Are there manatees at Lake Manatee State Park? I’m camping and I have answers!

My first camping trip in 2023 is to Lake Manatee State Park, down near Tampa, Florida. I’m turning into a regular snowbird, aren’t I? But you won’t hear an “eh” or a “you betcha” quite yet. Last January I went south to Orlando area where I camped in two recreation areas, Alexander Springs (recap) and Juniper Springs (recap). Side note, neither spring campsite had water (ironic isn’t it!?), or power and I thought that was going to be how the rest of my camping experiences went. Turns out, I was wrong! Every single state park and RV park since then has had water and power, and some even had sewer #FancyLife.

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Unfortunately, Lake Manatee State Park won’t make the list of my top 5 favorites, but to be perfectly honest, I didn’t come here for the park itself. Oh also, there aren’t manatees at this park. Go to Manatee Springs State Park if you want that experience! The best part about Lake Manatee, well I guess it depends on who you ask because the lake is pretty big and probably good for fishing, I don’t know? But this park is in a great location! It’s close to Tampa/St. Pete and not very far from the central west Florida coast beaches. Did I get all the directions in there… central, west, coast, Florida. OK, got it. I actually booked the campsite so I could explore Venice Beach, on the hunt for sharks teeth. Spoiler alert, I found zero teeth! I’m probably the worst person to have on your team if you’re in any sort of tooth-finding, or manatee finding competition, so just remember that.

I also visited the St. Pete Pier, which is pretty amazing. It helped that the night I was there, the weather was absolutely perfect. From the little food dining area they actually had vegan pizza, too, another major win.

OK, back to the park itself… it’s small but has a few hiking trails. I’ve seen different types of birds but if you’re into birding, I don’t think this park will impress you. What do I know about birds? Well, I didn’t see any eagles, ospreys, hawks, heck I don’t even think I saw a heron! Gosh, that was dramatic. I DID see a heron and quite a few egrets. Sorry I got my feathers ruffled there. I’ll be less dramatic for the rest of the post.

There were small birds like red-bellied woodpeckers and I think I saw a blue jay. Oh, since last year I’ve been really hoping to get photos of armadillos because they’re just so cute. Well, I had the best chance ever while I was walking on the trail but the little rascal was fast! Here’s what I got. It also didn’t help matters that I should’ve been using a different lens.

If you’re wanting to camp in the Tampa/St. Pete/Bradenton area, this park is perfect! Location is its biggest asset. Oh, and I should mention the sites are a mix of gravel and sand (boo!) and after it rained one night, I saw a few sites that had big puddles. Kind of disappointing with the sand and the standing water but overall, I enjoyed my time at the park.

See you again tomorrow!

-Out of the Wilderness

The iPhone Kids Racing Commercial – The Music and a Fatal Error?

Apple is telling GoPro to GET OUT MY WAY! Well, I kind of made that part up but Apple is advertising their “steady cam” capabilities in their new ad. A boy is running and his mom tracks his every step with the steadiest of video shots. Take a look then scroll down for the music and what might be a critical mistake.

The Music. A great song choice for this commercial, it’s Tadashii “Get Out My Way” featuring Lecrae. Here’s the full track, then scroll down for a scandalous take on the making of this commercial!

But he’s fast, right? This commercial shows us that the one main kid featured is the fastest in the group. He starts out slow but by the end he crosses the finish line in first place. Atta boy! But then at the same time, we’re expected to believe his mom, running sideways and halfway concentrating on recording her son running, is keeping up with him? One of two things must be true: the boy is actually very slow, or his mom is (or was) an Olympic runner. I wouldn’t call this a fatal error in the commercial but it certainly leaves a lot of room for questions.

One thing is on full display, though, in spite of the logical error explained above. If these clips come out steady and crisp, the iPhone 14 is no longer a phone with a camera. It’s a camera with a phone!

Till tommorow, y’all…

-Out of the Wilderness

Anywhere At Any Time

As 2023 started, it dawned on me what a great situation I’m in. A couple of dogs, a camper and a truck. It would be a shame to forget that I can go anywhere at any time. In fact, I can go to all the wheres. Here’s a where. There’s a where. Over there, over here, go go go! Inspired by this jolt of inspiration, the opportunity opened up for a campsite at a state park in central Florida. Where, where, where is it you might be asking? I’ll have a full recap of this first camping trip of 2023 tomorrow so be sure to come back at 1pm central, but for now, here’s a picture from the campground!

