Around town

My sister from St. Louis came to visit for a week in February. We did a lot of tourist things and one of them was visiting Sunken Gardens in St. Pete. The botanical gardens, located near downtown, is over 100 years old. I think it had been at least 30 years since my sister had been and a few years for me. There’s a lot of old tall trees here including that beautiful rainbow eucalyptus tree in the bottom shot.

Watching the small flock of flamingos.

I only saw a few butterflies since it was still a little chilly.

One of the small moss covered waterfalls (I took this with my phone).

The bougainvillea bush wall was in full bloom and it was a beautiful to see how it had been growing for years.

Some of the miniature ponds.

The next day were in downtown Tampa for lunch and found these cool statues. I think this was once a forgotten industrial area and is now a booming area with new apartments and restaurants.

An overdue visit to Sunken Gardens.

Upclose with flamingos.

Butterflies buzzing around the pretty flowers.

Super sized fish.

A few of the plants at the gardens.

Sunken Gardens is a 4 acre 100-year-old botanical garden near downtown St. Petersburg and one of the oldest roadside tourist attractions in the country.  The gardens are located in what was a small lake 10 feet below sea level which is where it got the name. I hadn’t been in nearly 10 years and it’s so close so I thought I’d stopped in one morning for a quick walk.  Since it was the end of summer, there weren’t a lot of flowers blooming but the gardens was a tropical oasis once you got inside. A handful of flamingos live there as well. It was a great little walk but so hot.  My next trip will be in the winter.

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