1187 January 17-18, 2025 Aunt Mary And Nabi
On Friday, I took my morning walk along the park road. This campground also has sites available for equestrian campers.
A Jeep guy with a sense of humor!
I went to run a couple of errands and then after lunch, we drove to Sun City Center to visit with my Aunt Mary and Nabi.
AS we entered their community we saw dozens of houses with blue tarps on roofs. There were many homes damaged here in the hurricane.
We enjoyed an afternoon and evening filled with stories and sharing memories. Mary made delicious chili and salad for dinner. We met their neighbor, Pat, as we shared ice cream and strawberries.
On Saturday, after our morning exercise, Mary went with Tim and I to the Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach at the TECO/Tampa Electric Big Bend Power Station. The plant uses water from Tampa Bay for cooling and then, clean warm water is released back into the bay. This discharge canal attracts manatees in the wintertime. These gentle giants cannot survive in cold water. The electric company has developed this free viewing area. On this day, about 800 manatees were in the canal. These animals are endangered. There are only about 6,000 manatees in Florida. We walked the boardwalks to the piers.
We walked through the Educational Center.
We saw sharks and tarpons. Rays were jumping.
We also saw this handsome yellow crowned night heron.
We drove to Anna Maria Oyster Bar for a great seafood lunch.
We went to the outlet mall to purchase some flavored vinegars. Mary and I had fun tasting samples and making our choices.
We went to Starbucks so that Mary could get her free birthday beverage.
We brought Mary to the campground so that she could see our new rig.
I took her back home and we all had some rest time before we met again in the evening for dinner. We drove back to Apollo Beach to E Sushi and Grill. The sushi was outstanding and artfully displayed…we should have taken pictures. It was late when we got back to the RV. We had such a great visit and it was really nice to be able to spend time together and to be here to celebrate with Mary.
Happy Birthday Aunt Mary!!
