This travel update is for our two-month stay in Bradenton, Florida, USA. It covers November 1 – December 31.

We stayed at the Horseshoe Cove RV Resort in a one-bedroom “vacation home” for these two months. Here’s what it looks like on the outside.

Here’s the living/dining/kitchen.

And the bedroom.

It was a nice place to spend a couple of months and I enjoyed talking to the neighbors. John, across the street, is a retired schoolteacher, he taught American History in Milwaukee for 32 years. Dick, next door, is a retired machinist who worked mostly in the auto industry. Mary and Kevin ran the music department, they’re from near Pittsburgh.

Family and Friends:

We spent a weekend at a resort near Orlando with my sister, my brother and his wife. One day we ate lunch at Chuy’s.

My sister gave my brother and I Star Trek shirts.

We had lunch at Linger Lodge with Gordon and Cindy. It’s a fun place with lots of taxidermized animals and good food.

We had another lunch at Linger Lodge with Ron and Mary. It’s on the Braden River.

We went down to the Allegro Bistro in Venice to celebrate Patti’s birthday with Gordon, both of them were born on December 1. Gordon plays trombone in the band and Chris leads the band and plays keys and trumpet. Mike plays banjo and sings. It’s fun to know musicians.

There was a nice cake.

We went down to Chris and Bev’s place in Venice to see the Venice Boat Parade. Their place is on the Intracoastal Waterway so there was a good view of the parade from their backyard.

The lights on the boats reflected nicely off the water.

Medical:

• Dentist
  • Patti needed two crowns, my checkup didn’t have any issues
• Cochlear Implant
  • We went up to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville to talk about Cochlear Implants with the team there. I decided to go ahead and get the procedure in February. Here I am at the clinic, pretending to not be able to hear.
  • 

Entertainment:

We went to the Asolo Theater and saw “Cabaret”, it was a good production. Here we are in the lobby.

Horseshoe Cove RV Resort had a Christmas Choir concert and we sang in the choir.

I played the keyboard on one number and my Tenor Recorder on another number.

I really enjoyed being involved in a musical performance, it’s been a long time since I’ve done that.

Horseshoe Cove RV Resort also had a golf cart parade which we enjoyed. People decorate their carts with all kinds of lights.

We enjoyed a meal at Stottlemyers Smokehouse with Ron and Mary.

Mote Marine Aquarium:

I did my volunteer shifts on Sunday afternoon as usual. Here are some of my marine friends.

Coney Grouper

Moray Eel

Common Octopus

Royal Gramma

Calico Crab

Clownfish with Coral.

I like going to the aquarium.

Future Plans:

• December 31 – January 14: Airbnb in St. Petersburg, FL
• January 14 – 23: we’ll be house and pet sitting in Mulberry, FL for my brother and his wife when they’re on vacation
• January 23 – May 2: we’ve got a “vacation cottage” reserved at Flamingo Lake RV Park in Jacksonville. That’s where I’ll be recuperating from the Cochlear Implant surgery and we’ll need to go back to the audiologist at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville frequently so she can make changes to my programming.
• May 2 – June 2: we’ve got a mobile home reserved at the Twin Shores Mobile Home Park on Longboat Key near Sarasota. We’ve stayed at that park before but in a different unit.
• After June 2, no plans yet