Very Nice Day Venice Florida!

The temperature was around 50 degrees and it was sunny when we got up at 6:30. We packed our lunches and some drinks and by 9 we left the CG to go to Venice.  We stopped at Detweiler's Market to get some very reasonably priced fruits and veggies!  

By 10 we were at the home of Rick and Joyce, friends from back home that are in our small group from Church.  They had settled on a home right off of Venice Avenue in October and it was our 1st chance to get a tour of their new property. What a nice semi-attached home with a nice lay-out and many great features! The setting is amazing too.  They have decided that when they return to PA in April, they will sell their property there and be full-time residents of Florida. They are so excited and happy!

Rick and Joyce at their new home!

Rick, Joyce, Ken and I left their home, got on our bikes and rode to the Legacy Trail towards Venice. 

This bridge is on the Legacy Trail!

This is the bridge over busy Route 41!  Ken took this photo from the center
of the bridge.  Joyce and I are waiting for them at the bottom!

We crossed over the Circus Bridge ad followed the Venetian Waterway Trail to Caspersen Beach. 

Here we are riding along the Venetian Waterway Trail!

The drawbridge on the Circus Bridge had to be raised for
the sailboat!

Time to come back down!

We saw some interesting birds along the way -

Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Tri-colored Heron!

We ate our picnic lunch there and then spent time walking the beach looking for shells and shark's teeth.

Caspersen Beach has had so much erosion.  Years ago it was a very
wide beach!

Lots of shark's tooth hunters!

Joyce and I joined in the hunt!  The water was rather chilly!

We were determined, but had very little success!  Only a few
very small ones....

but we had given it a good try!

This collection of shark's teeth were found by this gentleman
while scuba diving about 2 miles off shore.  They were huge!
Some were larger than his hand!

That little one was my large find!!!

On the return bike ride, we stopped to try to get the Florida Scrub Jays to take peanuts out of our hands.  We had stopped on the ride down to Caspersen with no luck, so we were hoping for a better result to show Rick and Joyce that they actually are rather tame and will sit on your hands when retrieving the peanuts we offer. Bingo, they showed up on the way back.  

We spotted this beautiful woodpecker!

Aren't these scrub jays a gorgeous shade of blue???

He was willing to sit on my hand for
quite awhile before taking the peanut!

Ken didn't have any treats, but the scrub jay came to sit
on his hand anyway!

Another view of our ride on the Venetian Waterway Trail!

We also stopped in downtown Venice for a delicious Gelato.  We got back to their home around 5:30 after riding almost 20 miles - felt great!  Ken got some great photos of the "lake" behind Rick and Joyce' property -

This is out the back door of Rick and Joyce's home.  Are these
pictures right side up or upside down?  The shadows with the
setting sun were gorgeous! 

I think this picture is amazing!

We decided to play a game of Pinochle before leaving around 7:30.  Unfortunately, the men won, but we certainly had a good time!  We saw Ernie and Noela walking in the CG when we got back, so we stopped to chat.  They had a fun day at Myakka State Park doing some bike riding and walking with Jim and Joyce, fellow campers here at the CG.  Ken was "jealous" when they mentioned seeing lots of roseate spoonbills, Ken's favorite bird.

Ken and I had some soup and then I worked on this blog while he went through the photos we took today!  It certainly was a fun day!  Thanks Rick and Joyce!