Tampa, Florida-Lazy Days in sunshine!

We settled into Seffner outside of Tampa for the next three weeks through the holidays.  I had a little traveling to do and we just wanted to let the holidays pass by.  Lazy Days was an ok place to hang out for awhile.  The campground offers daily free breakfast and lunches at the dealership's cafe.  We wandered through every coach they had.  We never talked to a salesperson so that was nice.  The time flew by quickly for us as we seemed to find something to do every day.  We took every class they had regarding Class A's.  I even took the driving course and decided that driving the Beast isn't as terrifying as I thought.  They have you drive around in the campground which is nuts with kids, dog walkers and other coaches.  I went last and was glad when it was over.
  

Love the Florida birds

I came back from Ashley's and the Beast was all decorated

Apollo Beach is home to Big Bend power plant with a really nice manatee viewing area.  It is free and there are hundreds of manatee enjoying the warm water that comes out from the power plant.  We spent a few days there just enjoying the manatee resting.  Occasionally you'll see a ray fly out of the water and we even saw a couple of little sharks in the water.  On our next trip, I think we'll return to Crystal River.  We went there 17 years ago to snorkel with these mermaids and I would love to do it again.

This guy had a monitor on him that tracks his movements

The monitor that floats along 

Part of our trip was to visit with Eric's family in the area.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner with Eric's Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jimmy at their home and the next day we took a little drive into Mt. Dora, a cute little town.  We had a nice lunch at the Chef's Pantry and I splurged on some wonderful Olive Oils and Vinegars Mt. Dora Olive Oil Company.  Now I need to find some recipes for all I bought!

Eric and his Uncle Jimmy on the Husbands Bench

We experienced a "porch party" at John's and I got to meet Bob and Beth, and John and Kim and their  daughters.  The oldest is getting married soon so the family is excited for that.  We had a great time and what a wonderful afternoon we had.  Eric's cousins all around have been a lot of fun to be around.

One of Eric's high school buddies lives in the Tampa area and we had fun with him and his family.  Eric went to a Tampa Bay Buccaneer's game with them.  I stayed at the coach and caught up on reading & cleaning.  He said it was a nice stadium with a nice crowd.  We went to dinner with them a couple times and even visited another brewery in Dunedin.  It was a great meal with great beer and good company!

  

We spent a few days at our Newport neighbors place and learned a new card game called Five Crowns.  We were terrible at it and Pat really got us one night.  We vowed revenge and we aim to practice playing so we can be the card sharks Pat and Dick are by the time we meet again in the summer.  We had so much good food while there!  For the Oregon/Ohio game we had a low-country dinner-I made shrimp and grits, Pat made greens and peas.  Both turned out yummy!  We went Ybor City for lunch one afternoon and shared a pitcher of white sangria at Columbia.  Oh my, that was delicious!  I bought their little cookbook just for that recipe.  The Columbia has been in that location for 110 years.  It is huge and can seat 1,700 in fifteen rooms and takes up an entire city block.  Another great place we ate at was Brocato's.  We had deviled crabs, piccadillo empanada's and cuban sandwiches.  I must get the recipe for the Cuban piccadillo.  I have been craving it since Dawn made it down in Blue Water Key!  Dawn, if your out there-email me your recipe.  It was wonderful!

We did a field trip to Fort Desoto and stopped at Billy's for margarita's

Eric and Dick at Billy's

If you see this sign, stop in for the white sangria

Sandhill Cranes at Pat & Dick's place

The Beast all tucked in amongst the trees

We enjoyed the Tampa RV super show with my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Steve.  We wandered through the Prevost busses, the new Foretravels, and the Newell.  I liked bits and parts of all of them, but I like ours the best!  Good thing too as I don't have $1Million to spend right now, haha!  

It sure was fun seeing Nancy & Steve.  Hopefully it won't be twenty years till we see them again!

A raspberry from Bandit!  He is one of the cutest little guys!

After the RV show it was off the Space Coast for a couple launches, wildlife sanctuaries, and hanging out in Florida in the winter.  We are in an over 55 park and close to Kennedy Space Center and Merritt Island.  Beautiful spot for some R&R!  

Canaveral Seashore

Taken from our windshield.  Gidget and Mowgli love watching the birds!