Today's pictures are from two recent overnight trips… one by boat, one by car. We are fortunate to have so many interesting destinations near our winter home.
I'm convinced that Southwest Florida is blessed with some of the most beautiful skies in the world. The above pictures were taken on our New Year's Eve boat trip. We stayed two nights (on the boat) at Salty Sam's Marina on Estero Island. There were fireworks on the beach at midnight … but honestly, they couldn't rival the earlier sunset.
Earlier in the month we traveled by car to the Crystal River and visited Homasassa State Park. A large population of flamingos calls the Park home.
Amazing to observe these beautiful birds from the boardwalk … Wonderful whether they were awake or asleep — and whether standing on one leg or two! It really was usually on one, just like picture books and cartoons always show them.
Skipping back to the start of this post (or ahead in time) to our New Year's boat trip. We had a pleasant boat ride getting there and a lovely time while docked at the Marina. This picture (above) is the OH! Zone — our boat — across from a somewhat larger one. The boat behind ours belongs to friends from our RV resort … we traveled with two other couples. It was great to spend the Holiday with our boating friends in this beautiful location … and definitely a time to give thanks for our mild winter weather.
Pictures from the Marina – in the center is a sailboat mast decorated for the Christmas Holidays … it must have been quite a feat to climb up that high with those lights! The third boat on this trip is in the lower right photo.
I've been posting for a couple of months about our recent longer trip on a bigger boat to get home this season — and here in blog-land we haven't even made it through the Panama Canal yet, so there will be more cruise posts to come. But in real time we're happily at home in our corner of the world collecting more memories. And we're more than grateful that we can do that.
Thank you to the hosts of these sharing opportunities: OUR WORLD on Tuesday; ALL SEASONS; MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B'BIRDING.
We appreciate all visitors and commenters! Thank you.