After lunch today we tossed around several different ideas for our Sunday. Most were lazy, but one got us out of the house.
We opted for some adventure!
The last stop on Ryan’s “Tour of Ocala” Christmas present to me took us to Silver Springs Theme Park.
The park is more or less a zoo that features glass bottom boat rides that tour the surrounding springs.
We were most excited about the boat rides and hopped aboard a glass bottom boat within 10 minutes of our arrival.
The captain of the ship guided the boat around the springs as we looked through the glass at the fish and clear water.
The spring produces upwards of 500 million gallons of crystal clear water daily. We could see all the way down to the bottom of the spring the entire time, and the spring reached nearly 60 feet deep at some parts.
We also saw a lot of wildlife, including birds, fish, turtles and several gators.
That guy was big, but very uninterested in our boat. I think he’s used to the tours.
On the boat ride, the captain pointed out a palm tree shaped somewhat like a horseshoe, telling everyone that if you took a picture by the lucky horseshoe palm, you would be granted five years of good luck.
Of course we made sure to get our five years after the boat ride concluded.
Our day at the park included lots of stops to see the animals. Our favorite animal of the day was the friendly giraffe.
We were able to get surprisingly close to the guy and feed him giraffe crackers… with our mouths!
I was a little nervous to feed him a cracker out of my mouth at first, but he was very gentle and slow moving. We were even able to pet him!
We saw a lot more animals at the park before heading home.
We also attended a reptile show and learned about alligators. Did you know that there are more than three million alligators in Florida? Eek.
Dinner
Once we were done at the park, we headed home and snacked for a bit before watching some football (Ryan), reading (me) and playing frisbee outside with Sadie.
While we entertained Sadie in the backyard, dinner cooked in the oven.
Tonight’s meal included roasted Brussels sprouts and onions, broiled salmon and half of a toasted whole wheat bagel, topped with melted butter and garlic salt. (Ryan ate the other half.)
Such a good dinner!
Now my sweet tooth is begging for some peppermint hot chocolate. Off to enjoy a cup and settle in with The Night Circus.
Those of you who are also reading the book for this month’s book club, are you enjoying it so far? Are you done? Haven’t started? So far I’m hearing good things from those of you who are reporting back! And please don’t forget to send me links to your reviews if you decide to post one so I may add your link to the post that includes my review of the book on February 1.
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the giraffes tounge is hilarious! I want a picture like that !!
I read The Night Circus in Vegas in the summer. I was the ONLY person reading at the Pool Party, I thought it was that good!!
That is where I did my first tri….good to know that it is full of gators 🙁
I’m jeaous! My zoo pictures from yesterday include way t much snow!
It’s been FOREVER since I’ve been to a zoo! You’ve just given me the bug to get to one! What a wonderful day!!
I finished Night Circus a few days ok and it ended up being really good! I agree with the person who said it was a different kind of good. And I say ended up, because it did take me about 50 pages to get into it, but once I did, I really liked it!
Aw, I would love to pet giraffe’s! That looks like such a fun day!
I’m a little over half way done with the Night Circus and I really, really like it! Hoping to finish up soon!
That is so cool! At my local zoo the giraffe’s are sooo far away. I never would have thought coming that close to one is possible!
I am about 250 pages into The Night Circus. Still really enjoying it but I feel like its starting to drag a little bit.
I used to visit Silver Springs and do the glass bottom boat ride with my grandparents every summer!!!!!!!! i miss being a kid! hope you had fun Julie!
What an awesome park!! I would love to get to feed a giraffe from my mouth! What a cool experience! So glad you enjoyed yourself!
Has anyone told you about the wild monkeys that live in the wild right down from where you were at Silver Springs? There are 24 or so (that I saw) monkeys that live right there. You can see hem right on the shore if you were to canoe a about a mile up from where the boats are at Silver Springs. Where I eentered the water in my canoe, we canoed 5 miles to right befroe where you were and there they were, right on the shore. Swinging from branches, moms with babies. So cool! These are relatives of monkeys that were brought in for the old Tarzan movies that were filmed there back in the 40’s. Anyway….it is a very worthwhile time….to rent a canoe to go see those wild monkeys!
I really like the giraffe’s wrinkles! He looks so sweet! That looks like such a fun date. 🙂 I am loving night circus! I’m about halfway done.