we've driven by the highway signs on many trips to the panhandle but it's been years since we stopped in for a visit. yesterday hubby and i ventured north about 2 hours to the sleepy little nature coast town of cedar key.
we drove around the few streets that make up the tourista district. with several choices of restaurants we randomly asked a couple of the locals where they would eat for lunch.
after a few varied suggestions, tony's seafood was our pick. we both had a very decent grouper sandwich.
walking off that yummy lunch we sauntered through the few short blocks of art dealers, gift stores, consignments, the city museum ...
and down to the public park/beach area. it was interesting to learn that the Florida Railroad connected the Atlantic Coast to the Gulf of Mexico by way of Cedar Key with the first coast to coast train in 1861. that railroad service ended and the track removed in 1932.
at that moment the flitting about of several teeny butterflies caught my eye on these low lying weeds. they appear purple when in flight... i don't know the exact ID but they are some variety of the blues...
what a thrill to capture two in one shot!
i just love the look and feel of the open marshes...
while exploring the outskirts we spotted this newly built walkway without any signs or information as to what it lead to or why it was there. we parked the car and walked the length of it as it wound us around the perimeter of a cemetery on one side and the edge of this marsh on the other ...
eventually it ended at a point where we were completely alone with only the sound of shore birds flying overhead and water gently lapping at the edge of the shore.
we spent a fair amount of time wandering around here seeing what we could see. of course i snapped loads of photos but it was getting late and time to turn back towards home.
