Adventures with Marcus: A day at at the beach

Just a normal Monday in Florida

---warning--- this is a long post.... we did a lot on Monday!

After our pretty low key and restful Sunday we woke up ready for some adventure on Monday. We started the day by going to a place that Grandpa and Grandma Fiedler love. It is actually the local public library- It is a place that a lot of birds hang out and wait for people to show up with food.

Grandma planned ahead and we brought along two pieces of bread to eat but to be honest, Marcus really likes bread and he ate some of it too......

It turns out that the birds were also pretty big fans of old french fries....

We hung out for awhile- well at least until we were completely out of food for the birds.

What a fun start to the day.

The park also had another one of Marcus's favorite things... A WATERFALL.....

After we left the parking lot we headed to another site that Don and Jackie liked- it was the Venice Area Rookery

"The rookery - the Venice Area Audubon Rookery - is an island centered in the middle of a small lake. About 70% of the lake is surrounded by vegetation and native plant growth. The remaining area is open to viewing, and has a well worn path, obviously trod by many feet in an effort to view this wonderful spectacle."

For more information check out their website: Venica Area Rookery

I didn't get a lot of great pictures hear but we did see a ton of pretty birds. There were also volunteers who had a scope that people could look through to get a close up of the birds. They told us that at certain times of the day the place is packed with people hanging out looking at the birds.

Now I am sure it seems like we already did a lot this day but it actually just barely started. We still had a big day ahead of us of visiting the beaches.

The first beach stop of the day was at Venice Beach - the park was called Humphries Park. We walked out along the sea wall and saw lots of birds and fisherman. This was actually Presidents day so it was a pretty busy day at the park. We didn't stay that long but it was a pretty cute place. Watching the fisherman and the birds was pretty neat. We even got to see a few of the birds fighting over fish and eating them.

After leaving Venice we decided to spend some time driving down Manasota Way to check out a few of the beaches. This is a super pretty drive.

"The name "Manasota Key" refers to an 11-mile-long (18 km) peninsula (transformed into a barrier island by the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway) that continues north into Sarasota County. The community of Englewood Beach occupies the Charlotte County portion of the key, while the Sarasota County part of the peninsula contains the community of Manasota Beach. The key continues north as Caspersen Beach, extending as far as the Venice city limits."

During the afternoon we stopped by two different beach and Marcus LOVED them. It took him awhile to get the hang of wading into the water but he figured it out. We played in the sand and dug holes and built castles. It was a beautiful day in the sun.

We ended the day by taking a small boat out to Palm Island to catch an early dinner- it was a special and boy was it special---- not so much! But the ride and the view were both beautiful.