Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Surf, Sun & Sand



You can't go to Florida on a vacation and not go to the beach, so with temperatures in the 80s and few clouds in the sky, we (Aunt Kay, Uncle Bob, Jenna and I) headed west to Anna Maria Island.




Holmes Beach is the beach of my youth. I don't think we've ever gone to any other beach when we're down here, because there's no reason to do so. It's close (10 miles away) and it's gorgeous. The beautiful white sand and wide beaches are all you could ask for in a beach. I've parasailed above it and sunbathed on it, and it's about as good as it gets.




Jenna was on a quest to find a shark's tooth, but the beach was pretty barren as far as beaches go. We've been here when there was much more shell debris washed up, but don't you know, she found one before we'd gone too far down the beach. She and I had had a shark tooth finding contest on a previous trip and I'd won ... 26-25 ... but today, she was the winner, because I didn't find a single one.

We brought sunscreen, but in our excitement of just being on the beach, neither Jenna nor I put any on. Nearly four hours later, we realized we'd made a mistake. We knew we should have left about an hour earlier, but we'll be okay.


We walked quite a distance north along the shore, although we didn't quite go all the way to the northern point of the island, as we'd done in past trips. We ate our lunch there at Cafe on the Beach.















When we were ready to go, we made our traditional visit to Sun and Surf, which has various tropical birds in large cages outside the front of their store. They have been there for years and it's fun to visit them and talk to them, because they talk back. Bullwinkle was especially talkative, with "Hello!" and "Bye" being the bulk of his vocabulary. There were several very colorful birds and seeing them up close and personal is always amazing.



We swung by the big Banyan tree that we'd taken the girls to see many, many years ago, when they were small. I remembered that we'd driven the minivan under it and you still can.

On the way home, we stopped at SweetBerrieS for frozen custard. I had the Razzmatazz, which was chocolate custard, raspberries and pecans. Yum! Perfect ending for a beach day, don't you think?


The Florida snowman we made - 8" tall!

14 comments:

Corner Gardener Sue said...

Wow, Kylie,
What an awesome trip you had or are having! I've only been to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and Atlantic Beach, (the same vacation). I have been debating whether to keep saving to remodel the kitchen or go back to enjoy the ocean again. Larry and I just loved it!

Debra Howard said...

Looks like you had a great time. My family really loves the beach too. Love the beach snowman. Just goes to show you life is all about perspective.
Debbie

Robin's Nesting Place said...

You are so clever to build a snowman on the beach. Funny girl!
The green bird doesn't even look real. Great photo!

Anonymous said...

ROFL @ the snowman.

Made my night.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Oh that beautiful white beach. Those tropical birds go with the banyan tree and all those blue skies. Seeing your snow man brought the song "Mr Sand man bring me a dream..." to mind. It is good to see you are having such a great time.

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

You had a great day and of course you had to go to the beach. It would have been silly not to, when in Florida. Soak up all the sun you can get, but don't forget the sunscreen. ;-)

Great snowman! ;-)

Pat said...

Vacation!!!! Need one.
Looks like a fun time. Love the sand snowman...you just had to rub it in. :)

TC said...

Hi Ms. Kylie,

I've visited before but it's been a while since I stopped in. Lovely beach pictures! Makes me want to head south for sure! What do y'all do with the shark's teeth?

(Would you mind telling me how I can arrange my blog's template like yours, with a center column for postings, and two side columns for the other things? Thanks!)

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you're having a wonderful trip, Kylee -- your photos have been fantastic! And thanks for thinking of us with the snowman. :)

Anonymous said...

This is a great beach, I think it might be on
http://www.wheresthebeachdude.com.

Nutty Gnome said...

Ha ha, - I love your sand snowman! (our snow snowman is still standing). The photos of the parrots and of the banyan trees are wonderful - and your holiday sounds great fun too, but slap the sunscreen on tomorrow!

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

What a wonderful, wonderful day! All the sun and bright colors must be just what you both need right now. I'm thrilled for you both and hope you'll continue to share posts (even though you ARE on vacation).

Cindy

Meems said...

Kylee,
You picked the best day to go to the beach! Although today it was much cooler and we had to put on long sleeve shirts by day's end. Do you know all the times I've driven by SweetBerrieS I've never stopped there? Not sure why. We spent the day in Cortez and at Coquina Beach and let mom tag along today. Maybe we crossed paths?
Meems @ Hoe and Shovel

Kerri said...

Thanks for taking us to the beach with you. It was just what I needed...sun, surf and sand...ahhh :)
I've loved all your holiday pics. Wonderful!

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