A day at the beach!

 We had an unbelievable day at the beach prior to our cruise. We are so lucky to have friends who live in such a beautiful place, and were able to show us around a little bit. We were able to do and see things we never would have had we not known Chuck and Lori Butler. When we arrived to Venice, FL we had no idea that we would fall in love with the area. The last day of our visit, they took us out to the beach to go shark teeth hunting. When they first told me, I was in awe that there was such a thing! Who would have known? Of course I was all for going to the beach, spending all day looking for sharks teeth. They have these little baskets that suspend from a long pole. When you pick up sand/shells/rocks it sifts through the small stuff and drops it back in the water. As you shake your basket, you start to see the larger items, and as you look through it - if you are lucky - you scored a shark tooth, or two! Brad and I were so excited. Chuck and Lori had shown us their collection of shark teeth that they have acquired over the years, so we picked up and learned quickly how to find the teeth.

For our first time we found quite a bit. About a dozen or so. These are the larger teeth. On the pier, the largest ones set in necklaces with fancy bead-work sell for about $80.

After a long day combing the beach, we decided to go take a dip in Chuck and Lori's community pool. We then went home, took showers and got ready for an evening out. Chuck and Lori suggested we eat at Sharky's, which is at the base of a pier, just up the road from where we were hunting for the shark teeth earlier. They had excellent food! I had a really good seafood terriaki stir fry, and Brad tried Grouper. For dessert, we treated ourselves to the best key lime pie I have ever had - which says a lot because I am NOT a pie eater.  The weather was beautiful, so much so we had to wear sunglasses during dinner. We didn't quite catch the sunset at dinner but the view sure was breathtaking.

How Florida celebrates Christmas

 Following dinner, we took a drive to watch the sunset, and see some of the large Florida homes. It's called Casey Key, and there, there is a ton of large million dollar homes. Martina McBride, and Steven King, and they told us Michael Jordan all owned one of those homes. People stared at us as we played tourist, with the windows down, driving slowly through the neighborhood gawking at all the horrendous amounts of money put into these properties. As we passed through, I couldn't help but feel like, I would never want a home that large. To think of all the upkeep, and time it would take to clean, and take care of? I wouldn't ever want that. Now I'm sure most of them have lawn care services, and cleaning services that come through multiple times a week to keep their homes looking wonderful, but really? Too much money and too high maintenance. I liked looking at everyone else large houses, but couldn't help but feel like I would never ever want one. I would love a large country cabin, or a moderate home in the city, or something, but definitely will probably never consider the multimillion dollar mansions - even if I could afford one (which I never will be able too)

Brad and I on the beach with Sharky's pier in the background

enjoying the waves:)

 Brad with his toes in the water!

Us Happy newlyweds!

Chuck looking for sharks teeth while Brad and I combed the beach!

It was an absolutely perfect day! But it was time to head back to Chuck and Lori's to finish laundry and get all repacked to head to Ft. Lauderdale first thing in the morning for our long awaited honeymoon cruise!