2026 Feb 13 to 15: Winter Quarters Bradenton

Vicki’s first bike ride was around the pond at Winter Quarters without the electric part of the bike working. Steven fixed this by cleaning the battery contacts. V: the bike weighs 60 lbs with the battery. It’s still work.

Vicki continues to enjoy the swimming pool and the morning aquatic exercises. V: small class that day, usually 10-12 of us.

We invited our Alaskan neighbors (Dennis and Kathy) over for games on Friday night. They said they knew how to play pinochle, so Steven confirmed that they used the same points for meld and the same rules for taking a trick. But what Steve and Vicki were not prepared for was when Dennis, after taking the first bid, asked his partner Kathy to pass him four cards. He looked at those cards and then he passed back four cards to her. That definitely made the game very interesting.

We also taught them how to play Quirkle, after we took a break for some key lime pie. We had a great evening playing two different games with them.

On Saturday we took Lexie to the Palma Sola Causeway Park, a public park that allows dogs on the beach. Lexie actually went into the water, which I think is a first for her. But getting to the park took a long time, the road is the same causeway to Anna Maria Island and was very crowded at noontime. V: the RV next to our Mini Cooper was not ours but people did bring RVs there for the day.

view of rt 64 coming from Bradenton
Vicki walking Lexie on the beach
hot dog resting on the beach
Vicki gets her feet wet
Steve rules the bay
at Palma Sola Bay park, Rt 64 in the back
walking the dog in the sand
Lexie (and Steve) are in the water
Vicki looking at her wet toes in the Gulf of Mexico

Saturday evening we caught up with Dan and Andrea at their place to go to a concert at Jannus Live to listen and watch Sullvn, Zebrahead, Unwritten Law, and the headline act Goldfinger. The bands played either punk or ska (Steven definitely preferred the ska music.)

Dan’s friends, Bill and Brittany, joined us in an uber to the concert venue, where Dan had reserved a suite overlooking the venue’s courtyard. The suite was very comfortable, the view was great, and the suite was supplied (thanks to Andrea) with refreshments. Several other friends of Dan joined us (Jeff and Katie, Jimmy, Katie’s cousin and spouse), it was a great little party. As a surprise, Sullvn was joined by the lead singer of Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

outside Janus Live VIP entrance
inside suite #1
on the balcony at Janus Live
view of the Janus Live courtyard
Dancing to Goldfinger
Check out the buildings around the outside of this great outdoor venue in downtown St. Petersburg.
Entrance to our Jannus Live Suite
happy people ready for the concerts
we are ready for the music
Sullvn w lead singer of Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Vicki w Jeff, Dan, Bill – the old Eastlake Gang
Headliners – crowd got denser with each band.

Sunday morning, we went to Forward Church again and caught up with Alan and Patti Watson for a repeat performance. Afterwards we went to Woody’s River Roo Pub Grill and Tiki Bar for lunch. Woody’s had live music going on, and it made nice background filler because we found a table off to the side of the main floor. V: It was great to see Alan and Patti and do more catching up. Windy day.

Patti, Alan, Steve and Vicki at Woody’s River Restaurant
Streve and Vicki outside Woody’s River Restaurant
river view of Woody’s River restaurant (w Alan)
Outside Woody’s River Roo

We ended the evening with the family zoom call, where all the siblings and parents were present! Greg in his boat, Steve in his RV, and everyone else trying to stay warm up north.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *