Dear Jan,
What a difference a week makes. The view from the window over last weekend was way different from the week before. Both lovely, but I took the recent photo from the outside!
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The hotel we stayed in, the West Wind Inn, was not modern, though recently remodeled. That meant that instead of glitz we got friendly staff, a screened balcony facing the gulf, and even towel and toilet paper fanciness. And it came with humid air to create a curly Florida hairstyle.
But the real fun (or at least the fun we can write about on a family blog) happened outside the hotel. We walked on the beach and saw many birds, some of which I can identify, some of which I will have to consult with Mrs. Dr. Yarn to be sure of. I am sure that last one is a dolphin.
We road bikes through the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, and later hiked at the Bailey Tract of the same refuge, where we saw a wild gator. See that bumpy water just above where the shadow starts? Honest, that is a gator.
We kayaked in the refuge, too, and saw lots of swell birds and critters, too. This anhinga was barely a kayak’s length away yet showed no concern. The gopher tortoise, on the other hand, hurried away. Luckily, hurry for a gopher tortoise allows plenty of time for photography.
We took advantage of the warm weather to get a non-treadmill run in. We stopped at a bridge for a bout of Pooh-sticking and were lucky enough to see a nice turtle. And along the way, a lovely butterfly.
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We were constantly amazed at the numbers of non-skittish birds we got to see.
I won’t take you through all of them - if you want to see more photos you can go to my Flickr set from the vacation - but I can’t leave without posting a few ibises, a heron and an egret.
And some key lime pie. The food on the island isn’t really fabulous, but this one piece of pie made up for the fairly mediocre offerings at the touristy restaurants. Look closely at that crust - pecans, not graham crackers. It made a nice end to best meal we had on the trip
(and that wasn’t influenced by the way it started, I’m pretty sure).
Now it is your tern to post.
Love,
Ellen
Jan and Ellen are identical twins who have always had an innate fashion sense. Crafting is an integral part of their lives and they stay stitched together sharing their love of knitting, family and community.
January 31st, 2010 at 1:15 am
Tern-about is fair play! I’m heron you can post more puns now without egrets, anytime.
January 31st, 2010 at 4:18 am
Even though I see the birds here everyday, I still enjoyed your photos. West Wind Pool Bar is one of our favorite Sunday afternoon stops. You certainly did a lot during your stay. The weather we’ve been having recently is perfect for biking and hiking.
January 31st, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Mmmm, lovely. The pics and description made it a mini-vacation for me, too… and I was just down there a couple months ago! Your diapering station pic made me wish I’d taken a shot of a sign that we saw at a really cute hotel on the beach: “Crab Races Tomorrow.” The sign was out every day, but somehow we never saw those races.
January 31st, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Looks like a fun trip! You did get a lot of bird pictures, but at least they’re all different kinds of birds. And an alligator, too! I prefer to see those from quite a distance, myself. =)
February 1st, 2010 at 6:17 am
Aaaagh! You’ve returned to punishment, I see. And you apparently have catalyzed Alison into it as well.
Loved the birds…went through all the photos. And the gators on the golf course did amuse. But, I ask…no knitting?
You know you had me as soon as I saw the toilet paper roses.
February 1st, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Toilet paper fancies? It may be hard to ever go back to the plain old boring toilet paper again!
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Really excellent vicarious vacation post. Until I got to the last pun. Oh! The pain!