About a month ago, My husband, Jeff, and I had to kill a couple of days between loads down in Florida. It had been a joke that all 15 or so days I have ever been in Florida it has been raining (so why is it the sunshine state?
), but on the second day the sun broke thru and we decided to go site seeing (well as much as you can when driving a semi truck with a 53' trailer attached ).
Checking out the brochures for local attractions, I decided on the Lowery Zoo. I admit, a big part of the attraction was it's boast of being voted the number one zoo. Growing up in Nebraska with the Omaha Henry Dorley Zoo as the one I visit and thus my standard for zoos to live up to, I had yet to see a zoo come close.
Here are a few moments from our visit....
Growing up in Nebraska we don't have trees with hanging moss on them, so seeing it always fascinates me.
What is Florida without a few of these?
A couple of familiar visitors to Nebraska.
The first of many feeding areas. This stream had tons of fish and surprisingly many turtles to throw pellets too. Unfortunately, the turtles aren't as fast as the fish, but Jeff gave it his best try. Also in here was a common snapping turtle whom they had recorded his voice "singing". Was very interesting to hear it.
Inside tanks held this Diamondback Terrapin
and this alligator snapper. Hard to see from the picture, but this guy had his mouth wide open and was wiggling the appendage on the end of his tongue to attract the fish. This was something I had often read about, but never saw in real life before.
Rays like these housed in a shallow pool were allowed to be touched and feed.
For me another once in a lifetime experience.
I love the markings and coats on these guys..
...don't you just want to run your hands over him?
Enjoyed watching Mom caring for and shielding her baby from the public as best she could.
Another feeding zone was the giraffes. These guys were unbelievable fast at grabbing the cracker out of your hand and going back out of reach, so no touching generally happened.
and a smaller female...
There is something so fascinating about these prim and proper fellows
One of the main things I had wanted to see were the manatees...
and this one..
Living with the manatees were several South American turtles. I had gone over to photograph a turtle basking but before I reached it, a larger one climbed up...
he then immediately went up to the smaller one and aggressively strting biting on it...
finally the smaller one left the log to the bigger turtle.
Guarding over the family.
As our time ran out...and so did the camera batteries, I caught this poor quality shot of the mother trying to keep her and the baby (one or two months old) covered from the spray of a nearby waterfall.
I was very sorry to have missed getting to feed the rhinos. I never would have dreamed ya could! Maybe on another day......
After we left and were driving down the road, Jeff mentioned it was too bad today's fathers could not afford the cost to take their kids to the see on a weekend visit. It was true, between the zoo entrance fee, the river ride, the feeding stations and the overhead tramway, just the two of us had spent almost $100.
), but on the second day the sun broke thru and we decided to go site seeing (well as much as you can when driving a semi truck with a 53' trailer attached ).Checking out the brochures for local attractions, I decided on the Lowery Zoo. I admit, a big part of the attraction was it's boast of being voted the number one zoo. Growing up in Nebraska with the Omaha Henry Dorley Zoo as the one I visit and thus my standard for zoos to live up to, I had yet to see a zoo come close.
Here are a few moments from our visit....
Growing up in Nebraska we don't have trees with hanging moss on them, so seeing it always fascinates me.
What is Florida without a few of these?
A couple of familiar visitors to Nebraska.
The first of many feeding areas. This stream had tons of fish and surprisingly many turtles to throw pellets too. Unfortunately, the turtles aren't as fast as the fish, but Jeff gave it his best try. Also in here was a common snapping turtle whom they had recorded his voice "singing". Was very interesting to hear it.
Inside tanks held this Diamondback Terrapin
and this alligator snapper. Hard to see from the picture, but this guy had his mouth wide open and was wiggling the appendage on the end of his tongue to attract the fish. This was something I had often read about, but never saw in real life before.
Rays like these housed in a shallow pool were allowed to be touched and feed.
For me another once in a lifetime experience.
I love the markings and coats on these guys..
...don't you just want to run your hands over him?
Enjoyed watching Mom caring for and shielding her baby from the public as best she could.
Another feeding zone was the giraffes. These guys were unbelievable fast at grabbing the cracker out of your hand and going back out of reach, so no touching generally happened.
and a smaller female...
There is something so fascinating about these prim and proper fellows
One of the main things I had wanted to see were the manatees...
and this one..
Living with the manatees were several South American turtles. I had gone over to photograph a turtle basking but before I reached it, a larger one climbed up...
he then immediately went up to the smaller one and aggressively strting biting on it...
finally the smaller one left the log to the bigger turtle.
Guarding over the family.
As our time ran out...and so did the camera batteries, I caught this poor quality shot of the mother trying to keep her and the baby (one or two months old) covered from the spray of a nearby waterfall.
I was very sorry to have missed getting to feed the rhinos. I never would have dreamed ya could!
Maybe on another day......After we left and were driving down the road, Jeff mentioned it was too bad today's fathers could not afford the cost to take their kids to the see on a weekend visit. It was true, between the zoo entrance fee, the river ride, the feeding stations and the overhead tramway, just the two of us had spent almost $100.
