Day 172

Today we went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and to Celebrate, a small community for dinner.

To enter the building where our hotel room was, there is a small pond with a walk way. In the pond are ducks, unlike any I've ever seen...

...and unusual turtles. These are our first odd animals we have encountered.

There are also hibiscus flowers around the property.

Islands of Adventure has a large variety of plants, to fit in with their different sections. Most are repeated around the park, as a lot of them are native.

Palm...I think?

A wispy tree with small flowers

These are fuzzy flowers of some sort.

The Dr. Seuss area had some plants that have been sculpted into unusual shapes.

Tree

Yertle the Turtle

Yellow flowers on a tree

Fuzzy pink flower

I like how this pretty pink flower has a spiky stalk. It's an interesting mix of soft and rough.

Male mallard duck

Red and green leaves

Female mallard duck

Low palm

Red flower on palm

Magnolia

Pink and purple flower

Pink flowers on a tree

My main peeve with Florida is these bugs. They are all over the place in HUGE amounts. They fly in pairs, probably making more.

At night, we went to Celebrate, which is a wealthy area of Orlando. We went there for excellent and inexpensive pizza.

They had these interesting flowers planted around the trees along the sidewalks.

There were these lily pad like plants growing along the edge of the pond, by the dock.

Day 103

Today, the air was very cold and snow was falling lightly. There wasn't enough snow to stick to the ground, but definitely enough to make me cold while photographing. John and I needed to go grocery shopping and wanted lunch. While our lunch was being made, I went outside to take photos.

There were many birds in the area. I was able to easily take photos of the geese in the pond.

This is a goose behind a Weeping Willow. 

I loved how clear the reflections of the geese were. This clarity was due to the still water and overcast sky.

The water rippled in circles as these geese slowly moved.

These are some trees along one entrance of this shopping center.

This is a Weeping Willow that was by the pond. I love how the delicate branches show well against the overcast sky.

There were crows flying high around the trees. There are three in this photo. Can you find them all?