Happy Valentines Day (yesterday)

Well, we are over a month in on our winter getaway and two more to go! We are enjoying being out of the nasty northern Michigan winter and in the relatively warm Florida sunshine. Here we get spells of warm sunny weather and then a rain storm will come through and cool the days down into the sixties for a couple of days. I know Michigan would love to see sixty degree weather, but sixty and breezy is cold for the beach!

We spent three nights at Myakka River State Park, this is one of our favorites from past Florida camping trips, and did a lot of biking and walking. They have airboat rides on Myakka Lake, viewing platforms for birding and alligator watching, a canopy walk in the tree tops, and miles of trails through the meadows and woods. Lots of shorebirds and gators here and people love to watch them.
We moved back to Oscar Scherer State Park yesterday and spent the night before going on to Sebring, and Highland Hammock State Park this afternoon. The park is hosting a 5 and 10K run this morning and there is a lot of activity and many, many, energetic people running.

Yesterday we spent some time back on the beach at Casper Key and then went to Pelican Alley restaurant for a drink and appetizers before going back and grilling grouper fillets for dinner. We had cheesecake for desert and called Elizabeth to wish her a happy birthday. Life is good.

We also got the cell phone working again after it would not light up for two days in spite of being charged and lots of poking and prodding to get it to turn on. Finally, being the electronics technician that I am, I opened it up and took the battery out, put it back in, and closed the case back up and lo and behold, it worked!!

Roseate Spoonbills in the backcountry at Oscar Scherer State Park. Pretty in pink!

The beach at Casper Key, Nokomis, Florida.

All the folks enjoying the sun.

These are skimmers. The lower beak is longer than the upper beak. They skim the waters surface for food.

I don't know what these are, I dubbed them "bad haircut" gulls.

This is the beach bum bird, also known as the snowbird.

Bob and Donna at the Venice Jetty. We had fun visiting with them while in the Port Charlotte area.

This guy caught a bonnet head shark on the Venice Pier. (hardly a man-eater)

This is what Siesta Key looks like on a cool winter day. On a warm winter day it is packed!

An egret stealing onion rings at the Pelican Alley restaurant.