Saturday Exploring...it's the BEST!!

Often times we're not quite sure where we're going to end up on a Saturday...we just load up our bikes and head out. 2 weekends ago we headed towards Long Boat Key. We knew we wanted to stop at Joan M. Durante park for a ride, after that we weren't sure.
It's a small park with lots of shade...and parts of it run along the water. There are a few docks with some nice water views.....

There are a few ponds along the way..these ducks were loving it, it was rather warm.

Our next stop was to have lunch at The Sandbar restaurant on Anna Maria Island. They've done lots of renovations since we were there...some we liked, some we were not as fond of, but the food was good. Then off we went to find Palma Sola Bay. I'd read in the paper that perhaps manatees hang out here. You'd think a bay would be easy to find, well it wasn't...but we ended up at De Soto National Park....we'd been before but it had been a long time. We walked around and watched the film and ask about Palma Sola Bay....it seems the manatees might be there earlier in the summer but likely not now....but the really nice ranger suggested we visit Robinson Preserve while we were in the area....so off we went.

But we first stopped to view the "mock up" camp they'd built....was interesting...we didn't look long...it was HOT!!

We found Robinson Preserve easily and got out to explore a bit..

We found an info board and read a little and could see we were glad we had our bikes....we got them off and headed out...it looked like the entire trip might be 8-10mi....and that would include a stop at the observation tower....it was hot so we took water and put our cooler in the basket on my bike....time to ride

It was a nice ride...good scenery and we found a good place to sit and rest for a bit next to the water. Another couple was there....they were hunting the geocaching in the park....maybe we'll try that one day. We could finally see the tower...the highlight of the ride.

The tower was really neat.....I went to the top Denny's legs were giving him some problems so he opted to enjoy the shade at the bottom.

I hated that he couldn't make it to the top the view was amazing...I could even see the Tampa Skyway Bridge....

Scenery was beautiful....see our bikes waaaaaay down there???

We took an "usie" by the water and headed for the Jeep....

There were lots of fish jumping in the water...wonder if anyone ever fishes here...we did a bit more riding in the Jeep and decided to have dinner at the Roadhouse Steak House...very good and a nice end to our Saturday fun.

Just love lazy Saturdays.................