Our First Month in Bradenton

A walk along the beach with Allie

Mike and Allie

Having spaghetti at the Sandbar!

Papa taking a siesta at the beach

Marti the Pirate

Beautiful sunset

McKechnie Field
Home of the Bradenton Marauders

Another beautiful sunset

One of our favorite spots
Woody's River Roo

View up the Manatee River

Bike Rack - isn't that cool!

Another cool bike rack along Main St.

Enjoying the rainbow after the rain

Todd's family aboard NautiNell

Savannah wants to learn to be a Captain!

Future Capt' Chappy!

Papa Mike and Piper

Since we’ve been here in Bradenton at Twin Dolphin Marina we’ve finally got some of our family on board.  It’s been great!

First Todd’s family and his in-laws (Todd is Mike’s son) rented a condo on Anna Maria Island for a week.  (That’s one of the reasons we came here.)  We got to spend a lot of time with them.  We were able to take them all out for a boat ride on NautiNell.  All ten of them!  We went back out the river and stuck our nose out into the Gulf for a little while.  We were able to show them part of the GIWW.  It was a perfect day and the kids had a ball.  Each one got to drive the boat under Papa Mike’s supervision.  It was so good to see Todd and his family.  That’s the hard part of living on NautiNell  - being away from our family.

The next visit was my son Mike and grandbaby Allie.  They drove here and spent their time with us on the boat.  One thing I did learn  - NautiNell is not exactly toddler proof!  Also “hurricane Allie” never stops!  LOL!

It was so good to visit with them.  Miss them all already!

We’ve been to the beach a couple of times on the Island.  There’s a great place on the beach to eat called The Sandbar.  It’s right on the beach and has a great view.  

Mike and I have taken a few Whaler rides up and down the river.  There are several neat places along the river to stop and eat or have a cocktail.  Right up our style! 

There are also several pubs in the downtown area close to the marina.  So far we’ve only eaten at one – FAVS.  Great little Italian place.  There’s a restaurant here at the marina that has really great happy hour specials.  We’ve hit that several times. 

My computer caught a virus and compromised the hard drive.  Good thing we had the scooters so we could take it to Best Buy and have the Geek Squad take a look at it.  We ended up getting a new computer.  Now I’m trying to learn Windows 8!!  On one of the days that we had to go to Best Buy it was raining when we came out.  We managed to find a neat little Chicago diner called Joey D’s to wait out the rain.  Great place!  It’s so cool to stumble on these places. 

There is a really nice Riverwalk here along the Manatee River and runs by the marina.  I’ve walked it a few times now.  It’s really a nice walk with several stops – family center park – skateboard ramp and a huge pavilion.  If it wasn’t so hot I’d walk it more!  Geesh!  It’s been in the 90’s here with heat index of a 100+ about every day.  Then it also rains every afternoon…..!  That’ Florida!

Mike and I went to a baseball game here the other night.  This is where the Pittsburgh Pirates have their Spring training.  So their Class AA team plays here – the Bradenton Marauders.  It was really fun!  Of course it rained so the game was delayed about an hour.  At least we could stand under the bleachers and drink beer while we waited for the rain to stop.  No worries!  But the home team lost…..  :-(

We’ve also found the local American Legion and the Elks Lodge.  Mike checks for these first thing when we arrive somewhere new.   

We will being having more company soon.  Our friends, Pam and Bill will be here Sunday.  Can’t wait to see them and catch up on all the hometown news.  Also, Jeff and Linda are planning to come up this way on their boat Jeremiah soon.

Till next time!

Admiral “C”