Dad and I figured out later by looking at some of his bird books that these birds, ubiquitous on the beach during our extended visit, are sanderlings. These were among the smallest birds we saw in Florida, which seems to be home to some honking huge birds (photos forthcoming in a future installment).
The sanderlings seemed to spend more time walking around (at great speed) than flying. They looked kind of silly walking so fast on those spindly legs.
Mom really liked this photo of Dad looking over our situation.
Damned truck's got to get here sooner or later. Most likely later.
After about two hours, the truck did finally show up. The car didn't have any easily accessible towing points, so the tow truck guy had to dig out the sand surrounding the difficultly accessible transaxle to attach his steel cable. It was tough work. His demeanor improved markedly after my Mom gave him and extra twenty bucks for his hard work, though. He even gave my folks some tips about which entrances to the beach to avoid. All in all, if your car is going to get stuck, it's much better to get stuck in sand than snow. In fact, I can't think of a better place to get your car stuck than the beach on a warm sunny day. Our little misadventure here was the source of most of the tan I'm still sporting.
