Sunday, April 1, 2012

Beach Bums

(Who, me? says E.) Yes, you! And Sparky, and Nick and Ritchie--we were all beach bums for the day at the Lido Key Beach today. Kelly and I checked it out when we did our excursion to the St. Armand Circle in Sarasota yesterday. We thought it looked wonderful! She is now back home, hard at work...It was a wonderful visit and too short of a vacation for her!

Lido Key Beach is about a 30 minute drive from the Manatee RV Park in Bradenton in good traffic. We had to go in two cars because Eldo and Sparky had more junk to take to the beach than a family with kids....Beach mats, beach chairs, cabana, towels, picnic lunch, cooler, magazines, tote bags, you name it, we had it! But first, we had to set up the cabana, which is Sparky's baby. For some reason, if there are people watching, it takes her twice as long to set it up!
But we got it.
It was an extremely hot, intense sun kind of a day at the beach today. At first, the water was totally calm.

It was 74 degrees!  We dunked ourselves repeatedly to stay cool......We ate our picnic lunches...We people watched...the guys were on bikini/thong watch...Not too many of those today even with the crowds at the beach.  Later, the wind picked up and we got some mini waves.
It was our last day to visit with Nick and Ritchie...Tomorrow, they head towards home which is Grand Rapids, and we head to Wachula, FL for a few days.....We'll really miss them, they are wonderful people and friends to treasure.

On the way home, we saw the "Colossal Kissers" or as some Sarasotans call it, "The Big Smooch".....It's about a 20 foot high statue designed to withstand a force 3 hurricane. Apparently, the statue used to be in San Diego and now it's here...Residents either hate it or love it...Interesting, at any rate!
If you ever get a chance to look around the St. Armand Circle, not too far from the Mote Aquarium and the Lido Key Beach off the St. Armand Circle, it's a very cool area-- tons of restaurant cafes, cool boutiques and a unique quadrant layout around a roundy round...one of those roundabouts that send you off in different directions.

We had a fun day at the beach today...Best wishes to Nick and Ritchie as they make their way home for a few weeks. They have a trip planned to Alaska. Wish we were going with them!

4 comments:

  1. Another perfect blue sky day. Not sure what I think of the statue ... the theme reminds me of Lima's El Beso in Love Park.

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  2. Gotta love the beach weather, we are getting into the cold stuff now, not crazy about it but....
    Love the statue!

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  3. If you are in Wauchula you might want to check out Highlands Hammock State Park - since you like to Bike Ride there is a nice bike loop and numerous trails to see real old Florida.

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  4. That Cabana is the BOMB!!! I don't like sun (nor the sunburn that comes from it) boy oh boy I would do a cabana like that to enjoy a day on a beach!!!

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    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com

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