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.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are lots of osprey nests along the beach, 

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

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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 . . .

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Truly spectacular!

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

Ken & Debbie

Tom & I and Bryce

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

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

A few more shots of the glorious sunset . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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!

American Sand Sculpting Championship

 

The 28th Annual apparently . . .

After mass on Sunday, we got a quick lunch at Subway and then walked across the street to the Wyndam Hotel, where the Sand Sculpture Championship was being held on the beach.

It was a beautiful morning, warm and sunny, and a great day to wander among the sculptures on the beach.

 

Sunday was the last day of the championship, which has been going on for the last two weeks.

The individual sculptures were judged early in the week, and a big rainstorm Tuesday night wreaked havoc with the beach.

Amazingly, only one sculpture was destroyed by the rain, but it was the 1st Place Winner.

 

Some of the others were beginning to show the effects of time and weather.

 

But for the most part, they were holding up pretty well.

The detail in many of these sculptures was simply incredible, and I couldn’t believe some of the structures they were able to build . . . like these arches . . . they were amazing!

Others were more simple, but still very cool.

The Doubles competition was still ongoing, with the judging on Sunday.  All of the teams were still diligently working on their masterpieces.

These guys were really intent on their work . . .

but the detail that they put into their sculpture was really incredible!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bryce thought the Hippie Bus was pretty cool . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and my favorite was this Christmas-themed elf!

He had a great message, too . . . “’Tis the season to be in Florida!”

Thanksgiving and Visiting with Friends

On Thursday, the RV Resort was hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner for all the residents, with catered turkeys and a potluck for side dishes and desserts.  Tom helped the Activity Directors get the clubhouse dining room set up the night before.

 

On Thursday afternoon, we all gathered for a feast . . .

 

. . . and there was SO MUCH food! 

Everyone managed to stuff themselves, and there were still two full trays of turkey to send home in “doggie bags”.  We brought home enough to have a 2nd turkey dinner on Saturday!

 

 

 

After the big meal, the activity of the afternoon seemed to be walking . . . LOTS of people were out walking around the resort . . . it was a perfect afternoon for it!

On Friday and Saturday, Tom took care of a few small maintenance projects around the park,

and we had a visit from our friends, Debbie & Ken, who we had worked with at Lovers Key State Park the year before last.

They got set up on the site next to us,

and we spent some time getting caught up on what’s been happening since we last saw them in Phoenix in January.  The afternoon flew by, and we decided to go out for some pizza.  We found a place called Bellacino’s nearby, and the pizza was pretty good. 

Back at the RV Park, we went in for the night, but we got together in the morning to go to the Mexican Flea Market before they continued south to their winter volunteer spot near the Everglades.  I’m sure we’ll see them again this winter . . . they’re not too far away.

On Sunday, our plan was to go to mass at Ft. Myers Beach, then check out the sand sculptures . . . that will be a blog post all of it’s own.

Since we were in the area, we contacted Don & Carol at Lovers Key, and made plans to visit with them in the afternoon.  We sat down by the canal, watching the kayakers go by,

while we talked and snacked.  After a while, we walked to the beach to see the sand renourishment project.

Sand is being dredged from the bottom of the ocean at the north end of the beach,

then it’s pumped through pipes to the south end of the beach.  The areas has to be kept closed because until the sand dries thoroughly, it’s pretty much like quicksand – last week a tractor was left parked on the sand at the end of the day, and by morning it had disappeared!  It had completely sunk into the sand!

The difference in the beach is amazing, though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s easily double the size it was when we were there two years ago!

 

We continued our visit back at their site, as the sun continued to sink in the sky. . . before we knew it, it was almost sunset and time for us to get home to rescue Casey.  Poor thing – she’d been cooped up all day!

 

We had a great visit with Don & Carol, and look forward to getting together again this winter!

 

 

 

As we made our way back to Ft. Myers, the sun was setting over the Gulf . . . the end of another beautiful day!