and on our 3rd day in florida, we hit the beach!
but first, we sat around in the morning, outside, enjoying the weather.
kevin took a picture of this tree, the big one in the background, because it was so huge and had a nice shape and i’d like to have a big tree like that.
he took this close-up of the big grapefruit on the trees at our campsite.
here’s the little road leading away from our site. you had to drive very slowly, so as not to hit other campers. camp etiquette.
we headed south down Tamiami Trail, the main road that went to fort myers to the north. we were headed to barefoot beach; there are scads of beaches up and down the coast, and this sounded like a good one. we accidentally turned too soon, into this entrance to one of the many, many fancy gated communities, instead of onto a street. and we saw tis festive poinsettia xmas tree!
because it was the barefoot beach state preserve, that sounded like maybe it wouldn’t be so crowded at other beaches? sometime i’m not sure about my logic about stuff. anyway, it was about a half hour drive, and for the last half of it, we drove through one of the really REALLY fancy residential areas, with huge HUGE houses on either side of the street. and the houses on our right were all RIGHT ON THE BEACH.
it would be nice, at least, to have a friend who owned one of these places, who wanted us to come and stay with them all winter.
we got to the beach, finally, after having to creep along the street for a good long while. the first parking lot we came to was full, and so was the second, but we finally found one that wasn’t so full. i guess i’d figured that since this wasn’t the public beach, and not right off the main road, that there wouldn’t be so many people there.
we staked out our spot, and proceeded to enjoy the sunshine and water. i would like to go to the beach every single day. no, i’d really like to live on the beach.
living here on the lake is definitely the next best thing. except just now i don’t feel like going down to the water so much.
there were many, many birds, even though the people were really encroaching on their space.
we’d brought a little cooler with cold drinks and sandwiches, which was refreshing because after a while it was HOT.
as time went on, the beach got more crowded…
walking down the path to the bathrooms, i saw these two turtles in the sand.
I LOVE THE BEACH.
it was a nice and mellow day, although i felt kinda bad that kevin did all the driving – i kept saying i’d drive, but he said that i needed to navigate.
i guess this was true, because when we had first gotten to the park on tuesday evening, when it was dark and getting darker by the minute, i was driving. i had printed out directions to the park, plus we had the GPS on my phone, and kevin was trying to navigate us into the park. we got to the intersection where the park was located, and for some reason, the stupid GPS insisted that we turn right and make a U-turn, when in fact all we had to do was go straight ahead to the park.
i was so annoyed by this, and told him that if i’d been navigating, i’d have known that this was wrong, wrong wrong. grrrr. but really, it wasn’t a big deal, i did make the u-turn and it only took a few more minutes, and it would have been pitch dark whether we’d have done that or not. but i prefer figuring out where we go, and he prefers doing the actual driving.
we stopped at yet another Publix on our way home, and grilled hot dogs for dinner, yum! and then, for a delicious treat, i made a s’more using one of the lindt chocolate balls i had leftover from xmas. i carefully sliced it into pieces, and it was definitely the most delicious s’more i’ve ever had.
we sat and watched the lovely fire for a while, and i tried to take a picture of it but you just can’t capture a fire with a camera. at least not with a camera on your phone.
a very nice second day of the year.
ok then,
mrs. friday hughes, back here in the cold climate with a good chance of snow approaching for the weekend.