Pickle, Picnic & Pictures at Pine Island

Anxious to resume our Pickleball fun, we were on the court by 8:15.  We had decided ahead of time that we would only play for about an hour but we were having so much fun we may have gone just a little past an hour.  Chuck and I were surprised that we did as well as we did after not having played for almost four months.  It was a great start to the morning.  I asked Chuck to take a picture.

He thought I wanted him to take a picture of the court.  No, silly, of all of us!  :)

We did have so much fun but in the interests of not hurting my back or Ken's heel or anyone else's body parts again, we decided we should limit our pickleball playing to every other day.  

Later that morning, we packed a picnic lunch and went for a bike ride to the south end of the island.  We stopped off first at a new preserve that just opened up on the island this year:  Galt Preserve.  

The preserve is very nice and new with some nice (but short) hiking trails.  

There is also a very small lake with a dock/viewing area.

We took the trail to the dock.  Ken had fun trying out his new camera with a 60x lens.  I'm so envious!  :)

We saw a few birds.  They really blend in with the surround vegetation...

...except this one who stepped from behind the bushes to have his picture taken.  :)

The sun was out bright and it felt very hot (but a lot better than snow and 10 degrees or less)!

As we were leaving the park, eagle-eye Ken spotted an eagle way off in a tree.

Ken can really spot those eagles!

After leaving Galt Preserve, we rode our bikes toward St. Jude Preserve.  On the road to the preserve there is an eagle's nest,

with not just an eagle but her little eaglets.  :)

We parked our bikes at St. Jude's Preserve and took the 1/2 mile hike...

...out to the water where there was a dock and benches where we could eat our picnic lunches. We enjoyed our lunches and the peacefulness of the water.  We walked out to the water.  From the picture, it looks like we were trying to throw each other in!  :)

We enjoyed the peacefulness of the water for a few minutes more...

...and then walked out to our bikes and rode back to the campground.  When we returned, we went up to the pool and enjoyed the nice water for about an hour and the hot tub after that!  Boy, did that feel good!  :)

Chuck grilled chicken and corn-on-the-cob for dinner and we tried this citrus glaze/marinade we had bought at Costco.  It was delicious and had just a little kick to it also.  We haven't grilled in months and we plan on grilling a lot while we are here.  

After dinner, we hooked back up with Ken and Bonnie at their place.  This time, the women won at SkipBo and the men won at Pinochle.  Winners all around again!