they came near Sparky's kayak, just to see what was up, then as fast as she could get her camera ready and focused, down they went and moved away.....

At one point, a pod of four were swimming near Sparky's kayak, and one came so close, Sparky could have reached out and touched the fin! That was a thrill! Again, it's so hard to know when they are going to come up, and the camera lens so slow, that Sparky just couldn't get the perfect photo. But she's getting closer at getting a decent shot....

A trio! Woo-hoo!

Lots of dolphins in the area today, but you've seen one, you've seen 'em all, right? Sparky promises that will be the last of the dolphin photos for now..

That sure is a great place to kayak...off the Wabasso Causeway bridge area, and it's just about guaranteed that you will see the dolphins in the channel, crisscrossing back and forth. Sparky got some more good exercise today, chasing after them in her kayak....A great day, no threat of rain....Tomorrow, we'll see you at the beach! Both Eldo and Sparky hope to try out their boogie board in the waves...If there aren't any stinging Portugese Man O' War/shark/riptide  purple signal flags out....

Sparky, the Big Kahuna

Sparky is going to whine for a moment about how she hates to get her photo taken in her bathing suit, and feels like she looks like a big whale! OK, the whining moment is over....Sparky had a blast at the beach today with our boogie board that we bought the other day....

view through our little cabana tent

We visited Golden Sands Beach today, about a 20 minute drive from our RV park. Take a right out of Sunshine Travel RV park, down to highway 510. Hang a right...Take 510 east all the way to A1A, turn north, it's about a mile and a half down on the ocean side--big parking lot, nice bathroom, plenty of beach for everyone. It was a yellow/purple flag day today at the beach....which means rip currents, man o wars (those stinging jellyfish) and a sudden drop off at the shore line, like a ditch which is called a shorebreak....the stinging man o' wars are being pushed into shore by a steady southeast breeze this past week. We set up our little blue cabana, got out our picnic lunch and enjoyed the waves and the beach for the afternoon.

No problem! Spark is NOT deterred from going in and trying out the boogie board today! She tried out the froggy board...it's really for the grandkids, but Sparky wanted to try it out anyway....

Now, it's been a LONG time since Sparky went wave jumping and body surfing, but she sure remembers what it's like for a big wave to smash into you. You think you are prepared, but sometimes you're not! Today took her straight back to being shoved around by the waves at Kenilworth Beach as a young girl growing up blocks from Lake Michigan.

Ooooph!

Sparky got at least one pummeling by a wave which caused her to do a somersault in the water, causing water to jam up her nose which made her sputter and cough as she came up for air. Eldo was laughing his head off. Gr-r-r-r...She'd like to see HIM come out and brave the waves.....(But honey, I have to take some photos for the kids so they can see their mom having fun today!)  That's HIS story!

Sparky finally got some wave action of her own choosing.....

And she rode a few waves.....

Getting some pretty good long rides.....

It was great to get back into the swim of things! But I'll tell you one thing...getting pummeled by the bigger waves makes you realize how careful you have to be out there....the waves can really turn you inside out in a heartbeat and knock the wind out of you. It's a good thing Golden Sands is a lifeguarded beach. Sparky wouldn't have it any other way.......Tomorrow, we'll show you the bathing beauties at the beach!