Anna Maria Island

2/14/22
​Today we packed up and moved along down the road, a little further south to a spot near Bradenton.  We found Bradenton/Hunsader Farms KOA, a nice spot in an agricultural area.  KOA stands for Kampgrounds Of America.  It's a membership based campground chain, nice because there is a standard required for the owners to maintain. It's not real expensive, and we get a small discount on camping in a KOA park.   This campground is on the property of a working farm.  There are fields of hundreds of tomato plants, plus something else just starting to show green leaves.  And that's just the fields right by our campground, there are plenty more around.  Also, bison, ostriches, goats with curly horns, llamas and a big bull who just glowers all the time!  The spot we're in has some nice room to set up our chairs and there are new and very nicely done restrooms, showers and laundry, in addition to the livestock and crops!

In the late afternoon, we saw this beautiful small sundog in the sky to the west.  I was pretty surprised, since the only times I've ever seen a sundog were in the winter with ice crystals in the air.  Either way, I bet it's a sign of good luck and good fortune for all who see it.  And perfect for a Valentine's Day celebration!

2/15/22
​We drove over to the gulf today and ended up on Anna Maria Island, a fun and special place for us because we were here 3 years ago with friends, Bob and Debbie.  We had such a great trip, staying in a rental for a week and enjoying a warm week near the beach.  Now we're back to the same spot, and wish Bob and Debbie were here!  
We got started on our quest for the perfect Key Lime pie, and we are still working on that.  Today, we had lunch at the Sandbar and had some delicious pie for dessert.  This one gets 4 thumbs up (2 from each of us) and is leading in the competition.

A bunch of these guys were hanging around, waiting for crumbs from our graham cracker crumb crust! It was a sunny day, not very crowded out on the beach, and a cool breeze.  Who could ask for anything more?!