Manatee and a surprise swim

Manatee Springs State Park is one of my new favorite places and that’s saying a lot considering how much I love Buc-ee’s.  We woke up Tuesday morning and took the dogs to a huge park that was chock full of squirrels and… buzzards.  I have never seen so many buzzards congregating in one park in my life.  They were everywhere.

Maiya and Belle were let off leash to tear around the park and let the squirrels taunt them while Brodie ambled between trash cans.  Those two dogs spent a good half hour going at top speeds from tree to tree where a team of what can only be described as Mean Squirrels would shimmy up a few feet and then turn around and say bullying rodent type things.  At least that’s what I think was happening.

The absolute best part of the morning was – we saw a manatee!  In Manatee Springs!  I was thrilled beyond measure and then the couple next to us said they see manatees all the time and were much more intrigued by a turtle pushing a dead fish around in the water.  Whatever floats your boat, I guess.  I saw a manatee!

This manatee was perfectly content to loll around the bottom of the springs, only putting its snout up a few inches to get some air before sinking back down.  The pictures are hard to see because of reflections on the water, but it was there and we were excited to be able to see it.

After the manatee sighting, we put the dogs back in the rig and Dave and I went on the boardwalk (dogs aren’t allowed on the boardwalk which was okay with us since they’re like toddlers and mom and dad need a break sometimes).  It was a magical forest with water and trees and stumps and quiet all around you.  I loved it so much that we went back the next day for another walk on it.  Maybe I’m easily enthralled.

That afternoon I cleaned the rig from top to bottom, banishing all other members of the household to the pen while I did the work because too many heartbeats in that small space can drive a person batty.  Sweeping, dusting, wiping down surfaces, mopping – it felt great to have it all done but with two people and three canines living in a tiny space my bliss didn’t last long.  Dirty paws, sandy fur, drool, and dog boogies were back in no time.  Gotta learn to be okay with some dirt or you’ll never survive RV living.

Dave and I walked over to the barbecue concession stand in the park for lunch and shared a big plate of ribs and beans, topping it off with an ice cream sandwich.  It’s rare that we eat something other than what we have in the rig so I enjoyed the treat.  Here’s what I should have ordered:

By the way, whenever Dave leaves the RV for any reason and the dogs are in the pen, this is Maiya’s stance.  Every.  Single.  Time.

The concession stand also claimed it was a WiFi hotspot so I optimistically took the computer down there to post some blogs and …. Not so much.  Parks that say they have WiFi usually mean that sometimes, on occasion, if the weather is right and the stars are aligned and no one else is in the park, you might be able to connect to something for a few seconds before it disconnects.  And that’s if you’re lucky.  I don’t believe parks anymore.

That night we spent the evening under the awning and enjoying the great outdoors and I heard the owls who sound like monkeys screeching just like the guy at the barbecue place said.  And I took a lot of pictures that might look like ordinary trees to you, but they were works of art to me.

The next morning we said goodbye to the manatees and the buzzards and the squirrels and the owls and went to visit a longtime friend of Dave’s named Linda.  Linda was gracious and hospitable and charming and sweet and if you ask me, kind of nuts to allow an RV with three dogs and a woman she’s never met to park in her gorgeous neighborhood and give her a reputation for hosting vagabonds.

Linda has a beautiful pool that’s enclosed in a screened lanai and that’s where I thought it would be safest to visit knowing these dogs can be unpredictable.  I barely shook her hand to introduce myself when Brodie, sniffing around with his one good eye to the ground, stepped right into the pool and sank like a stone.  I mean down he went, all ten pounds of him.  I did what I have always done when a dog falls into the pool (I had a blind cocker spaniel as a teenager so I’m no stranger to dogs accidentally falling in the pool) – I jumped right in and got him out.  Clothes, shoes, phone and all went into the water, but of course I’d do it ten more times if I had to.  I’m just sorry we don’t have pictures of it.

I excused myself to the RV where I put on dry clothes and combed my sopping wet hair and joined everyone shortly after.

If you can believe this, those dogs were the best behaved I’ve seen them in ages.  These dogs are not ill behaved like jumping on people or anything – I just thought they’d whine about being in a strange place or try to get out of the screened porch but they didn’t.  We all had a really nice visit.

Finally it was time to say goodbye to Linda so I got a quick snapshot of the two friends.  (And note that Dave is holding tightly to Brodie's leash since after the pool incident we wouldn't let him go two feet away from us.)

We got to Koreshan State Park which, it turns out, was an old religious cult compound that they’ve made into a camping grounds.  And I think we read someplace that it was even a precursor to the Koresh family from Waco which would explain why it was a cult.  Well okay then!

The sites were much smaller and sandier but there were bunnies everywhere!  Turns out that Maiya likes bunnies as much as she likes squirrels.

That night we took the dogs for a walk but after his eventful day, Brodie was exhausted so he rode in the backpack.  I know exactly how he felt.