Saturday

 

We drove to the causeway this morning to walk and then went to the beach. The temperature was already in the 70s for our morning walk. The high temperature today was 79 degrees.

It was nice to feel warm and to see the blue sky.

I talked to the park ranger about the erosion at the beach. Almost all of the new sand is gone, as are large chunks of the parking lots. The storm surge from Aida covered 75% of the island, she said. She said the state has decided not to restore the beach again, too expensive. She noted that Honeymoon Island is the most popular park in the state park system, and that the revenue gets distributed equally to all of the state parks. HI does not get to keep its own proceeds. It seems like choosing not to restore the beach will end up hurting all of the state parks. Shortsighted leadership.

Meanwhile, we enjoyed what's left of the beach.

After lunch, I rode my bike for the first time in January. Last January, we rode 132 miles. Today's ride was 7 miles. I went to the outdoor gym at Weaver Park to exercise for the first time this year. It has been a weird winter.

After the gym, I rode down Victoria Drive to the marina. There were lots of people out, especially on the Pinellas Trail. I didn't make it downtown.

I saw the ferry take off for Clearwater Beach.

Our kitchen at night in low light.

We made a menu for the upcoming week so that we would have things on hand to cook. Sunday will be cooler and wetter, a good day for painting inside and cleaning the house.