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.