Pumpkin Pancakes & Drum Circle

There were two things that Ken and Bonnie wanted to share with us while we were together:  pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and going to the Drum Circle at Nokomis Beach.  On Wednesday morning, Bonnie cooked us a delicious breakfast of pumpkin pancakes.

They were SOOO GOOOD.  I had all but finished my 4th pancake when I remembered to take a picture of it.  :)

After breakfast, we drove over to the pickleball courts to play for a couple of hours.  Some other people came to play on the courts which gave us a chance to swap up teams and meet some new people.

All of us were needing some things from Costco and Wal-mart.  We ate lunch at Costco.  What a bargain!  Chuck and I split a foot-long 1/4 pound beef hot dog and a huge piece of pizza and a coke for $3.74.  And after we had finished our shopping at Costco, we shared a soft serve ice cream that was about the size of 3 soft serve cones at McDonalds for $1.49!

After we finished running our errands and dropping our groceries off at the campers, we headed for Nokomis Beach.  As we walked out on to the beach, we were greeted with a beautiful view of a sailboat out on the horizon.

We set up our chairs around the Drum Circle and then Chuck and Ken began looking for shark's teeth.

Bonnie looked for shark's teeth and shell pieces for her jewelry...

while I had fun taking low-angle pictures of the shells on the beach...

and the birds.

 Below is one of my favorite bird pictures that I have ever taken:

While Bonnie and I were sitting on the beach, this big flock of birds started swarming near the surf.

When we heard the drums starting to beat, we walked back to our chairs to watch.

There was probably 12-15 people playing all sorts of drums and bongos.

But the center of attention was Feather Man.

Feather Man would do all sorts of movements while the drums beat,

some women danced,

the Rhyming Man spoke in rhymes,

and the children played...in the Drum Circle.

While we were sitting there watching the activities, I happened to look to the west and saw what I think was that same sailboat we saw when we first walked out on the beach with an absolutely gorgeous sunset in the background.

After taking way too many pictures of the sunset, we walked back to the Drum Circle and watched this little boy hula-hooping with a hula-hoop that changed colors.

Since it was getting darker, we decided to leave the Drum Circle and drive down Casey Key to see how some of those big beach mansions looked at night.  The moon was trying to peek out from behind the clouds.

As expected, most of the homes were beautifully lit at night.

With the moon in the background, the ironwork of this gate really looked spectacular!

After we got back to the campground, we called it an early night only playing one game of Spades and a shortened game of SkipBo because Ken and Bonnie have another wonderful day planned for us tomorrow!  We can't wait!!