Florida Aquarium - Tampa, FL

Over the Christmas holiday a few girlfriends and I went to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa Florida.  One of my friends brought her daughter with her and it was her first visit to any Aquarium's.  She was so excited that she brought the presidence for the day - fun!!!!!

Immediately upon entering the Aquarium you see a hands on interactive exhibti for the kids - touching sting rays.  Her daughter was a little afraid at first, but once we should her how to use her two fingers to touch the Stingrays she was hooked.

As we walked through the Aquarium we were taken into the worlds of the wetlands, then the bays & beaches, into the coral reef and ending outside in the Explore a Shore Area.  Many of the different areas had hands on activities for the kids and the Explore a Shore is an entire outsite adventure area for the kids to run and play on. 

African penguin

If you are interested in taking your family to the Florida Aquarium, check out this link for all of their contact information, hours, prices and directions. - http://www.flaquarium.org/explore-the-aquarium/exhibits.aspx

Lowry Park Zoo - Tampa, FL

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we decided to go check out the Tampa Lowry Park Zoo.  I had heard many good things about it so we headed off to check out the animals.

One of the first things I noticed was there was no parking fee, which was very nice.  We arrived early and were one of the first people in the park.  I like going early because it seems that the crowds are thin and the animals are out.  We got a brochure and began our way through the park.  We decided to go left and continued clockwise around the park.  The first area we entered was the free flight avairy.  You meander along a path while birds of all different shapes and sizes fly by. 

Once through the bird area you come across the Asian Gardens

Malayan Tapir

Baby Indian Rhino

Clouded Leopard

This section was one of our very favorite parts of the zoo.  When we arrived we were the only ones at the pool and the Stingrays were filled with activity and boy were they hungry.

  

Upon leaving the sting ray area you notice a Bald Eagle.  They said he was hurt and so they had to clip his wings.  This is the closest I have ever been to one of these magnificent creatures

 I tried to take pictures of the River Otters, but they are so fast and crazy that it was really hard to get one that was not blurry.  The next section is a Manatee encounter.  It is so sad to see what happens to these guys out in the wild.  They are such a calm creatues.

you can see where the propellors have it this poor guy.

 On to the Florida Panther

  

 We wondered on throught the park looking at the different animals, wolves, skunks, flamingos and then we ended up at the African Penguin area.  These little guys are just like their southern family, except they also enjoy our weather.

Safari Africa was our next destination.  In addition to the animals they have giraffe feeding.  You know I love feeding the animals when we can.

One of my favorite attractions we came across was the Meerkats.  They are funny little creatures that look like they are trying to be human.  The funniest thing about them is the fact that they like to mirror each other.  Watching the follow the leader game was pretty humorous.

this is an Okapi

Red River Hog

Finally you end in the Children's area where they have a pet farm, rides and wallabys.

 If you are interested in taking your family to the Lowry Park Zoo - check out their website for directions, hours, costs, etc. - http://www.lowryparkzoo.com/zoo_map.php

Here is the brochure for the zoo - download it and check it out for yourself!!! - http://www.lowryparkzoo.com/_page_content/zoo_map/documents/LowryParkZooMapFall2011.pdf

Busch Gardens - Tampa, FL

Over the Thanksgiving holiday we decided that we wanted to do something a little different so we got up early and drove to Tampa and spent the day at Busch Gardens.  We had been there once before in May for my son's birthday and received the buy one day come back the rest of the year passes so we figured what the heck let's go.  Neither my fiancee or son are real big roller coaster riders so there was only one that I really wanted to ride, since it was newly opened and that was the cheetah hunt.  It was an exciting ride with tons of twists and turns and I really enjoyed it. 



 

As Busch Gardens is a large theme park and I usually blog about the Unknown aspects I am going to show you some of the animals we saw walking around the park more so than the known things around. The rest of the day we spent wondering around checking out the animals.

In Walkabout Way you get to feed the Kangaroos - it costs between $3 & $5 for the food, but it is so worth it.  The Kangaroos are very friendly and so soft to touch. 

As Busch Gardens is a large theme park and I usually blog about the Unknown aspects I am going to show you some of the animals we saw walking around the park more so than the known things around.

If you would like to visit Busch Gardens yourself check out this link for more information - http://seaworldparks.com/en/buschgardens-tampa