The weather was absolutely gorgeous today, and I had an itch to scratch. And what better way to kick off the start of Daylight Savings Time than a trip to a beach you’ve driven by hundreds of times over the years (possibly even thousands) yet never stopped? Never explored. Never researched. That’s exactly what I did today. I pointed the car south, hit the interstate, and drove about an hour away to Flagler Beach.

Flagler Beach is a small community near Palm Coast and Daytona Beach. It’s named for Henry Flagler who, after experiencing Florida for the first time, made it his home and invested heavily in its tourism industry and ultimately, the Florida East Coast Railway. Flagler’s Ponce de Leon Hotel is now the site of Flagler College in St. Augustine.

The beach has a nice boardwalk with both uncovered benches and covered tables. These are perfect for those not wanting to venture down from street level while still offering views of the beach and ocean. Unfortunately, the pier was damaged in 2022 by Hurricane Ian and is closed for repairs.

Today also happened to coincide with the end of Bike Week so the main drag was an active source of sights and sounds. The temperature was only 68 and although it was breezy, everybody was out enjoying the day. Motorcycles of every brand and style drove back and forth along A1A. There were even some fancy cars.

People were out enjoying the soft sand and the cool weather. I realized too late that I’d forgotten my hat so I ended up getting cooked on my head. Lesson learned.

One thing I try to do in my photowalk explorations is to venture off the main drag. Walking just a block away not only led me to some wonderful sights and colors but also a tasty strawberry shake!

In hindsight, I got a lot more out of today’s trip than I’d realized. Maybe I’ll have to make another trip.

I can’t quite put my finger on why, but this sticks out as one of my favorites from the day, so I’ll leave you with this.