Day Trip of the Week

 

 

Starting out with the return portion of our week-day drive last week.   It's big sugar country east of us and coming home we drove past miles of cane fields.  They look pretty at this stage, blowing in the light breeze.  Sometimes in that area (and even at the Canal Cottage), you can smell sugar in the air –they still burn off the leaves before cutting the cane.

 

 

You can't always go to the Keys or the Beach to admire the beautiful Florida sunset — but  it's a pretty good show even driving along the freeway at the right time of the evening.

 Now I'll share some pictures from the "Old Florida" attraction we visited earlier in the day.

 

Sulcata Tortoise

 Sulcata Tortoises are unique looking, smart and friendly and for this reason people often think they would make good pets.   But they can weigh up to 200 pounds, they poop a lot, and they can dig through practically anything.    The rescue portion of the facility  gets a lot of "adopt my pet" requests from people who can't manage them any more.

 

 

 Peacock

These exotic birds need a lot of room  and can be very destructive and noisy.   They roamed freely around the facility — and this one made quite a commotion when it flew right over our heads into the trees..

 

 

Galapagos Tortoise

Galapagos tortoises are one of the longest-lived land animals, living an average of 100 years. 

I have been secretive so far about the name of the place we visited for a reason.    Seems like many readers really, really don't like alligators –   and I wanted everybody to have some pictures to look at before the very name of the place scared them off.      Yes, we went to Gatorama in Palmdale  –  a place we hadn't visited for years.   Here is a link to that post which tells more about this old Florida roadside attraction.  (It was here before Disney World in other words.)   I didn't actually take too many pictures of the animals in question, because we see them pretty often in the wild.  

 

 

The place has evolved from a kind of cheesy reptile roadside attraction to a facility that actually cares for animals although there are still elements of the former.    It's  a rescue facility, an alligator farm (raising animals for meat),  and a kind of reptile zoo.      They also educate the public about the reptiles that are housed here and about co-existing with alligators which live everywhere in this State.   Kind of a mixture of the good, the beautiful, and the ugly actually.

 

 

Grandpa is the oldest alligator in captivity.  Brought here in the late 1950s, he was already a full-grown mature bull alligator and has sired many  generations.  He's a favorite of everybody who works with him and who sees him.   The sign goes on:

"This species, scientists say, is more than 150 million years old, managing to avoid extinction 65 million years ago when their prehistoric contemporaries the dinosaurs died off."   

That sentence explains pretty well why I think these animals are fascinating rather than repulsive.  They trigger my imagination!   Thankful to be alive now and standing near animals that easily could have been alive in prehistoric times.  (But not too near of course!)   

 

LINKING to the following sharing opportunities, with thanks to the hosts:

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  and  SATURDAY CRITTERS