Man, We Missed it...

A couple of weeks ago the girls were on Spring Break, which I never really figured out because they get out of school four weeks after Spring Break, and Garrett came home all excited and said, "Hey, did you know that we are only 5 hours away from Kennedy Space Center and one of the last space shuttle launches is in a couple of days? Do you want to go?"

So, I don't know if any of you know that I am a bit of a space geek.  I even saved up money and went to a week long Space Camp when I was 15 in Huntsville, AL.  So, of course I was game.  Since both Garrett and I know that there are so many things that can go wrong with launches, I wanted to do something fun on the way down just in case the shuttle did not get to launch.  Good thinking, huh.  I did a bit of research on zoos on the way to Cocoa Beach and I found the St. Augustine Alligator Farm.  I remembered that Mark Reed, Zoo Director at Sedgwick County Zoo where I used to work, and I got into a discussion about albino alligators and that the St. Augustine Alligator Farm had one and was accredited my the AZA (very important to me because if they are accredited I know that they really care for their guests and animals).

Since my bugs like reptiles, I figured that this would be a great stop.  And it was! We had a ball.  Bug was so excited that she got to see all the different species of crocodilian, 23 in all.

No, this is not a real alligator. 
But I would love to see Little Bug up against a real one. 

I don't know who would win.  She is a bit scrappy.

The albino alligator is a species that can not survive in the wild. 

It is very sensitive to the sun and can not camouflage itself in the wild.
But they sure look cool.

This is one of the keepers who does demonstrations to
inform the public about alligators. 
He is a trained professional.  Do not try this at home. 
I know you all have alligators in your back yard.

There were over 30 alligators in the exhibit. 
We counted but I am sure we missed some. 

These suckers can hide good.  I would lose at hide-n-seek.
I'm sure of it.

Who the hell would put a fake zebra in an exhibit? I wonder if they got a bunch of complaints that their PR department had to deal with. What a bunch of morons.  I wonder where they got it.  It looks kind of familiar.  I bet the secretary took their whole family on a trip to FL to deliver it to this zoo. 

Don't you?

This momma Great Egret is feeding her babies.  There were a ton of birds nesting in the trees around the huge alligator exhibit.  I heard that the alligators would protect the nests from predators because who would what to take the risk of being eaten.  This was my favorite part.  Little Bug hated it.  The path was a very long bridge through the exhibit and I found out that Little Bug doesn't like heights.  How funny. Her dad doesn't like heights either.  Little Bug would go close to the side to feed the alligators, throw the food and run back to the middle of the path.

Check out Maximo.  He was huge!  You can't really tell because there is really no reference point but he is a "salty" weighing in at 1250 pounds and 15 feet long.  For some reason, large, dangerous animals really like Garrett.  Maximo walked out of the water and right up to Garrett.  It was crazy.  I have always wanted to go on safari with Garrett but I might think twice because the King Cobra does the same thing.

Oh, we even have to be sassy at the alligator farm.  Little Bug was getting tired but Bug and I could have spent a couple of more hours there and been fine. 

The crowning glory...

Bug got to hold a snake.  I would have hooked her up years ago if I knew it was that big of a deal.  She was so excited.  That was all we heard about for the rest of the trip.

If you get a chance, you should visit the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. We are going to go back when Little Bug gets bigger because you can zip line over the zoo.  I really want to do that but we have to wait a bit.

After that big adventure we got back in the car and headed to Cocoa Beach.  We checked into the hotel and then grabbed some pizza and went shopping at Ron Jon's Beach Shop.  I ended up buying a pair for flips for Bug.  Size 9.  Yes, in women's.  Thanks Nana.  Another generation of large feet.  Finally off to bed.  We had to get up early and head to the beach to get the best spot.  We were there at 8:30 for the launch that was scheduled for 3:30 ish.  We got to play in the ocean and dodge a sand storm.  We found out about 2 that there was a problem and they had to scrap the launch. We had a BLAST anyway.  No pun intented.

We were hoping to make it down on Monday this week to see the launch but Garrett was up against some deadlines and it is the last full week of school for the bugs.  There is one more in July so we hope, God willing to go down then.

'Til the next adventure...