Wednesday, March 25, 2015

An excellent day at the beach

We set aside Saturday as a “day off” so that we could spend it at Lovers Key State Park with our friends, Debbie & Ken, who we had volunteered with there 2 years ago.

After stopping off at the farmer’s market, we arrived at the park by noon.  After catching up with them for awhile, and a few other volunteers and rangers, we decided to ride bikes down to the beach.  Tom and Bryce borrowed a couple of bikes from the maintenance shop, but I had my new bike with us.

bike

It was a beautiful afternoon, and there were lots of people at the beach!

Crowded beach

Lots of people enjoying the water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We headed straight for the water . . . it was a wonderful 74 degrees!

We even got in the water!

We just tried not to think about what could be swimming around in the water near us!!

After cooling off, we took a walk on the beach to the south end of the state park.     Walking along the shoreline

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are lots of osprey nests along the beach,  Osprey Nest

and we saw several of the large birds hunting for fish along the estuary.

Osprey

We arrived back at our towels, and were able to snag a few rental lounge chairs that had been deserted.  We all soaked up a little sun . . . some more than others, and they were paying for it later!!

The beach started to empty out as people packed up to catch the last tram ride back to the parking lot. 

The beach is emptying out

A beautiful day at the beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luckily, we had bikes, and could stay as long as we wanted.  We’d had enough sun, though, and were getting hungry, so we decided to head back.

Riding back from the beach

Lovers Key State Park is not a campground, but there are 6 resident volunteer sites near the maintenance shop.  We headed back to Debbie & Ken’s site, where we enjoyed a BBQ of salad, hamburgers, hot dogs, corn and watermelon . . . and chocolate chip brownies for dessert.

After our delicious dinner and more catching up, we enjoyed one of our favorite activities from our days at Lovers Key – biking to the beach at sunset!  There were a few others with the same idea . . .

Quiet beach at sunset

Enjoying sunset at the beach

We walked along the beach, enjoying the beautiful evening sunset!

Sunset March 21

Spectacular sunset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is definitely one thing I miss . . . we don’t have these excellent views in our RV Resort!

Sunset March 21

Truly spectacular!

DSC_0150

The folks on this boat were probably enjoying the view, too!

Boat on the horizon

Ken & Debbie

Debbie and Ken

Tom & I and Bryce

DSC_0162

We continued our walk on the beach, and found several more osprey and their nests.

Osprey

We also ran into some friends . . . volunteers Kevin & Doris, and their son, Sean, who they had just picked up from the airport. 

Volunteers on the beach

A few more shots of the glorious sunset . . .

Sunset March 21

Sunset March 21

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

. . . . and then it was time for everybody to leave the beach . . .

The day's end

Back at Debbie & Ken’s, we ended our evening with an excellent campfire and roasted marshmallows!  It was a great way to end a beautiful day!

A great way to end the day

5 comments:

  1. Friends, Beach, Bikes and Sunset.... A Perfect Day!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A perfect day for getting together with friends and enjoying what nature has to offer.
    Be Safe!

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That looks like such a fun day... and beautiful scenery too!
    KarenInTheWoods and Steveio
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

    ReplyDelete
  4. Did you see that video that's been going around about the massive school of migrating sharks? I was sure hoping it wasn't taken in the Keys where we are. There were thousands of them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You know, I think I may have heard it mentioned on the news, but didn't really catch it . . . I don't know where they are . . . hopefully not where we are, either!! It doesn't take much to freak me out when I'm in the ocean!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading! We'd love to hear your comments!