Clearwater to Palmetto

We spent two nights in Clearwater and now we are in Palmetto.  The campgrounds were so close together that I barely had a chance to take a nap before we got here!  The weather was really nice when we got here and the humans even got to use the pool, but it has turned really cold.  

Eagle in Birds of Prey Show

Very Friendly llama

Mom and baby

But, let me tell you all about our last day in Clearwater.....since it was cool, they decided to leave me for the day and sight see.  First they met Nancy's cousin and her husband for breakfast and R&N they were off for the Lowery Park Zoo.  I'm sure glad I didn't have to go along---sounds like a scary place to me.  They were really impressed with the place.  It it not so big that they got tired, and yet there was a lot to see and do.  The displays and habitats are arranged so you get a really close up view of the animals.  Some of their favorites were the noisy gibbon area , the clouded leopard, and the meerkats.  The most unusual one, or at least one that they have never seen before, was the okapi.  They got to see a birds of prey show that featured some really neat birds in free flight.

Owl at the aquariam

Today it was really cold, so they turned up the heat and I snuggled into the bed for a nap while they went to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa.  Now, I think I could have liked seeing all those fish---but not the fact they were in water!  The facility is divided into different areas like wetlands and coral reefs.  You get the impression that you are actually walking through a mangrove swamp. Besides fish and some marine animals, there are also a lot of water birds and two river otters. There are several displays where you can touch various types of sea life (like a manta ray and some boneless creatures like anemones and sea stars).  On the way back they stopped at Appolo Beach to see the manatees that were trying to keep warm at the power plant.  Ron told me that they were so thick that he though he could walk across them!

Tomorrow we are off to Cortez---just south of here.

Reef tank at the aquarium