Saturday, January 7, 2012

Christmas on Siesta Key


Lon, Jared and I enjoyed two weeks in Florida this past December.

We arrived on December 16th and stayed until the 30th.  For several days, the beach, roads and restaurants on the key and in Sarasota were quiet.  A few days before Christmas, more people arrived and activity picked up.

  We walked the beach nearly every day.  I took this photo as we walked north from our condo along the Gulf of Mexico.  This is the public beach, the site for the Sand Wars competition.  (I shared Sand Wars photos and narrative in my previous blog post).     

Here, we're heading south on the beach, back toward Siesta Dunes, the condo complex where we stayed.

The moon-shaped curve of the beach gives it its name.

With the sliding door open at night, we heard the awesome sound of waves like this crashing onto the beach.

 



Back at the public beach, the white tents in the background were set up for the Sand Wars crew to use for breaks and food during the three days of the event.  The crowd to the left of the tents were viewing the behind-the-scenes activity as The Travel Channel filmed the competition between sand sculptors.


I'm always impressed with the quartz sand on Crescent Beach.  It's nearly as fine as flour and no matter how hot the sun gets, the sand is always cool.  


I started everyday in a lounge chair poolside.  When activity picked up, I moved to the deck and finally to a lounge chair on the beach.  In my beach bag, I carried a book, a writing tablet and pen, and my cell phone for occasional texting, not to mention a bottle of water, sunscreen, lipstick, my watch, sandals and a towel.  With all that, I could spend hours in the sun without needing to go back to the condo for anything.  Toting the bag was a nice upper-body workout! 


If I wasn't so hyper, I'd love to spend more time watching the waves and the patterns that the water form on the sand.  Unfortunately, I can't focus for long on watching things happen.  I'm more at ease when I'm doing something like walking, reading or writing with frequent but short glances at the gulf waters.  (I could take medication for that, couldn't I!!??)


I'm including this photo so you can see that I REALLY was there.

On the beach, it was easy to forget it was December and that Christmas was approaching.  Except for a woman, wearing her swimsuit and a Santa hat, and a snowman sculpted in sand on the beach, it seemed like March, the month we usually spend on Siesta Key.  Away from the beach, Christmas was evident in the many holiday decorations everywhere.

On Christmas Day, we drove to Disney World in Orlando.  We spent the day at Epcot Center.  We figured being busy would eliminate any chances of feeling strange about being away from Wisconsin. 

Lon, Jared and I agreed that our Christmas in Florida was perfect.


7 comments:

Annie said...

HOW BEAUTIFUL!!! Did you make a sand angel? You look GREAT in that bathing suit!!! Thanks for the mid-winter reminder of summer coming around in the next few months. So glad you had a good time!! Thanks for sharing the great photos :)

Cheryl Peters said...

ANNIE: Thank you for commenting. I didn't make a sand angel. I thought about making a sand snowman but I guess I was just too lazy to get up and do something constructive.

It doesn't seem like winter even though we're back in Wisconsin. Mild temps and no snow!!! Gotta love it!!

I'll be thinking of you especially hard tomorrow.

Linda McMann said...

Looks like an awesome place. So glad you had a great relaxing time in the sun! I bet you didn't miss having a CHILLY Christmas one bit! Thanks for sharing the pictures. Makes for a nice change from the rain and fog here. Happy New Year!

Cheryl Peters said...

LINDA: Will you be getting to a better climate anytime soon? It sure is nice escaping whenever possible.

I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. We truly did have an awesome time.

Sarie said...

Another post I never want to leave!

I love how you've chosen your pictures, they are filled with the beautiful colors of the beach and sky. You already know that those are my favorites.

This is such a stunning post Shaddy. I'm so glad you took the time to load them all. It was worth it. Trust me.

You look so pretty in that picture.

Thank you....
Love,
Sarie

Natasha Alexander said...

We went to Southwest Florida this fall and I LOVED it! Even though I live at the beach (Atlantic) I couldn't get over how beautiful the Gulf of Mexico water, sand and shells were!

Good for you to go when you did! It looks like you had a great time!

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