Florida is for the birds

[fbhjr]

Yesterday at the Blue Man Group, we gave in to commercialism and bought some LED drum sticks.
Make no mistake, I can not play the drums and have less rhythm then the pillow on which I sleep. But it is still fun to play with plastic sticks that glow blue when I hit them on something.


Then, off into the sun and warm to see my cousins.


Yes, it is that sunny and warm here.


We met at my cousin Katie’s place to plan the day.


From her balcony you can see some new wizard school exhibit they are building at Universal. I think she said it was called Frogwarts.


We set off to...
a mall!

I am reasonably sure that places in Orlando are parks, malls, hotels or restaurants. I’m not sure there is anything else there.

But, they have nice rides. The carousel had a very interesting “horse”


We did stop at mariness’s house to see the radioactive cat. It was very interesting.


Then it was off to Christmas.


I’m told a lot of people go there to mail their holiday cards to get them postmarked Christmas. So, I expected to see a lot of people going to the post office.
I didn’t expect cowboys.

But, I guess they send cards too, right?

We also saw “Swampy the Worlds Largest Gator”

I did not bring my tape measure, so I can’t actually say that it is the largest. But, it seemed pretty big.

We got stuck behind a bike rider wearing what I think may not be regulation protective headwear.

When the light turned green the coffee he had balanced on his handlebars did not remain on them and he had to stop and go back and get it off of the ground in the middle of the busy road. I’m not sure if a full helmet would have helped that decision...

Anyhow, we got to Titusville. Despite my jokes about how the name should be pronounced, there is some cool stuff there.


There is a great big bird sanctuary just past this big fire works factory. At least I think that’s what it is. I was told it has something to do with rockets.


We went to the 7 mile long road through the bird sanctuary. It is very cool and we saw a whole lot of birds. I’ve put all of the birds pictures at the end because there are a lot.

We did look for gators as well, but none were out.
I spent a lot of time looking in the water, which was interesting in its own right.


I’m told alligators look like logs in the water, so maybe this is one.


I don’t know what this plant is, but I’m glad I didn’t step on it.


It is a fairly narrow road with a good number of folks wanting to see the birds. So, there is a lot of stop to look, someone squeaks by you, they stop, you go by them, etc.


Some of the folks seemed better at others at sneaking up on the birds when in their cars.


Some folks brought a lot of equipment to look at the birds. They were very nice with it, letting other people take a look.


The day had clouded over some, but it was still very nice and warm.


That fire works factory was visible for a lot of it, but I’m told it doesn’t really bother the birds. We didn’t see them light off anything either...


There is one point where they have a raised observation deck that lets you see much farther across the swamp.


But, we still had no luck playing “spot the gator”


We did see an eagle’s nest, which is very cool. We think the eagle was moving around it in, but couldn’t get too good of a look.


The reserve closes at nightfall, and it is still pretty early this time of year.


So, we set off across the bridge and headed back to Katie’s where we had pizza.


It was a very nice day with my cousin. I’m glad she drove us out there as it would have been much harder to find it on our own.


Now, birds:

Comments

[capt-amos.livejournal.com]

I love the drumsticks! I think I need a set to play rockband. :-)
Glad you guys are having a good time!