A Beachy Keen Day on the EAST Coast

Kelly's first day with us was a trip to Anna Maria Island and the beach.....My sister had paid a visit to the island a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. It's about a fifteen mile trip from Manatee RV Park where we are staying this week, to the island.....The beach was crowded, the surf was calmer and there weren't any purple (dangerous marine life) flags flying today, just the yellow one...yay!

We set up our little cabana, had a picnic lunch and Kelly and Eldy had a beer at the little restaurant/bar at the beach. You can't take the beer onto the beach unless you want to incur a 500.00 fine.  You have to have it at the restaurant stand, but it was still refreshing for them to be able to do that.

We like our little cabana but it's not holding up as well as we hoped. Stretching the fabric and getting the poles extended into it cause stress to the fabric and the stitching is starting to pull apart....It's been a great way to stay cool and protected from the sun, though....We are now looking at a "Super Brella" or a "Sport Brella"... a common sight here at the beaches both on the east coast and the west coast. The wind doesn't seem to affect them much at all, and they are a LOT easier to put up! Sparky HAS to have her protection from the sun with skin cancer running in her family. Here's Kelly and Eldy enjoying the cabana....

It's always fun to people watch at the beach....These are quite the glasses! Sun shades? Readers?

Earlier this morning, Kelly and I went for an 8 mile bike ride all around the area surrounding the park. There's a brand new county park going in next door to Manatee RV Park..It's called the Tom Bennett Park. It's going to be beautiful in a couple of years when the trees get established. You can ride quite a bit in the park now on paved trails.....Terrific playground for the kids....

Then we found a wonderful area to bike ride that didn't involve crossing the overpass by our park. It was  a residential neighborhood, a series of beautiful swanky houses, golf courses and just a wonderful area to ride with bike lanes provided and not much traffic to worry about....So we rode for quite a ways into the River Glen subdivisions.....The photo doesn't do it justice as far as how pretty it was....

We saw a huge, soft shell turtle trying to cross the road. Kelly was worried someone would hit it, as it looked like a bag of trash from afar, so I got off my bike, nudged it with my foot, and he went on his way, safely crossing the road.....Sparky to the rescue! Even if he did look slimy and a little on the ugly side!

Kelly said the bike markings on the road reminded her of the band "Devo".....a band popular in 1972. Remember that song "Whip It?" You don't? It was #14 on the Billboard Hits charts. They definitely had a very interesting take on music...sort of punk and new wave music, They were among pioneers of the music video, and have had an influence on today's alternative rock groups.  Here's the band:

Here's the road sign:

It DOES look like Devo!

You can get a really nice bike ride in riding from our park to and through this residential neighborhoods. We'll probably do it again tomorrow.....

Kelly and the park manatee mascot

Kelly, Sparky and Eldo say "See you later......"