Tree Frogs and Coconuts

Sierra is always on the hunt for frogs, toads, lizards, snakes... and so she quite often has mini terrariums for a day or two before letting them go.

Aayla isn't as lucky quite so often but today was her day to shine too!

 Can you guess where this little frog jumped? Yep! Right up on my camera. I love Sierras expression!

All this frog hunting is hard work so off she went in her Jeep to find some coconuts and she found quite the score.

Bokeelia Sunset, Pine Island, Florida

Tonight we took a drive to the North end of Pine Island to a little place called Bokeelia wharf. We were in search of sunsets and dolphins, and we were not disappointed!

A wonderful evening full of dolphins, sunsets and so much more! A sweet little area and I highly recommend a trip here to watch the sunset yourself if you are even on Pine Island. We loved it so much that tomorrow when Grammy Sue comes for a visit we are going to bring her back here!

Pine Island Bike Ride to St James

We arrived at Pine Island KOA a couple days ago and literally have been hanging out at the pool the whole time. Today I decided I needed to get out and took a bike ride all by myself!

I decided to ride down to the south end of the island to the tiny town of St James in search of an even tinier beach area I heard about. It was a hot bike riding day but it was so worth it. I did however stop more often then ride on the way there to observe the wild life and snap some photos of the wildflowers.

First discovery were these Wood Storks enjoying the waters along the roadside. I had to look them up as they were new to me.

 There was a Great Blue Heron a little further down.

My favourite spot of the day was this (I think) a Gopher Tortoise. He was crawling a long the sidewalk. Every once in awhile he would dip off onto the grass and have a snack and then carry on his way. I watched him for awhile.

 Finally I managed to make it to the little beach.

 On the way home I saw the tortoise again.

This time I noticed many different wild flowers growing a long the roadway. 

The last photo with the circular purple flower reminded me so much of Horton Hears a Who...

There were more Wood Storks on the other side of the road on the way home too.

I enjoyed my bike ride and really need to head out by myself more often. So hard to sometimes just take the time for myself.

REVIEW Terra Ceia RV Resort, Palmetto, Florida

Even though we had Terra Ceia RV Resort already booked before buying our Thousand Trails membership, we still got to save our 20% after buying our membership because it was an Encore resort, which helped the fees here a bit.

This resort is located at 9303 Bayshore Road, Palmetto, Florida, 34221. Just minutes from Bradenton. It's more of a trailer park with many permanent sites.

VALUE 3/5

Currently rates were $46 a night and to me this was expensive for what we got. We did save 20% by now being a Thousand Trails member so our cost was $36.80 but they add on the $4 a night resort fee. 

SITE QUALITY 3.5/5

Our site (F10) was a decent size. All grass with a small cement pad for the picnic table. It was level but the grass area was way lower then the cement so we had to pull ahead further to be able to put our stairs down. Even in the rain it remained dry.

FACILITY FUN 3.5/5

There was a very clean pool here which even provided a few pool toys and allowed your own toys in it. It was also heated to a decent temperature so even I could go in. There was no playground here, but the girls could ride both their bikes and their electric jeep around. They met a few friends here so they had a good time here non the less. There was a clubhouse which we didn't enter and a small lake to fish in.

NATURAL SURROUNDINGS 2/5

Basically the area we were in was mainly mobile homes. Each lot was responsible for their own garden etc. There was another area of the park that did have a lot of trees (on your right side of map below) and we would have been much happier in that area. I'm rating it as a 2 based on where we were parked with nothing but a grass lot.

BATHROOMS 4/5

The bathrooms and showers here were very clean and well maintained.

STAFF 2.5/5

Honestly this is kind of an unfair judging, and here is why. When I called in to see if we could come a day early I was told there was no room and no over flow parking. Upon arrival we saw an over flow parking area right beside the sign in building. O-well the Walmart here  was great. Then upon registration the person who registered us wasn't friendly or unfriendly, he was rather bland. He signed us in and we parked. That was the only staff interaction we had during our whole stay.

LOCATION 4/5

This was a great location if you want to be close to Bradenton area. We had a great time at the South Florida Museum and on the  Bradenton River Walk. We took a day trip to MOTE and Lido Key beach as well. There were a few other things near by I had wanted to do but we didn't book in enough time in this area. There was a dollar store right beside this park too if you ran out of any basics you could walk over.

OVERALL 3/5

We were not thrilled with this park but were happy that we had a bit of space on our lot and a decent pool. The location was great for the few items I had planned for us to do. There was WiFi but it was at a cost and we did not buy it.

Somehow I deleted the rest of the resort pictures I took...sorry.