Motorcycle Ride to Pine Island

We have found a really nice group to ride with in SW Florida. It is really our kind of group - no meetings, no dues, no obligations - just an email invitation when they plan a ride.  

We gathered at 10 a.m. at a park where a lot of the riders stay in the winter.

After a nice ride through the countryside where we avoided most of the major roads, we came to Pine Island.  The quaint village of Matlacha is the first thing we saw on the island.

We continued south down the island until we came to Woody's, a restaurant on the water, where we were able to sit on the outdoor patio and eat lunch.  

Bob

Rich and Brenda

Brenda with her bike

Briggitte and Bert

Earl and Diane

Joe

Maras and Elaine

Roland and Collette

Ron and Rosie

My Folks Arrive in Florida

Out of cold snowy Alaska into Florida - time to stock up on Vitamin D, K, whatever you get from sun!

The pool was a bit cool but we all went swimming anyway, because the air temperature was really nice.

When Ron swims you know the pool isn't too cold.

Dick had to think about it for awhile, but ended up swimming a bunch of laps.  It really was perfect for lap swimming!

Englewood Farmers' Market

Another cold snap! Instead of sitting around reading we decided to bundle up and go to the Saturday Farmers' Market.  It is held twice a month at the Methodist Church a mile or so from our house.  There is a Thursday market that is closer, but we like this one better.

It is kind of hard to decide what to wear when we start out at 49 degrees, knowing the temperature will surely get better as the sun warms up the day.  We saw people in full winter gear and others in shorts.

We stocked up on tomatoes, oranges, avocados, and onions in anticipation of cooking a bit more this next week when we have company.

I am always tempted by the beautiful orchids, but resisted today.

We never did find the craft section in the massive church where they were holding a pancake breakfast and craft show.  We did get our exercise wandering around looking though.

Lemon Bay Park

They have been warning us that a cold front is coming, so on yet another beautiful day, we grabbed the chance to once again take the motorcycle for a ride.  This time we stayed on the east side of Lemon Bay where we found several parks and more salt water, but with an entirely different flavor than the sandy gulf side of our world.

The other side of the bay is Manasota Key, where mansions cover most of the available land.  On this side, Mangrove dominates, the water is shallow, and many birds and fisherman poke around in the water.

We talked to this fisherman, and he said he was catching "reds" and trout.  We watched him set up his line with a fairly large hook and shrimp as bait.

The interior of the park has miles of walking trails, some in brick, some in crushed shell topping.  Lots of places to stop and sit and watch birds and enjoy a pleasant day in the outdoors.

We found several places to launch a boat or put a canoe into the water.

And, of course, there are always birds everywhere around the water and even in the neighborhoods.

Blind Pass on Manasota Key

Another beautiful day in SW Florida found us once again on the motorcycle.  Manasota Key is the barrier island that sits between Lemon Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.  The north road to the key is about 3 miles from our house.  So today we went north and took the bridge out onto the key.  We stopped at Blind Pass, where there are free parking lots, restrooms, and a lot of sandy beach.  Of course, since a lot of the beaches down here charge for parking, that makes Blind Pass a pretty popular destination.

Most people bring umbrellas as there isn't much shade to be found on the beach.  This is looking south.

And this is looking north.

lots of people looking for shark teeth 

Including us!

Here are some we found.

Motorcycle Ride to Sharky's on Venice Beach

Venice beach has the highest concentration of prehistoric shark's teeth of any beach in the world according to the place mat at Sharky's bar and grill on the beach.  The beach is beautiful and we plan to come back when we can look for some of those shark's teeth.

Sharky's is located at the pier.

Since the restaurant didn't open until 11:30, we had a half hour to wander on the pier and visit.

Hard to decide what to eat - big menu!

I'm usually the photographer, but Earl took my camera and got this rare picture of me. 

Then back to the bikes for the ride back.  We took the long way home, riding down Manasota Key.

Fun ride on a day that started pretty cool, but we bundled up and stayed warm as we rode in the sunshine.