The Holidays

Written by wareynolds1

”Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.” ~ Francis Bacon

After an enjoyable week in St. Pete we headed north to spend a pleasant Christmas week at a KOA near Tarpon Springs. It was a quiet Christmastime that involved visiting with friends, good food, a few small presents, football, and a refreshing dip in the pool on Christmas Day.

Then we went back to our home base in Bushnell where we celebrated the two remaining holidays after Christmas…the New Year and National Bacon Day! Kodi celebrated with some of his new friends. (Tapping on a picture will allow you to “scratch and sniff” the bacon!)

Did you smell the bacon!?

One Christmas gift that Treva gave me was a Clear Kayak Manatee Eco Tour in the town of Crystal River, Florida. An hour north of our domicile, we drove there the morning of New Year’s Eve. It was a little breezy and a little chilly on the open water, but once we paddled upstream the conditions were pleasant. We glided around on the water, checking out the scenery and the wildlife, for an hour or two. We saw turtles drying in the sun, some egrets frolicking at water’s edge, and cormorants surfacing here and there. The manatees that were underwater were a challenge to see because of the reflection of the cloudy skies. We started rowing back to our starting point, feeling a little disappointed, when…we were joined by this big female manatee! We know she was female because they grow larger than the male manatees. She had quite a few scars on her backside, which I suspect were from boaters. She glided along with us for about fifteen minutes, swimming along side us or going under our transparent kayaks. (Tapping on a picture will allow you to scroll through that group of pictures in greater detail.)