April 13 Perfect day for boating!

Tuesday:  Bright and early my first morning in Florida, David launched the SS Adele from this site into the intercoastal waterway. This launch site is about a 15-20 minute drive from Dave's house. He likes to use it because it has multiple slips and it's a very nice place--with brand new public bathrooms!

We were in the water shortly after 8am and spent the next seven hours in the water--sometimes just relaxing at a slow speed while I snapped pictures ...

Boating under beautiful bridges ...

And we even put in our anchor at Anclote Key Island, jumped out of the boat, and waded ashore to look for shells and sand dollars--we found lots of intact and beautiful shells, but only broken sand dollars--which was okay! It was such a nice walk on beautiful white sand, almost alone on this island. There is a lighthouse here, but I didn't even bother to point my camera in its direction--it is one of those ugly metal structures that should be ashamed to call themselves a lighthouse! Anyway, I got pictures of it two years ago when I was here ...

Now and then David would open the boat up and we would go really FAST but that is actually not my favorite thing! Not because my hair gets all messed up (which it does), but because I can't hear myself think and I can't talk to David! We did zoom over to Cap'n Jack's for lunch--"If you don't know the captain, you don't know jack!" Ha! We had such a yummy lunch! Shrimp and fish, great fries, and even delicious cole slaw (and I don't even like cole slaw!).

David got the SS Adele in and out of the water totally by himself. He is a master at it! I merely held the lines for him, but oftentimes, he goes boating alone and does everything solo. I'm so glad he can do this. Just knowing he has all of this water and beauty surrounding him makes my heart super happy. 

We were invited over to Andrew and Alison's for TACO TUESDAY, but on the way to their house we stopped by Phillippe Park so that I could hunt for an alligator. I only needed ONE alligator to actually photograph out in "the wild" ... but it was just NOT to be! Isn't this park beautiful though?

Believe it or not, we went over to Andrew and Alison's without me taking even a single picture of their darling house or their beautiful faces. The reason? Well ... I tend to be a bit obnoxious with my camera at times, and it had been two years since I had seen these two and didn't want to make them uncomfortable. I HATE having my picture taken--plus I knew that I would see them again later in the week; so I relaxed, enjoyed Andrew's absolutely yummy chicken tacos, laughed my head off listening to Alison (she is one of the funniest people I have ever met), and just savored the time with these dear folk. Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with some super sweet and loving people in my family!