River Lodge Run and Another Fun Day

I couldn't quite drag Ryan out of bed early enough for him to join me for my run this morning before we headed to the beach, so I did the loop out to the River Lodge and along the 'nature trail' solo, looping back by the clubhouse and down the main road before heading back to my parent's house. I kept the pace mellow, although on these completely pancake flat roads, mellow is a wee bit faster than it might be elsewhere ;) Lots of birdsong, but no fauna sightings out toward the River Lodge or along the wide trail that winds through the woods separating some of the golf holes out that way. Oh well, it was a lovely, relatively cool and sunny morning for 5 miles. My legs felt much better than yesterday although overall I'd still say they are a bit tired.

With such a nice day on tap, we headed back to Wrightsville Beach for more fun in the sun. After three hours on the beach, Sam was spent, so we headed to, where else?, Boombalatti's for ice cream and then to do some strawberry picking before having an early dinner out. Oh, those just-picked, sun-warmed strawberries tasted so sweet. Delish! Not much to complain about on yet another lovely vacation day!

Whee!

Fun in the water...

...and fun in the sand

Waking the beach with Pip, looking for shells

We found some good augers, scallops and even an olive, but no sand dollars. We did, however, find this... A snaky-armed brittle star. So cool!

It was white side up when I saw it. Otherwise, I think it would have just blended right in. We didn't take it with us, but it was too cool not to photograph! What a neat find!

Then it was on to ice cream and strawberry picking. What a day!

Goofy selfie in the strawberry field

Better shot :)

A heart strawberry :)

Walking the rows

Picking berries

Finding just the right one...

Strawberry pickers!

YUM!