Apollo Beach seeing the Manatee's

Sarasota, FL


We woke up to another beautiful day here in sunny Sarasota Fl.  We took the dogs on their morning walk  and then we went out exploring while we waited for Heidi to text me they were ready for us to come over. 

This is a beautiful state park.  We walked out to the entrance for me to get some pictures
 
Once you turn off of 72 you come through the entrance gate to the ranger station

We toured the visitor center across from the ranger station and enjoyed seeing what creatures they have here.
 
Once Heidi text me we were off to Apollo Beach to see the Manatee’s!

The power plant has set up this awesome walk way where you can come and see the Manatee’s.
 
See the huge smoke stakes .. i thought they were neat
  
The guys having a great time
 
This is Tidal Creek
   
There were lots of fish .. we even saw a shark but he was to fast for me to get a picture of him.

Not sure if you can make out this striped fish but he was neat looking
 
look at the water temp .. of course the temp here today is 88 degrees!
   
These Manatee’s were too far away to enjoy
    
             
The birds were enjoying the warm day and this one even caught him some lunch
    
There was another walk way and we went up there and we finally found some Manatee’s that we could see

i think they are cute and i love their nose .. several were putting on shows for all the guest
       
Looks like this one got his tail caught in a a motor blade or something
        
We walked through the gift shop but their stuff was too expensive so we passed on anything
    
After seeing the Manatee’s we stopped at Wal-mart and got some things for dinner.  We headed back and Peter grilled dinner and then we all were tired It was almost 7 PM so we decided to call it an early night.
 
We have been having a great time and our time seems to be going by so fast .. we have plans for tomorrow but you will have to wait and see what they are .. until next time

Myakka State Park

Sarasota, FL

We were slow to get up and getting around as it was an exhausting day yesterday.  Once we finally were awake the sun was out and temps were warming up nicely.  We went to meet Heidi and Peter at the campsite. 

were exploring Myakka State Park .. first was a walk thru the woods.
 
Isn’t this a beautiful trail?  I am so fascinated with the palmetto trees

Oh my the hanging bridge is within site and they are expecting me to go up there?  UMMMM
 
Well here is the hanging bride and it’s longggg .. a couple of times it started to sway and i back off .. finally i braved the courage and made it across.

After i made it across the bridge i headed back down .. hubby, Heidi and Peter headed up the rest of the way .. no way was i going up there. 
 
the view is beautiful up there .. Of course hubby took these pictures while i was safely on the ground
       
Wow 76.1 feet in the air .. so glad i didn’t go any farther
 
  
Here are our friends Peter and Heidi .. we are having a blast with them .. It’s been way to long since we’ve seen them
 
After touring the canopy walk we headed to the Marsh to look for gators.
 
we saw lots of birds ..
 
We enjoyed walking out on the board walk but birds were all we saw there.
 

On our way back to our camper we came to  a bridge and behold we finally got to see some gators!  Here is a big boy sun bathing
    
This is a river here in Florida .. it’s more like a creek compared to Illinois Rivers and creeks.

These signs are out with the warnings

We grilled out and had a nice dinner with Peter and Heidi and we enjoyed a campfire.  After a late night we headed home to get ready for bed time.  It’s been a wonderful, yet exhausting day.