Fun Times In Florida 2018 and Happy New Year

What have I done over the past year? As we say hello to a new year, I’m viewing photos to remind myself. In Spring we visited St. Augustine when my son’s girlfriend came to visit.
St. Augustine fort
My two sons and I went down to Merritt Island to watch the SpaceX rocket launch.

rocket launch
We headed to Merritt Island to watch a rocket launch.

We ate at our favorite local restaurants that have water views.

Breakers restaurant on the beach
Breakers Beachside at the end of Flagler Ave.

We went boating, fishing, and swimming along the ICW / Indian River, with a stop off at Disappearing Island to float a bit.

floating in the water
A view of the Ponce Lighthouse from sea level

And of course I collected bunches of shells and took many photos of my favorite islands.

knobbed whelk
Knobbed Whelk

I took a few trips to Smyrna Dunes Park to get exercise and search the beaches for new seashells.

Smyrna Dunes Park
Smyrna Dunes Park

We even took the boat inland to the St. John’s River for a ride to Blue Springs.

greenery along the edge of the river
A visit from a friend bought us a gift from the sea. He found this huge horse conch while boating.

large horse conch shell
A friend of my sons found this huge horse conch

For the first time, my boys went out shrimping and we were loaded with shrimp!

shrimp
The shrimp haul when the boys went shrimping

My walk in the Mosquito Lagoon where apparently there were alligators! What was I thinking????

aligator skull
Aligator skull!

I met some fellow walkers along the beaches and received this sand dollar gift.

sand dollar on beach
Sand dollar gift, which I placed in the sand to get this photo

So here’s to more time to walk the beaches and enjoy life – wherever you live. Thank you to my loyal and occasional readers, and

Happy New Year!
beach