4th of July weekend in Maderia Beach, FL

4th of July! What an incredibly fun holiday weekend. We signed up and trained for a 5k that was at 8:00 am in Gainesville, The Melon Run. PHEW. Let me tell you something. That may be the last 5k we do in the Florida summer. It was SOOOO hot! It had also torrentially down poured the entire day before AND the course went through the woods with a creek...can we say insanely humid? UGH...it was rough but we just kept saying "hurry up...the beach is next" because as soon as we finished we got in the truck and headed to Maderia Beach, FL. It's just south of Clearwater and west of Tampa.

 

 

We had a completely loaded truck with our kayaks, bikes, & all the beach essentials. We stayed at the adorable Snug Harbor Inn which was right on the bay and across the street from the beach. It was the perfect location for us to fully enjoy our weekend.

 

We quickly unloaded all our stuff into a garage they had attached to the Inn. At that time, we weren't sure about how "safe" our stuff was just sitting in there unlocked so I decided to lock our bikes together really quick. Well...I used my bike lock and didn't bring my keys...so we couldn't bike AT ALL the whole weekend. We were so bummed but the one thing that I LOVE about Clay is that he doesn't dwell on things. He said, "wow, that sucks" and then life goes on. I am the exact opposite and apologized for hours after...but that's why we work so well. Balance. 

We had lunch at a place called Gators located at John's Pass Village & Boardwalk.
Of course we needed photos!



 

Although it looked like it could storm any minute in the Gulf, we took our chances and relaxed on the beach. This was our first Gulf Beach experience and it was a great one. The water was a gorgeous green, the sand was soft, and it was quiet because there was NO ONE there!  I exaggerate a bit, so maybe a few families were there, but it was basically like our own beach all weekend. 



'Merica.

We got all "4thed up" (decked out in red, white, and blue) and walked about a mile down to dinner and where a good view of the fireworks would be that night. There were lots of people with chairs set up on the beach and a stage with bands playing. It was definitely a happening spot for the night. 

How gorgeous is this sunset? I just LOVED the way this turned out!

This is one of my favorite photos of us. So much love for this man. 

 

Yay! Happy 4th! The next morning we started early and got breakfast overlooking the bay.

 

Then back for our full beach day. The weather was beautiful and there was NO ONE out again. I took pictures this time to prove it (granted it was 10 AM.)

To our right...

To our left...



Of course we brought out the GoPro and played around with it! These pics are from my iPhone but you'll see our GoPro shots at the end of the post.



This was the point where Clay was getting sick of my selfies. What can I say?

I HAVE to document the trip for our blog! 

 



oysters at lunch. I could eat these all the time!

We headed right back out after lunch and right after I took this photo of our umbrella and the waves, a huge gust of wind blew up and the umbrella came completely out and smacked me in the head! I was covered in sand and was glad that minimal people were there to see it haha!

 

showing off my stellar hat from Clay! HULK SMASH!

 

I also love how this panorama turned out! Can you believe how deserted it was?

 

After our full beach day, we had Sushi and walked around the St. John's Village & Boardwalk. This definitely reminded me of Myrtle Beach. Lots of shops, restaurants, live music, and tons of people! 



On Sunday morning, we decided this would be a great day for some kayaking! Right behind our hotel was the bay where we put in. The dock was significantly higher than the water so it definitely made for a funny sight of us trying to get in!  The water was gorgeous and we even saw a few dolphins!

 

So we paddled all the way to the St. John's Pass and went under the bridge to go out into the Gulf. It was awesome! Then we paddled back to our hotel and rode the waves in and dragged our kayaks back across the sand.

Here are some shots from our GoPro. The difference is crystal clear.

 

 

   

 

 Sunday kayaking shots. I really like the contrast between the sky, gulf, and kayak.  

 

 

Here's my first attempt at uploading a video! I'm still playing around with the best way to add them to the blog. The longer files seem to have problems uploading.