The Date Inspired by the Letter W

Remember two weeks ago when we were in shorts and tank tops? No? Just me? Sigh. That was a great day.

Two weeks ago today was our last full day in our beloved Florida, and my goodness, did we ever have a beautiful day!!

We also devoted this day to our date inspired by the letter W: the wonderful waterfront date. (We took our chalkboard picture as a nighttime selfie, so I just apologize for its quality.)

When we had lunch with my college roommate's family the day before, her dad told us about Venice Beach and how it's famous for having an abundance of shark teeth. We thought it might be fun to find ourselves a shark tooth, so we got up, got some coffee, and headed about a half hour south of Siesta Key to check out Venice Beach!

What shocked me the most was the difference in the sand! Even though we had only driven a few miles away, the sand was normal (dark) and not white and powdery like it is at Siesta Key!

We found a great beach with fishing pier (and hula hoop group in full session!) and walked around taking in the sights!

We went on to another beach that was a bit more rugged. There, we saw other people hunting for shark teeth - using all sorts of digging tools and strainers. I thought the teeth were just going to be scattered about waiting for us to pick them up. Not so much! We did narrowly miss stepping on a couple of crabs IN OUR BARE FEET, which totally freaked me out. And we did see millions of shells!

And then...on to the main event! Ryan found (on Groupon) a kayak company that had glass bottom kayaks. We nearly got lost getting there (another half hour south of Venice and out on an island with a toll bridge) but we did find it, and it was SO FUN.

We didn't end up seeing any water creatures swimming under our kayak, but when we were close to shore, we could see through to the bottom, and that was fun. It was a HOT day and we went to a sandbar that looked pretty far to this non-athlete, but it was totally worth it. BEAUTIFUL.

Ready to go! (For the record, Ryan said I'm much better than I was when I kayaked the first time. This marks only my third time, so imagine how great I could be if we lived on the water and I could practice every day??!!)

 Cool kayak, no?

 Under the fishing pier - watch out for lines!!!

 Birds on the dead limbs...

 See that sand bar wayyyyyyyyy out there? That's where we were headed. (And this was halfway!)

 View through the bottom of the boat.

 Made it to the sand bar! It was like a deserted island. So cool.

 Walking the beach....

 I call this piece "boat and bridge."

 He makes a very handsome beach date. (Insert hearts here.)

 Proof that I was there!

 With our kayak!!!

We got back to our resort just in time to watch the final sunset....

And that was a wrap on beach time - and on our wonderful waterfront date.

The only thing that let us leave without legitimate tears was the knowledge that we had planned some fun adventures for the whole way home!

And here are all our alphabetical dates so far if you need some ideas!!!

Linking up with Tamar