Bradentucky

Bradenton is a beautiful little town, and we just happen to have a great tour guide, food critic, and taxi driver. William has been here long enough to know almost everyone and every place, and the guy knows his restaurants! We love Twin Dolphin Marina, which is has all the amenities -- great clean showers, swimming pool and hot tub, good restaurant with specials every night and bands, beautiful Christmas decorations just outside the gates, and a great staff and nice residents. What more could you need?

We had a good surprise this weekend; cruising friends Lee and Susan Laningham are searching for a boat and ended up in the area for the weekend. We had a mini reunion and dined far too much (notice William chowing down at the Cortez Kitchen). We visited the St. Pete boat show courtesy of William and Whiteaker Yacht Sales, and stayed for the Latitudes and Attitudes party afterward featuring free drinks and pizza and a great band (Eric Stone). Imagine our surprise when we saw Jim from Freedom and Tom and Deb from Heart's Desire, boats we'd traveled with on the Tenn-Tom and crossed the gulf with to Clearwater. Sometimes your wakes cross again sooner than you think they might.

Another surprise -- William was having breakfast across the Manatee River and ran into Jeff Richard (at picnic table by pool with Lee and Susan), who was in the area for training. We cruised back to TN two years ago with Jeff and his wife Elizabeth; they now reside in Tennessee with their new baby Daniel.

We lunched with Paul and Gail Carroll (featured in previous adventures in Clearwater) and Pat and Kat Chadwick, friends we met in Marathon four years ago and then ran into again in the Bahamas two years ago....my, how time flies! Lee and Susan and William joined in, and a good time was had by all (even though it turned from a balmy day into a chilly one on the terrace of the Reef and Grille). It seems cruising friends are better about staying in touch than other friends; maybe we just need to keep up with others' adventures.