SEE PREVIOUS FLORIDA BLOGS
“SPFB” is going to be the new set of initials that you’ll be seeing on our blogs this winter! Every winter in Florida we MUST make a trip to Ross Prairie Campground and to Rainbow River. This year is no exception! While at Ross Prairie we get to visit with my sister Sharon and her hubby Dick who just celebrated his 85th birthday at a party given in his honor. Rainbow is mentioned in every one of our Florida blogs, whether we are camping and meeting new (now very good) friends, Jerry and Ruth or “dragging” Bud and Carol OR Ron and Nancy up and/or down this deep winding sparkling clear river. Last year I blathered on about snorkeling all the way from the head springs back to KP Hole County Park. So, if you want to see pictures of the river - - SPFB!! This year you just get to see H and his canoe tied up at the short dock at the headsprings. See the motor on the back?! See the color of the water behind him? When the depth of the river is deep – the clear sparkling water picks up that beautiful blue hue. The deeper the water – the darker the blue! We motored back down this time about half way and put to shore so we could slip into our wet suits, secure the bright orange “diver down” flag that every diver /snorkeler is required to have and we finished the trip down river. On this years venture we were lucky enough to see an otter besides the many kinds of fish. Since it was New Years Day and we went swimming – are we now official “Polar Bears” like the crazy guys up north who jump in the freezing river on the 1st day of the year??
EG Simmons is another SPFB. We are parked in the section that was closed for remodeling last winter. We arrived before noon and B&B arrived later that afternoon! B is enjoying all this personalized service of H arriving first at a campground and selecting the best spots. These campsites are big enough for 4 trailers!
Tuesday the 4 of us climbed up into B’s big white Chevy truck and H played co pilot for the day. Our first stop was the power plant just north of Ruskin where a large group of manatees spend their winters. SPFB! Barbee was like a preteen on her first shopping trip to the mall. We were not laughing at her – we were enjoying her enthusiasm! Manatees, sharks, manta rays and a multitude of fish all had their pictures taken. Southbound again, we went thru Bradenton and out across the bridge to Anna Marie Island. SPFB - because we HAD to take them to the historic fishing pier. Further down the island we parked again and walked the white sandy beach. Our final stop was Anna Marie’s Oyster Bar, even after Bruce kept saying he didn’t like oysters! He was impressed!!
And there are pigs here too! Several were right outside the trailer at 3am this morning and woke me up with their rooting around for all the acorns that had fallen. The guys saw a group of 5 later this morning. This was a stay at home day to ride our bikes for our daily inventory of the campground, as H calls it. We had discovered several horseshoe crab shells for Barbee the other day but this time the tide was way out and we found several live Whelks, some big snails and a million little bitty crabs. We did make a run to the grocery store and a side trip to MickeyD’s for wifi and ice cream, tho!
