Who needs shopping on Black Friday . . .

. . . when you can go to Everglades National Park !?

  

The best part of today's visit to Everglades National Park was this beautiful juvenile hawk.  He flew screaming above my head and landed on a branch right above me.  Hawks are usually very shy, but this guy didn't mind my photo-taking one bit!

What a beauty!

Great blue heron

Little blue heron

A little green heron fishing . . .

He goes in for the kill . . . 

Got it!

Another little blue heron

Another little green heron (common here)

Great white egret

A gorgeous wood stork in flight

A gator and little blue heron

You just NEVER know what is lurking under the water in South Florida!

Waiting for a meal to fly in his mouth!

More lurking!

An insect you don't mind!

Swamp flower

It was a beautiful day in the Everglades today!

A turtle catching some rays!

Yeah . . . Life IS good!  For sure!

My perfect Black Friday concluded with a beautiful sunset at the Dinner Key Marina.  Spectacular!

Sunset - Sarasota, Florida

Beautiful sunset tonight on Lido Beach.

Sarasota Chalk Festival 2014 (Venice, FL)

The 2014 Sarasota Chalk Festival was held in nearby Venice this year.  This is an amazing event.  For someone like me who has no artistic ability whatsoever, it is incomprehensible to me that someone can sit down in the street, with nothing but chalk, and create these masterpieces. 

The theme of the festival this year as "endangered species."  There were so many gorgeous drawings of endangered animals!

It was a gorgeous sunny & cool day in Venice today.  I loved being here!

Nice crowd!

There was a separate area for teens and kids to create their art!

I love this rhino (below)!  And, the sea turtle (above).

Artists creating their masterpieces!

The kids seemed to really enjoy the face-painter!