Fun Day Getting My Steps In
I’m not a serious step counter, but I do track on my phone which is close enough for me. Today I came very close to 10,000 (over 7 km). My daughter, who was with me the whole time got even more. I also got in a half hour swim at the hotel pool. I would have stayed longer if the water wasn’t so warm, if there hadn’t been a buoy line cutting the pool in half, and if I hadn’t been so hungry.
Besides swimming, what did I do? I started out the day at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton Florida, admiring sea turtles, fish and butterflies. It was a nice little centre, with walking trails, an aquarium, a sea turtle rehabilitation and research centre, and a butterfly garden.
A young turtle is getting its deep water physiotherapy in the aquarium in preparation for being released back into the wild.
My daughter doing the traditional arabesque while sightseeing. Apparently it’s a dancer thing.
Then I went to Flamingo Gardens, which was more commercial, but also interesting. The focus there is birds. Flamingos, obviously, but also pelicans, herons, gulls, egrets, spoonbills, ibises, wood storks, a variety of raptors and owls, plus a black bear, otters, a bobcat, alligators, turtles, tortoises, and a few odd things like macaws, cockatoos, a toucan and peacocks. The location is a former orange grove (on Flamingo Road) and the original home is open as a bit of a museum, set up mostly as it would have been when it was built in the 1930s.
Flamingos!
Wood storks, which are endangered in Florida.
The last stop of the day was the Everglades. It was ridiculously tacky, and we didn’t end up going on an air boat ride, but it was satisfying to drive out through the country, and see the kind of terrain I remember from watching Gentle Ben as a child.
Besides swimming, what did I do? I started out the day at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton Florida, admiring sea turtles, fish and butterflies. It was a nice little centre, with walking trails, an aquarium, a sea turtle rehabilitation and research centre, and a butterfly garden.
A zebra longwing, the Florida state butterfly
Then I went to Flamingo Gardens, which was more commercial, but also interesting. The focus there is birds. Flamingos, obviously, but also pelicans, herons, gulls, egrets, spoonbills, ibises, wood storks, a variety of raptors and owls, plus a black bear, otters, a bobcat, alligators, turtles, tortoises, and a few odd things like macaws, cockatoos, a toucan and peacocks. The location is a former orange grove (on Flamingo Road) and the original home is open as a bit of a museum, set up mostly as it would have been when it was built in the 1930s.
Brown pelican and her baby
The last stop of the day was the Everglades. It was ridiculously tacky, and we didn’t end up going on an air boat ride, but it was satisfying to drive out through the country, and see the kind of terrain I remember from watching Gentle Ben as a child.
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