Cedar Key, Florida–go there if you can!

http://www.cedarkey.org/island.html#about

The sky and water were this blue during our entire 5 days in Cedar Key, Florida.

We spent the first half of last week in Milwaukee for the unexpected funeral of Tim’s boss/mentor for the past 10 years–a wonderful man that we will all dearly miss. 🙁

Got back from that trip late Tuesday night, then left early Wednesday morning for a short vacation we had already planned before we knew we’d be in Milwaukee during the same week. We drove nine hours to Cedar Key, FL and it was TOTALLY worth the drive both ways.

It’s a tiny island fishing village that’s an hour southwest of Gainesville, FL. In the five days we were there, we saw one gas station, one small grocery store, and many, many delicious seafood restaurants and art galleries in this quaint little town. That’s about it. Not a chain store or chain restaurant to be found for at least 30 miles in any direction.

Instead, what we did see was WATER. The deep blue gulf was visible from just about everywhere we ventured. I LOVE THAT. We are hoping to go back again someday… maybe when it’s a little warmer out so that I can leave my winter coat behind. (I think I wore it every day, but I was nice and warm in the sun. 60 degrees with my winter coat works for me.)

I took tons of photos of the serene low country waterways, so now I’m itching to get to painting some more water landscapes. (Sorry to all you–most of you actually–who voted for flowers!) I drew three new canvasses up this week that were inspired by our trip, but alas I’m stuck preparing for a gallery opening next week. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to start painting again.

See if you can guess which one of these photos will be the one I’m working on next…