Mike and I enjoyed a beautiful Florida day last month.

We bought a ticket to go to an anniversary celebration for our local Moody Radio station, so we decided to go early to Alafia River State Park near Tampa, Florida.  This new park is primarily for mountain biking.  In Florida?  Yes, you heard me right.  The park is really an overgrown Phosphate strip mine.  The terrain is very uneven and local bike clubs have built dozens of trails.  The park also has hiking and equestrian trails.  The campground was overflowing with bikers who were attending a weekend event.  We discovered, too, that admission was free for all state parks on Veterans’ Day.

It was a gorgeous day for a hike and the lighting was perfect for photography.  Maybe an entomologist can tell me what this insect is in the photo.  (See our slide show of our day at Alafia River.)

Toward the end of our visit at the park, I ran to get a photo of bikers going down a steep curve. Unfortunately, my foot turned on a root.  More than a month later, I’m still recovering from an acute sprained ankle!  (You can see the photo of the bikers in the slide show.)

I hobbled back to the car and we found a Panera Bread to buy some dinner.  Panera’s was really kind to give us a bag so I could elevate and ice my ankle.

We arrived for the 50th anniversary celebration at a very large church (seemingly out in the middle of nowhere… probably a bedroom community for Tampa and Sarasota).  We wanted to hear the speaker and enjoy a concert by Selah.  We left a bit early and were home by 11:30.  We had a great day (except for my ankle injury, of course.)