Giraffe Ranch

On the last day of our Spring Break trip, we visited the Giraffe Ranch in Dade City.  This is not a zoo, it is a nature preserve that offers a safari-like experience.   It is owned and operated by the ex-zoo director of Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo.  He and his wife Elena actually live on the property and offer a very unique animal experience.  You must make reservations for this.  When we arrived, we were greeted by a few camels.  Our favorite was doofus, a silly camel who loves to be around people.  After spending some time with the camels, Elena came out and started talking to us about what we were going to see on our safari.  She discussed the different types of animal horns and had some bone samples that she passed around.  After learning a little about the animals, we split up into two groups.  We were in the first group to feed the ring-tailed lemurs.

 Feeding the lemurs was THE highlight of the entire trip for me.  These animals are so sweet and gentle.  We fed them grapes.  When you hold out your hand, they grab your finger with theirs.  It feels like a newborn grabbing your hand- so sweet.  I could have spent all day with the lemurs.  This is something that I will never forget.

 After we fed the lemurs, we visited the other animals.  Lex- who was the former director of Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo walked around with us and gave us tons of info about all types of animals.  How often is it that you get a private tour with such a knowledgeable person?  I so enjoyed listening to him.

Once we finished our walking tour, we loaded up onto safari vehicles and headed out.  We were in Elena's vehicle, and she made several stops to point out various animals and tell us a bit about them.  In this picture, Olivia is holding an ostrich egg.

 The main attraction is feeding the giraffes.  This is different from zoos where you pay $2 and get a carrot.  We were parked in front of the giraffes for about 20 minutes and spent the whole time with them.

 We saw lots of other animals, too.

 This little guy was only two days old.

At the end of our tour, doofus came back up.  He was such a loveable guy.  We had a great time at the giraffe ranch.  It was a unique experience.

Aquarium Boat Tour

 While at the Clearwater Aquarium, we participated in an educational boat tour.  This was a hands-on tour with a marine biologist.  We were greeted by the boat staff and were each given a pair of binoculars and field journal.  We used these binoculars to watch out for dolphins and participate in an active population study using dorsal fin identification.  We also used the field guides to identify various types of birds.  In addition to this, we participated in scientific testing of the estuary water quality.  We checked the temperature, salinity, ph level, and oxygen level of the sample that we took.  There were only three kids on the tour, so Olivia and Owen got to participate in all of the activities.  We also examined plankton under a microscope and learned about ways that we can better protect our environment.  This was a really cool and educational tour.

 The kids thought the binoculars were cool and wasted no time putting them on.

 We saw many (about 12) wild dolphins during our outing.

 We also got to see an osprey nest.  As we got closer, the babies popped up.

 Marine biologists in training.

Brian was on the lookout for wildlife.

 Olivia is helping test the water quality.

 Owen helps gather the water sample.

 Checking out the plankton in the sample.

 Viewing microscopic organisms in the water.

 We played "bird bingo" to keep track of all spotted birds.

Owen got bingo and won a keychain.

 He had some help from Granny Mel.

Olivia was working on both her and Brian's bingo board.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

On day 2 of our Spring Break trip, we drove to Clearwater to visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium- home of Winter the dolphin. 

 We arrived early and were stopped in the parking lot by a man who asked us if we wanted to touch Winter's gel and tail.  I'm not sure who this guy was, but he was really nice.  Actually, all of the employees at the aquarium were super-nice and knowledgeable.  They made it a point to spend time with each guest and answer all of their questions.

 Once inside, the first stop was the ray touch tank.  It took a while to convince the kids to touch the rays, but they did it.

They were doing some final shots for the movie "Dolphin Tale 2" while we were there.  An employee told us that we were lucky because the aquarium was usually closed off to the public during filming.

We saw them film a scene where Nicholas (the dolphin) jumps up into a tarp looking thing to be transported.  It will be cool if this scene actually makes it into the movie.  One thing I learned- it takes a lot of equipment to shoot a movie.

 Here's the lighting guy on the roof.

 We saw all kinds of fish, turtles, dolphins, pelicans, and an otter.  The kids liked the touch tanks a lot.  Here they are touching an urchin.

 After Nicholas finished filming, it was time for him to show off a bit.  We attended the dolphin show and watched him play.

 We also went to the pelican feeding.  Rufus (the pelican) was the kids' favorite character from Dolphin Tale, so we had to spend some time with him.

 Olivia was a participant in the game show "Name that Pelican".

 Of course, no visit to this aquarium would be complete without visiting the star attraction- Winter.  She was receiving physical therapy when we saw her.

 After leaving the aquarium, we drove to Clearwater Beach.  My friend Anna comes to Clearwater every year and just raves about how great it is.  The kids had never been to the gulf side of Florida,  so we figured we might as well check it out.

Anna is right- the beach here is beautiful- quite a bit better than the Atlantic side.  The water was still a bit cold and we didn't have swimsuits, so we just put our feet in the ocean.

Anna also recommended that we eat at Frenchy's.  So glad that we did, the food was delicious, and the restaurant was right on the beach.  This was a nice ending to the day.

Legoland

For Spring Break this year, we spent a few nights in the area around Tampa.   On the first full day, we made a 45 minute drive to Winter Haven to visit Legoland.  We were so impressed by this amusement park!  We arrived at 10 a.m. for the park opening and we did not leave until the park closed at 6 p.m.  This was the perfect amount of time to see and do everything.  The weather was great, and the lines were not bad at all.  Olivia and Owen were just the right height that they could ride all four of the roller coasters.  One of the favorite activities of the day was the Lego "driving school" where kids could get into power wheel- type cars and drive around a little city.

We also got to meet the Lego Movie characters- that was "awesome".

 Miniland was very impressive.  They had recreated various cities using legos.  They had even recreated scenes from Star Wars- which was the kids' favorite section.

 Legoland is built on the site of the old Cypress Gardens, and they have maintained the gardens and ski show that were original to that park.  The difference is that the ski show now features Lego men.

The Cypress Gardens area was the last part of the park that we visited before closing.  I wish we had had more time to check it out because it was beautiful.  As we were exiting, we all agreed- Legoland was a hit.