If you can guess the park, you get 100 points! After this park, I’ll head over to Orlando to see family and watch the college football championship. Oh, plus on the way to Orlando I’m stopping at a Harvest Host location, a farm east of Tampa and I can’t wait to share more about that! I guess I’ll save it for another post but here’s a picture to whet your appetite…

This year’s theme is “real and deep” which is going to include a subtitle, “Anywhere at any time.” I MUST remember a couple of things: Don’t take life and health for granted (a big reminder was the situation with NFL football player Damar Hamlin) and secondly, take opportunities to go anywhere at any time!

See you all tomorrow with a recap of the first camping trip of 2023…

-Out of the Wilderness

The power of prayer a million times over

This week so many people saw the injury to Buffalo Bills defense player Damar Hamlin on live TV as it happened. In fact, it was the most watched NFL game on ESPN in years, something like over 22 million were watching. It just so happened that this heavily watched game included an injury unlike any in recent history. I’m sure you know the details about the CPR and the AED and how both teams pretty much immediately and totally forgot about football as they all rallied around Hamlin. Well, across the nation people rallied in the form of prayer. A radio show host I listen to brought up a profound point: this might be the most “prayed for” person simultaneously in world history. In other words, all at the same moment, millions of people were praying for Damar Hamlin. There was also a prayer prayed on ESPN.

The more I thought about the amount of unified prayer happening all at once, the more remarkable it was to grasp. I prayed too, but not very eloquently. All I could say is, “God, you HAVE to come through. We NEED you to come through. PLEASE come through.”

So let me be clear, I wasn’t telling God he has to do this, as if I’m giving HIM a command. Like, you have to do this or else! I would never, ever do that. Here’s what that prayer meant… because of the amount of people praying, so many counting on God to come through, it became a matter of reputation. God’s reputation is/was on the line. If he weren’t to come through, how many folks would say something like, “See, God doesn’t care. God isn’t real.” But then, God has shown that he DOES care. God IS real. He was in a situation I think he loves to be in. One where a gigantic mass of people were desperate for him to act, and he could’t NOT show up.

Of course, we can also be extremely grateful for the expert medical staff from the beginning of the injury all the way through to this very second. Praising God isn’t ignoring the highly skilled people who were part of the miracle that’s happening. They are to be revered and respected, without a doubt! But along with them, it was the prayers that moved God to act, too.

It’s just a very cool situation coming out of a very tragic situation. Of course, Hamlin not suffering the way he did would have been great, too. The game would’ve went along as planned. One of the teams would have the W. People would have turned the TV off and gone to bed. But because of the crazy event that night, look at the life being breathed back into the spiritual world. The comradery among the players, coaches, etc, and sports fans everywhere. Unification across the country.

I, for one, won’t forget these moments.

See y’all tomorrow…

-Out of the Wilderness

Ambulance Movie Review – Race, Homosexuality, and Unrealistic Driving

The white guys are rich, arrogant, naive or aloof. The white woman is a lesbian. The hispanic woman is always angry. The black woman is a loving and devoted wife. The black men are righteous, heroic, family oriented, and that’s including the guy who’s one of the main criminals! Can you guess which movie I’m talking about? It could almost be any Hollywood movie these days, but I just watched Ambulance. In this movie, there’s more time spent on praising the criminal as a hero, culminating in the scene were the white cop is asked to point to the guy who shot him (which was the black criminal, not the white criminal). He lifts a weak finger up, points to the black guy and says, “He saved my life.” It’s also the same guy who shot him twice but who’s counting?

What I enjoyed in the movie is that they used humor to balance out the action and intensity of shootouts and car chases. Plus, the dog was a big hunk of cuteness. But the list of what I didn’t like is a lot longer and includes most of the scenes including a clunky ambulance, go figure, being driven around like it’s a Maserati. I’m sorry Michael Bay, but this would’ve lasted about one, maybe two police blockades in real life. Showing the ambulance and the two criminals outwit dozens and dozens of police officers, along with their sporty cop cars, is just too much to “make believe.”

I forgot to mention another of the white characters. To wrap it all up with a perfect little politically correct bow, the FBI agent is portrayed as the all-wise, all-knowing authority figure… and, of course, he’s as gay as the day is long.

See y’all tomorrow…

-Out of the Wilderness