A few more from Flamingo Gardens

Posted on May 4, 2019 by dinajohnston

The Flamingo Gardens near Ft. Lauderdale takes in a lot of permanently injured animals to live their lives out here. As I was walking around the aviary this pelican came right up to me as if to say “Come hang out with me.”. It looked like he had an injured wing.

A barred owl with a missing eye.

A few other birds in the aviary.

The white pelicans had very distinctive faces.

The pelicans were nesting and swimming around.

A pretty cattle egret posing for me.

All taken in the permanent injured aviary.

I’ve been recently posting a lot of older pictures on Instagram. If you are over there you can find me at @dinaj1.

Scenes from south Florida

Posted on April 18, 2019 by dinajohnston

On the road to south Florida, this famous eyesore sits at the Yeehaw Junction right before the Florida turnpike exit.

Sitting poolside at Brett’s aunt and uncle’s winter condo, we had a nice dinner with the family, watching the dinner boats go by.

Construction cranes are everywhere here, including next to our hotel.

On the road to Hallendale Beach sits a big statue in the parking lot at the horse race track. After the statue, we turn right to head over the bridge to the beach.

We stopped by Hard Rock Hotel to see the new guitar shaped hotel going up. The last 2 are shots from the top of the parking deck. You can barely make out the skyline of the beach.

The road back to Tampa, we headed across Alligator Alley (I75). We never see alligators on this road though. Just miles of the above view.

The hotel window

Posted on April 16, 2019 by dinajohnston

Brett and I spend a long weekend near Hollywood Beach visiting relatives. When we got back to the hotel to change before dinner I looked out the window and noticed this palm tree had bloomed. I realized there were tons of bees buzzing around it and grabbed my camera to try to get some shots of them.

As I was trying to focus on the bees through the window, I noticed several green lizards also on the tree. It looked like they were drinking the sap. We were on the 4th floor so they had climbed up pretty high.

I stood there for a while watching the bees and the lizards buzzing all over this palm tree, right on a busy street. It was hard to get clear shots through the dirty window but it was fun trying.

South Florida

Posted on June 7, 2018 by dinajohnston

Late afternoon on Hallandale Beach, north of Miami. A quick walk before dinner.

Things on the beach. The beach was littered with Portuguese man o’ wars. I would not want to come close to one of these in the water. They are known to have a painful sting.

Tile on the walkway and hibiscus near the parking lot.

Big boats are common along the inter-coastal waterway.

Heading home before crossing Alligator Alley.

Some parting shots from our quick trip to south Florida to visit Brett’s relatives.

The land of fruits and nuts

Posted on May 24, 2018 by dinajohnston

More pictures from my trip to the Fruit and Spice Park in south Miami. Lots of different things growing there. I did learn that you could tell the difference between edible and non-edible banana plants by the bloom. If the bloom is growing up, the bananas are not edible and are just ornamental. Has anyone else ever heard that before?

A trip down south (south Florida)

Posted on May 10, 2018 by dinajohnston

Every year in the winter Brett and I head down to the Miami area for a long weekend to visit some relatives before it gets too hot. This past February we were looking for something to do with his aunt and uncle and were going to be close to Homestead one afternoon so we stopped at the Fruit and Spice Park. We were way down south of Miami right before heading to the Keys. Lots of farmland down there. The park is a farm that grows different exotic spices and fruits that you can tour. We took a long tram ride with a guide who explained all of the different plants that are farmed there. We got to taste and smell some of them. It was a nice way to relax and spend the afternoon outdoors and I took a ton of pictures.

The above Rainbow Gum tree was very cool. As the bark peels off, it exposes different colors. It can only be grown in frost-free areas of the country.

There were lots of critters crawling around from the pretty green lizard to the big iguanas. The kids on the tram went crazy over them and we stopped and were allowed to get pretty close.

More to come on this trip down “south”.

Dina's Wildlife Adventures

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