Off to Bayside Church Near Sarasota, Lunch, and Myakka State Park

We woke to another gorgeous sunny day with temperatures in the mid 70's.  We got ready to go to Bayside Church, meeting 3 of the 4 couples from our small group at home (Jane and Alton had already headed back to PA).  Ken and I arrived there at exactly the same time as Eddie and Lori and Rick, Joyce, Deb and Lloyd were not far behind!

We enjoyed their FREE coffee and bagels, but somehow they forgot about us tea drinkers.  They did provide hot water and fortunately Rick and Joyce brought tea bags for Ken and I.  (They knew the "scoop"!)

It was another great church service with fantastic music and a wonderful sermon.  From there we drove to Miller's Pub not far from the church and had a delicious lunch and time of fellowship.  Eddie and Lori needed to leave but the 6 of us decided to go to Myakka State Park not far from where we had lunch.  We spent about 3 hours at the park checking out all the alligators, birds, etc.

Beautiful canopy of trees with lots of Spanish moss!

They give boat tours from the park, but they had trouble
maneuvering today because it was so windy!

This blue heron was intimidated by the alligators!

Eventually all 3 of these alligators "backed" into their
parking spaces!

Looks rather prehistoric!

We are checking out the alligators!

No sure why he chooses to get so close!  I guess he can
just fly off!!!

The one on the land was so big and "thick"!

This is a limpkin!

They are so camouflaged!

This is a glossy ibis!

Looking to grab the blue heron for lunch!

Ken was so excited because he got to see his roseate spoonbills up close and personal!  I hope you don't get bored with all the photos.   It was a fun time with special friends.

There was a pair of them nesting in the trees!

Then he got to see this one in the water!

Ken and I stopped for a large Shamrock Shake on the way back, knowing that they will be "gone" very soon!  We arrived at Wilbur around 5 and both of us were rather tired, so Ken decided to take a nap.  I walked to invite one of the French Canadian ladies that we play pickleball with to come down to check out the jewelry.  She had said she wanted to purchase another pendant.  I was ready to put my craft "stuff" away and have a place to eat inside Wilbur.  She came with a friend and when they left I immediately cleaned up everything and put it where it belonged for when we travel home.  Nice to be back to "normal" inside Wilbur.

Ernie and Noela got back to the CG after us, so we decided not to get together this evening.  We are planning to go kayaking tomorrow on Estaro Bay.  We watched 60 Minutes and NCI but I was painting a coconut fish while watching! This evening Ken was not feeling the best - rather achy and tired.  Not sure what is going on!  Hopefully he will feel better in the morning!