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.

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.

A 3 park morning.

On January 14, 2023January 11, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

It was early December and I was ready for another morning out with my camera. My first stop was the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. I ended up only taking a few pictures while I was there. I was busy looking for birds of which I found none.

I left the gardens and stopped at nearby McGough Park to see if there were any birds there. No birds but a lot of other critters. The bees have taken over this owl nest box.

A few of the turtles in the turtle pond.

Some of the permanently injured animals that live here (the nature center here houses animals that cannot be released back into the wild). Both owls had injured eyes.

On the way home I stopped at the Largo Nature Preserve and did find a few birds here. You can usually find limpkins along the boardwalk here and they are use to people walking by. This one was sitting on the railing and made no attempt to move as I walked by. This is not cropped.

Not surprised to find the usual birds here. A blue gray gnatcatcher, a black and white warbler and a yellow rumped warbler.

Another usual bird, a pine warbler, was pigging out on caterpillars. He ate several while I was snapping and I was lucky enough for him to show them to me.

Yoga at the zoo

On February 9, 2019January 19, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn zoo animals1 Comment

The week before Christmas I attended yoga at Zoo Tampa. It was on an early Saturday morning. The weather was perfect. They had a few animals show up before we started. There was a goat but he took off before I could get a picture. Santa also showed up for a visit.

My new yoga buddy.

The view from my yoga mat.

After yoga I walked around the zoo for a while.

Fun stuff at our Key West hotel

On May 31, 2015July 29, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants, Vacation3 Comments

Our hotel in Key West was right in the heart of all the action. Blocks from Mallory Square, feet from Duval street and the marina a few blocks over. You would not think there was a little oasis in the middle of the hotel grounds. I spent an hour walking around taking pictures of the stuff near the pool. It was fun seeing iguanas walking around but I know they are a nuisance. The gardens were blooming, the turtle and fish pond were calming but that green heron catching the lizard next to the pool was perfect. We stayed at the Pier House Resort.

Dina's Wildlife Adventures

Tag: iguana