Heading home/Charlize

I'm at the Tampa airport. Cardgrrl just left on her flight home to D.C. I have about two hours before mine leaves for Vegas.

It has been one of the most enjoyable weeks of my life. We had the world's most perfect weather. I enjoyed meeting Cardgrrl's aunt. We picked a nice variety of activities. And the company, of course, was not to be surpassed.

The highlight was Sunday spent on Sanibel Island. We spent the afternoon riding rental bicycles through the Darling National Wildlife Refuge, then had yummy homemade ice cream at Pinocchio's. To end the day, we wanted a sunset on the beach, so we headed to the northern tip of the adjoining Captiva Island, where we hit pay dirt. The beach was beautiful, and the sunset was spectacular beyond words.

To top it off, a great blue heron swooped down on the beach just before sundown, and just waded around for 20 minutes or so, occasionally plucking a small fish from the Gulf of Mexico. The combination of the magnificent bird posing for all who wished to photograph it and the pinks and oranges with which the sun was painting the sky was so absurdly picturesque that we laughed out loud about how easy great nature photography was under such circumstances. I even suspected that the heron was a robotic model sent by the local Chamber of Commerce to provide tourists with a literally picture-perfect experience.

We named the bird Charlize The Heron, for her ridiculous beauty and acting talent. Between us, Cardgrrl and I took over a hundred shots of the scene. You can see her best result here. I couldn't settle on just one, but here are my favorite six. (Click on them for full size.)














There's much more about the trip to report, of course. I'll probably do it in several smaller pieces over the next week or so, while I get resettled into my daily routine. But Charlize couldn't wait.