Thanksgiving at the Beach

Thursday November 24, 2016                                                            Most Recent Posts:
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I’m a week late in posting about Thanksgiving but we’ve been very busy slacking off at the beach.

We did have a nice Thanksgiving day despite not fixing our feast ourselves which would have been a better idea taste wise in my opinion.  But more on that later.

 

The day gets off to a great start with another lovely sunrise.   We always can tell approximately where we are on the beach by the location of the lovely Flagler Beach water tower not far from Winnona.   Pre-dawn colors show it off in the early morning.

 

 

Like most sunrises this past week, there is a bank of clouds for the sun to deal with.

 

But he’s up to the challenge

I walk down the beach as the pelicans are going the other direction.

 

The clouds seriously move in after the sunrise as though there is some sort of battle going on here.  You’d think it was going to rain, but it doesn’t.

 

The sun never gives up.  I love the rays pouring out in the opening the clouds have left or the sun has burned.

 

I’m about the only one out except for the birds.

 

 

 

Are you sleeping Brother John?

 

Well I was until you disturbed me

Now I’ve got my eye on you.

 

A real treat this morning is the hawk sitting on the wire and looking out at the ocean.  I don’t see many hawks along the beach

 

They almost look like they have stage lights on them as they go about finding breakfast.

 

Back at the ranch rig, David is working on the repetative chore of  cleaning the salt spray off the windows so we can enjoy our fabulous view.  I can only imagine how much salt is all over Winnona and Ruby.  They are going to need a seriously good wash when we leave here.

That’s about the only problem I can see with an ocean front site, the salt all over everything. David has the windshield wipers sticking straight out and protected from the sun with the swimming noodles we usually use on the edges of the slide.

 

 

By afternoon the blue skies are back and the fluffy white clouds show off the water tower even better

 

We’ve made reservations at the Island Grille whose food was highly recommended on Trip Advisor.  They are having a Thanksgiving Buffet so we thought we’d try out being lazy this year since we won’t have any family with us.  We head out on our bikes for the 2.3 mile trip.

 

 

A1A doesn’t really have a bike lane so we, and everyone else, bikes on the sidewalk. 

 

 

We get the bikes set in the restaurant’s bike rack and head inside.

 

 

 

We are seated at a window with a view.  The restaurant advertises itself as ocean front dining but there are really only 3 window seats and those look out over the pool and A1A to the water.  Still, we can see the waves and I highly approve of all building being done back from the beach and across the road so the water view is not blocked for anyone.  My home state beach, Virginia Beach,  made a serious mistake in my opinion in the 1970’s when it allowed giant hotels to build right on the ocean front and Atlantic Avenue, which used to run next to the water, was now in the shadow of these huge buildings and only those with the time and money to stay in the hotels could see the water.

Of course David looks very happy with his plate full of food.  Obviously mine is full too.

 

 

This is plate #2 for David who is still all smiles.  This is one of the problems with buffets.  We eat too much.  The other problem with buffets, at least for me, is that the food always seems “warmed over” which of course it is. 

 

David’s assessment of the dinner is that it was good.  Mine is that it was OK but nothing special. 

They had all the requirements, turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans with mushrooms and onion rings on top, salad, pumpkin pie. 

They also had many extras, roast beef, salmon with wasabi which I thought was the best thing on the buffet, apple cobbler and pecan pie.  

For me they were missing oyster dressing and serious cranberry sauce.  They had only little garnish dishes of a cranberry/orange gell sort of thing.  

The green beans appeared to have been done with mushroom soup and canned onion rings. 

 

I conclude this meal wasn’t much of a recommendation to repeat a Thanksgiving buffet or another visit to this restaurant. Admittedly David is easier to please.  He just likes to eat.

 

Luckily we have to bike back to get some exercise after over eating. It is the national day of gluttony after all. 

Still we end up in our chairs although without the national football game or Thanksgiving parade on TV

 

 

We do hoist ourselves out of our chairs to walk over to see the sun set over the Intercoastal Waterway.

 

 

I think this is a red headed merganzer but whoever he is, he really looks lovely against the water shimmering in the sunset.

 

 

As it sinks behind the trees, The blazing white sun is barely visible as the source of the rays.

 

The colors deepen as the sun slips away.

 

 

 

A very nice end to this year’s Thanksgiving Day at the Beach.
We hope your Thanksgiving day was very fine as well!