A visit down south.

On July 23, 2025August 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation10 Comments

In late April Brett and I spent a long weekend down in south Florida visiting family. We had an open morning so we went for a long walk on the broadwalk in Hollywood Beach. We got out early before the broadwalk got crowded but as we made our way back the crowds were moving in. It was beautiful and the extreme heat had not set in yet so everyone was out.

Nothing says “Florida” like a mermaid statue.

Passing by touristy sights.

It was a beautiful weekend.

On Sunday we had dim sum in Fort Lauderdale with Brett’s extended family. The Chinese restaurants are much better here than the Tampa Bay area.

For years we came down here to visit family and I never saw an iguana. Now I see them everywhere when we visit.

Watching the boats go by and relaxing along the intercoastal waterway between walks and meals.

Destruction and a sunset

On December 16, 2024January 21, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation4 Comments

Brett and I spent 3 nights in Fort Lauderdale while on our “no power” road trip. Since we still didn’t have power back home we left our rented condo in Fort Lauderdale and headed to Vero Beach for 2 nights. We had never been there and found a rental in a renovated barn on a working farm. We thought it would fun and something different.

We started on the highway but decided to take back roads near the beach as we got closer to Vero Beach. Just outside of Vero we came across a lot of destruction. Houses with roofs off and trees all torn up. We were wondering if Hurricane Milton made it this far east but after doing some research online we found out that 2 tornadoes had hit the area as Milton was approaching the western part of the state including one of the three F3 tornadoes that hit Florida. Before Milton flooded the eastern half of the state over four dozen tornadoes hit the state with most in the western part.

Parts of Vero Beach were completely devasted and other parts were fine. The beach was beautiful as we stopped for a quick walk before heading to our rental.

We had some time before we could check in so we stopped at a park along the causeway.

We saw a lot of big lizards (or small iguanas?) at the park. When we stopped for gas Brett pulled off the nozzle and this guy was taking a nap underneath it.

We had an early dinner at a cute seafood restaurant on the intercoastal right next to the bridge back to the mainland. As we walked on the fishing pier under the bridge the moon was coming up over the restaurant.

After dinner we took a long walk along the pier that ran under the bridge. It was a perfect spot to see the sunset.

The next day was a busy one with a walk through a botanical gardens and a sunset dolphin tour. More on those later.

A quick trip down south

On October 17, 2024December 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Vacation7 Comments

Over 4th of July weekend Brett and I (along with his sister and brother-in-law) went down to Fort Lauderdale to visit some of his relatives. Everywhere we went we saw iguanas. They were literally everywhere. In parking lots, along the streets, around our hotel and in any park we stopped at for a quick walk. They were different shades of green, some were brown and blue, some were beige and orange. I think I saw more iguanas than squirrels. Most were pretty skittish.

Above is a quick video of one leaving the sidewalk and taking off into the grass as I walked towards it. They are very fast.

I saw a lot of these. I think it’s a curly tailed lizard, either a Bahama or Caymen.

I think this is a cuban knight anole. This was the only one I saw and he was pretty small, more like the size of our lizards back home.

A brown and tan one walking across the parking lot where we were having lunch.

We were able to make a quick stop at the beach. It was hot though and we didn’t stay long. With the ports nearby there were so many cruise ships and container ships out on the horizon.

The view from Brett’s aunt and uncle’s retirement home. We could see rain out on the beach. Looking right we could see Hollywood Beach and looking left we could see downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Driving home across Alligator Alley (I75), we hit a lot of rain.

The sun came out as we crossed over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Those tiny grumpy owls

On September 30, 2023September 30, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

Brett and I took a trip to the Fort Lauderdale area to visit his relatives for the weekend. Sunday morning we got up early and went over to nearby Brian Piccolo Park to see the burrowing owls. It was early May and any babies should be big enough to be out of the nest (or burrow). The park is a busy ball park with baseball fields, soccer fields, bike tracks and other sports but the owls live among the fields and have been here for a long time. The burrows are all roped off so they are easy to spot. And, there is usually an owl sitting out of each of the them.

These were all taken from the parking lots with my 400mm lens and cropped up. There were a lot of owls out this morning.

