Turkeys on the Beach (and a few other things of interest...to us at least)

 The week leading up to and the week of Thanksgiving had a few activities that we enjoyed including our first ever trip out of town for Turkey Day.

Thursday, November 14, 2013 : We snagged some nice lower bowl seats to see our somewhat woeful Tennessee Titans take on divisional rival, the Indianapolis Colts, in prime time on national TV on The NFL Channel's Thursday Night Football.  We jumped out to a big lead, but let the Colts slip by us in the end by just a field goal.  A disappointing loss, but still a fun time was had.  Thanks to our friends, Danny and Brenda, for joining us at the game, and to our old pal, Wayne, for meeting us for dinner beforehand over in East Nashville at The Pharmacy Burger and Beer Parlor for some good food and tasty brews.

Saturday, November 16, 2013:  We hooked back up with Danny and Brenda along with our friend, Carolyn, to check out the new Robert Redford one-man (literally) show of a film, All is Lost, at The Belcourt Theater.  With barely any dialog and only Redford as a character, it was an amazing movie experience enjoyed by everyone.  Could be an Oscar contender for sure.  We enjoyed dinner across the street at the always-tasty Belcourt Taps beforehand.

November 26 - 30, 2013: We decided to head down to Florida for Thanksgiving this year and get a little warmer weather and beach time.  It was also a celebration of Ashlee's mom, Evelyn, taking her first real vacation since her life-threatening hospitalization last year at the this time.  Ashlee's sister, Paige, and her daughter and our niece, Ella, came along as well.  Ashlee found a great 3-bedroom condo on the beach just south of St. Augustine where we had visited back in September and got the idea for this trip.  We did a lot of relaxing, ate some great food and caught the sunshine and fairly warms temps when we could between Nor'easter gusts along the coast creating some unseasonably cold weather at times.  Below are a few of my favorite shots from this beautiful place.


The view from our sweet condo on Cinnamon Beach in the Hammock Dunes Complex in the town of Palm Coast was amazing.  We didn't always have sunny skies or the warmest temps, but you sure could count on the view, and at night the stars were dazzling.



It's called Cinnamon Beach for a reason.  The red sand created here on this rather rare rocky Florida beach (I've never seen one before in Florida) is a mixture of the rocks being pounded by the sand and tiny crushed sea shells by the millions.



A beautiful natural collection of shells take refuge behind ancient coral rock on Cinnamon Beach.

I first thought this photo was smudged with sand or grit on the lens, but as I zoomed in after downloading it I realized it was a feeding frenzy going on behind this fishing trawler moving down the coast far out to sea in front of our condo.