It's a Zoo Down Here

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A week since our last blog. Shame on me.

Kerry enjoyed his last softball game at Boot Key on Tuesday morning. Then after goodbyes to our Marathon friends, it was back north to Miami Springs. We stayed with my mom until Saturday morning; she and I enjoyed some great Skip-Bo games. Friday I did her income tax return, and now that’s done. Thank goodness!

Saturday we drove to Lake Worth and set up at John Prince County Park. We went to our niece, Deanna’s, where we had a nice visit with Dee, her brother, Jim, and her daughter Kristen and fiancé, Will. We always have a great time with all of them. Sorry we couldn’t make it to Will’s polo match on Sunday afternoon. Maybe next trip.

On Sunday we met my childhood friend, Carol Immerfall-Fralick, along with 3 of her grandchildren at the Palm Beach zoo. What a nice little zoo it is, with a good variety of animals. Obviously Carol’s grands had been there many times before as they were great zoo guides. Nice, well-mannered kids with cute personalities, they gave us a much-needed grandchild fix. We are sure missing ours. After the zoo, we came back to the park where the kids played on the playground while we looked at old high school annuals. Kerry and I turned in early after a busy day.

This morning we broke camp before the heavy rains hit and headed north once again. We ran into a few heavy showers on I-95, but they didn’t last long. We are now set up at Blue Spring State Park near Orange City on the St. Johns River. We saw manatees in the spring run along with tarpon, gar and mullet. The spring run is quite clear and very pretty.

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Photos

Giant Florida Lobster
Down in the Keys, of course

Palm Beach Zoo
Roseate Spoonbills and Scarlet Ibis

Flamingoes
Do they come in flocks, herds, twists or what?

2 of our zoo guides
Kiley and Merrick, taking a break

Jaguar
what a magnificent cat

Giant Anteater
looking for giant ants, I suppose

Peacock
pretty as ...

Orchids
growing on a post

Big Gator
this guy was 10 or 12 feet long

Iguana and Friend
This guy, or one like him, swam through the bird show.

Blue Spring SP
spring run

Manatee
in spring run at Blue Spring SP. Maybe you can see the scar down its side. There was a big chunk missing from its tail, too.