We took a week off from Thousand Trails and went to Terra Ceia Encore Park in Palmetto. The price was right and we were only there to sleep. Jan and Marshal kept us very busy (and we enjoyed every minute of it)!
We went to see the Royal Lippizan Stallions who are housed and trained out in the country 30 minutes away. They were amazing and beautiful.
And of course we had to eat. Mitch and Marshal at work in the kitchen.
The first day we went to spring training and saw the Pirates play the Tigers. It was a beautiful day for a ballgame and we had a great time.
Henry Higgins (Higgins for short), the new member of the J and M family, the cutest little Yorkie you ever saw at play in one of his favorite spots, right under your feet!!
One day we went to the Manatee Historical Park, a collection of many of the old buildings and things of times past. They had a great display and I even got to meet a "cracker", an old Florida cowboy!
Mitch and Marshal had a great time! ("Two peas in a pod" if you ask me!)
The weather was absolutely perfect for the whole week and we made the most of it. One day we took our friends' catamaran out for lunch. The boat is just the greatest--plenty of room for all eleven of us. The trip was great, we played with a dolphin, waited for the drawbridge to open, had a great lunch in Bradenton, and saw the sights. Can't ask for more than that!
Here's Emily and Steve with their "Catalyst" in the background. They live in Jan and Marshal's neighborhood and we had met them when we all spent a week together during Fantasy Fest in Key West.
And here's Jan and Marshal, great tour guides and a great time!!
A view from the boat going past the house. We spent a bit of time on the back porch during Happy Hour!
Yes, it was pretty much party time the whole week. The last night we went to a wine tasting at the Yacht Club, the nicest wine tasting we've had. Here's the crew: Marshal and Jan, our hosts, Steve and Emily (holding Higgins), Cliff and Debbie (friends from Toronto that J and M met a couple of years earlier at Key West who will be joining us on our Albuquerque trip), and me and Mitch.
Because it was a blind tasting (no, we could see what we were drinking), we didn't know what we were drinking it became a discussion group to decide what wine it was and what food we were eating paired best with it. We tasted seven wines at five ounces per glass. I didn't drink it all or I wouldn't have been able to see. We also had some very nice food.
Sitting on the porch finishing our discussion of the wine tasting. What a way to end a really good week!
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