Day 223

Today, we went to the Virginia Zoological Park in Norfolk, Va. We love this zoo! A few months ago, they finished building the Trail of the Tiger enclosures structure. We have been trying to go for months, so this was a special treat. I will include a few zoo resident photos, but plants first, since some of the zoo animals aren't natural to this area.

Sunflower

Sunflower

Lily

Rose

Hibiscus

Bengal Tiger cooling off in a creek made for them.

Swinging Primate. I didn't photograph the description, so I don't know what kind it is.

This ostrich was mad that a giraffe came near his woman. The giraffe just stuck it's tongue out at the ostrich. Eventually the ostrich just walked away...no longer protecting his woman. The giraffe went back to eating the roof.

I have no  clue why both giraffes were licking the posts and eating the grass roof. This is the baby giraffe.

Turtle

Meerkat

There were 2 adults and 6 baby geese. Two of the babies were too far to the left to easily get in the frame. The babies kept on walking for a bit then laying down.

The baby Prairie Dogs were wrestling. They were squeaking and having fun. One of the adults came over to regulate, but the babies continued to wrestle beside the adult.

Adult Prairie Dog sitting on a dome. This area has three domes that you can look through. Sometimes, you get wacky views like the butt of a Prairie Dog.

Day 177

Today we woke to a thick fog. After a few hours, the fog started to lift.

This is at about 9:45am.

Since, rain ruined our fun yesterday, we headed back to Brookgreen Gardens today. We focused on the garden area.

Ferns are growing on the break of the oak trees.

The squirrels here are larger than the ones at home.

These flowers varied in colors.

Lily

I love how the thick leaves of this plant cradled the water from the rain and created rounded drops.

These vines were growing through each hole of this wall.

Ivy was growing all over the bottom of this tree meeting the Spanish moss from the top of the tree.

There was a whole section of trees like this.

Moss growing between the stones of a walkway

Many fountains and pools of water had water lilies and pads growing in them.

Last year, we visited in August and there were HUGE grasshoppers there, called lubbers. This year, we visiting in May and the lubbers were still tiny. However, we found them in large clusters.

Daises

Lizard trying to blend into the leaf

A baby lubber and a few pals

Bubbles occurred naturally from a small waterfall.

There were several turtles on this circle. I liked the turtle with it's feet dangling and the one with it's feet tucked in. John and Alex let me take lots of photos of the turtles, close to the pond, before reading the "Beware of alligators and snakes" sign. Thankfully, we saw none of those.

Dragonfly on lily pad

Day 174

Today was a long day. We went to Disney Animal Kingdom and Disney Magic Kingdom. I took the most photos at the zoo, since it has the most animals and plants.

Bamboo

Palm

Duck floating on a small pond full of fish

Duck

Hippopotamus

Vulture

Meerkat 

Male gorilla with baby

Yellow flower petal on metal of swinging bridge

Silverback gorilla

Giraffe

Butterfly

Flower in butterfly garden

Komodo dragon

Giant flying fox bat

Flower buds in leaf pod

Huge bird

The world's largest pigeons. They were about the size of turkeys. This is a male and female making a nest. They are so used to people, from interacting with them in the aviary, that the male picked up nest material a few inches away from me.

Parrot maybe?

This might be a bird couple or an adult and junior bird.

Birdy belly

This anteater was taking a shower. It was scrubbing it's self and really enjoying the water. This was an unexpected sight.

Turtle

Pink flowering vine

After lunch, we went to the Magic Kingdom. By the time we had walked around for a few hours, I was exhausted. I didn't take a lot of photos, while we were there.

Sun rays through the clouds

After about an hour at the park, rain started pouring. After it had stopped, these white birds were standing on the canopies for vendors.

Yellow flower near the dock to go to Tom Sawyer's island.

Lizard

Rabbit

Pink rose

Sunset

Sunset from the boat headed back to the cars.