I only saw 2 burrows with babies and they were almost as big as the parents. They still had some fuzz around their heads but otherwise looked like adults. We didn’t stay too long since we had to get back and get ready for lunch with the family.

Road trip to the other side

On August 28, 2023April 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Vacation12 Comments

In early May Brett and I took a road trip to the Fort Lauderdale area to visit his relatives. It’s just a quick 4 hour drive from our house in Oldsmar. We always pass this old historic spot at Yeehaw Junction. The old Desert Inn Bar was built in 1889 and has been standing in this spot since then. In 2019 a tractor trailer truck ran into the side of it and did a lot of damage. Original word was that it was going to be restored but that hasn’t happened yet. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

The new hotel addition of the Hard Rock Hotel can be see from almost any of the main roads through Fort Lauderdale. We passed it on the way to a restaurant during our stay.

We were in our hotel room before heading out to dinner and Brett was looking out the window and saw this large iguana walking towards the hotel. I jumped up and grabbed my camera and ran down. He was already in this palm tree when I got to him. That doesn’t look like a comfortable spot.

I saw a lot of these lizards everywhere we went. It was the first time I really noticed them around.

A sun halo high up on our way to lunch.

We were checking out of our hotel and Brett went to get the car. I looked over and saw a tiny bird sitting on the sidewalk. I walked right over to this black throated blue warbler and he let me pick him up. He must have hit a window. I put him on top of the bushes and by the time Brett came and we loaded the car he flew off.

Heading home over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. They were repainting the yellow cables. I can’t image being high up in those little boxes painting while cars are whizzing by. The view is probable amazing though.

Flamingo Gardens

On April 15, 2019April 15, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Vacation6 Comments

Pretty flowers.

Things in the water.

Peacocks had free run of the gardens. They were everywhere. One lady was even taking a dirt bath.

Yes, there were flamingos at Flamingo Gardens.

Egyptian geese also had the run of the gardens. They are also pretty common out in the wild in the south Florida area.

A wild hawk was building a nest near the aviary.

Brett and I stopped in the old Florida attraction while we were in the Fort Lauderdale area visiting some of his relatives.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Always looking up

On May 14, 2018May 14, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

These cute little burrowing owls are looking out for predators. If anything looks suspect, they run back into their burrows. We don’t have any living in the Tampa Bay area so on a recent trip to see Brett’s relatives that live near Fort Lauderdale, we stopped by a sports park on the way that is known for having the little owls living there year round. It was the beginning of nesting season so they were all sticking close to the burrows. Many might have had eggs already in them. While Brett sat in the car and answered emails (it was a Friday after all), I ran around and took all of the above. All were taken with my 300mm with extender and cropped up.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Breakfast with the burrowing owls

On April 21, 2012April 17, 2012 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography10 Comments

Yum, dirty frog for breakfast!

He’s completely ignoring me while he’s chowing down.

He looks over like “Wait, someone’s watching me eat.”

This one looks like he’s eating dirt. I think it’s a bug or something just completely covered in dirt.

Okay, now it looks like he’s eating twigs. He was chewing on it.

They looks so cute when they are holding something.

Just a few more pictures from my trip to Fort Lauderdale. I caught two owls eating for a few minutes. I didn’t see them catch their food. They seemed to have had it stored in their hole.

Cute burrowing owls

On April 9, 2012April 10, 2012 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography27 Comments

“Oh no, here comes another photographer.”

“What do you think? Should we do something cute?”

“She’s just getting the standard pose from me.”

“Wait, I gotta itch. Don’t take the picture yet.”

“Boring!”

“Let me dig a deeper hole to hide in.”

“What, she’s leaving already?”

Recently I was visiting relatives in Fort Lauderdale and had to stop by Brian Piccolo Park to see the burrowing owls. This was my 2nd visit there and the owls were still there looking as cute as ever. They have so much personality for such a little bird. There were not as many active holes as there was last year when I visited and it was the same weekend. It was a lot colder last year. I don’t know if they live at this park all year-long or if they just come in seasonally to nest. It was quiet while I was there. No soccer or baseball games. Last year as I was leaving, the park was getting packed. Of course, I took a ton of pictures so there will be more to come.

Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday Graphic Our World Tuesday.