Flamingo Gardens

Posted on February 22, 2013February 22, 2013 by Dusty Roads

My early start had been side tracked by the unwelcome visit to the Welcome Center. Now that I’d wasted a good 45 minutes I decided Everglades National park was best delayed until tomorrow.

So where to head today? In my brochures of the area I found a one for a Botanical Garden and Wildlife sanctuary. In my travels I’ve had really good luck with botanical gardens and wildlife sanctuaries. I am about to see if my luck will continue.

Flamingo Gardens is located at 3750 South Flamingo Rd ,(Davie) Fort Lauderdale. My GPS said it was about a 20 minute drive. My full “kit” was loaded in the car including tripod and telephoto lenses. I would not be traveling light today.

To my surprise when I arrived there was a flea market well underway. The botanical gardens had not opened yet so I wandered around the stalls. I didn’t see anything I was interested in so I made my way over to the entrance.

I watched a Peacock preen while I waited for the doors to open.

The entrance was through the gift shop.

I was handed a map of the grounds with my ticket.

As I passed through to the grounds on the other side I spotted a huge tabby cat. It gave me my “kitty fix” of the trip.

The paths were almost jungle-like with flowering plants and overhanging vines and branches.

It was only about 9:30 am and the morning light filtering through all this lush growth was an artist’s dream.

Eventually I arrived at the Aviary. All of the birds and animals in the sanctuary are rescues. Their injuries prevent them from ever being released back into the wild. The sanctuary allows them to live out their lives while serving as animal ambassadors for their species.

I entered the aviary with limited expectations. I was quickly surprised. I first spotted some white wading birds..egrets or maybe white herons but as I came closer I realized there were many more birds than I first noticed.

Continuing along I met more birds… wood storks

and anhinga,

ducks,

pelicans

and spoonbills

were just a few of the residents.I even spotted some good sized turtles.

I found my self spending hours among these feathered creatures with my camera working overtime.

I was surprised that there weren’t more people passing through the aviary. In fact only one small group came through while I was there. Maybe being surrounded by uncaged birds wasn’t to everyone’s liking.

Ramada Inn

Posted on February 21, 2013February 21, 2013 by Dusty Roads

This post is for my sister. She is always interested in the places I stay. I mean literally. She wants the scoop on any motels, hotels or time share condos I visit on my travels.

This time I was in a Ramada Inn that I found on Hotels.com. I had looked into using the time share but it would have cost me almost as many points for 3 nights as it would if I was staying for a week so I chose to rent a hotel instead.

The deal I got was $56.25/ night. That was pretty inexpensive . Of course Florida doesn’t have an income tax (or so I’m told) so they make it up in other ways. There was a charge of $62.58 for “Tax recovery and service fees.” Still even with the fees it was less than $80.00/ night.

At that rate I was a little concerned about the hotel and I did pass through a rather sleazy area on my way but by the time I reached the Ramada the area seemed fine. This one is located at 5100 North State Rd 7, Fort Lauderdale. I had a non smoking room with one King Bed. It could use a desk but other than that it was quite a nice room.

I was impressed with the hotel.

One of the best things was washer and dryers on the 2nd and 4th floors. I was on the 2nd floor and they were right down the hall from my room. They were coin operated and change and supplies were available at the front desk.

They had everything there…a heated pool, basketball courts, tennis courts and a restaurant on premises that served breakfast, lunch and dinner. They also had a beauty shop, gift shop, game room and gym. Wi-fi was free throughout the hotel.

Although I used Golden Corral for meals quite a bit over my stay I did enjoy a couple of meals at the restaurant. It was buffet style and the food was only so-so but it was convenient and the price was quite reasonable.

The Wi-fi turned out to be slow and spotty. Clearly it wasn’t sufficient to support the number of users during the week. Sunday night was different. The hotel emptied out and voila…I was surfing again.

All in all, this was a very nice place for the price. One cautionary note. There was a “Welcome Center” off the lobby and restaurant. The ATM was located here and a rack of brochures. The back part was divided into cubicles. When I woke up the first morning there was a paper under my door inviting me to the Welcome Center to pick up local maps and coupons for discounts. Sounds nice doesn’t it. Well it wasn’t. The Welcome Center is just an euphemism for a sales pitch. Similar to a Time Share presentation the representative tried to book me for an appointment to hear about a “Vacation Club”. Another time another trip and I might have said yes but on this trip I just wasn’t interested. That didn’t sit well with the booking rep. I made the mistake of telling him my plans when we first sat down. Now he made fun of them and told me how I was wasting my time. When I asked him where the maps were the invitation promised he practically threw them at me. At that point I stood up, thanked him for his time and left. But on my way out I stopped at the front desk and lodged a complaint. That made me feel better.

No way would I let the rough start to the day put a damper on my spirits. The sun was shining. I just knew the rest of the day was going to be awesome.

Rare Disease Awareness Network

Posted on February 20, 2013February 20, 2013 by Dusty Roads

This weekend the Rare Disease Awareness Network is holding a Blood Drive in Acushnet MA. I will be working so cannot attend but all of those orphan diseases that are never diagnosed and do not have treatments because they don’t strike the “masses’ need support to bring them into the mainstream. There’s even a TV program that focuses on the difficulties victims face finding a diagnosis. Watch Mystery Diagnosis sometime.

RDAN has adopted the Zebra as their symbol. Why? Because of the way diagnostics is taught in med school.

Photo: As promised this morning...the zebra story!

Dusty Roads Photos wants to support this cause. We have created 2 Zebra Cards and will donate $1.00 for each card sold. You can order either or both of the cards on our companion website www.dustyroadsphotos.etsy.com

To find out for about this organization you can check out their page on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/SaveBecka

I know there are loads of charities asking for your support but a simple purchase of a card or two will go along way. Thank you 🙂

Just cut and past the address. The link tool doesn’t seem to want to work. www.dustyroadsphotos.etsy.com

Alligator Show At Home of the Gator Boys

Posted on February 20, 2013February 20, 2013 by Dusty Roads

What do Cheetos and fences have to do with alligator wrestling? When you are at Everglades Holiday Park it means that the alligator show is being done by volunteer alligator gladiator J.- Mart. I don’t know J-Mart’s real name but that’s what they call him on the Animal Planet Show Gator Boys.

J-Mark’s first appearance was in an episode where Paul reprimanded him for feeding Cheetos to the alligators. We next see J-Mart trying to install a new fence around the alligator pit against Paul’s directions. J-Mart is one of those colorful characters that help add fun and interest to a show that revolves around a couple of trappers who catch nuisance alligators with their bare hands.

J-Mart was the person who had been in line behind me in the snack bar before my airboat ride. And J-Mart is performing the Alligator Wrestling show I am about to watch. That is sooo cool.

Now I am not a silly star struck kid and celebrities don’t make my heart go pit-pat but I was pleased that someone who I had actually seen on the show was going to do this demonstration. It also made me think that I might be able to get my “burning question” answered. Was Gator Boys coming back to Florida?

I stood front and center by the fence with my camera at ready. J-Mart started off asking if anyone watched Gator Boys. I don’t know how many other people said yes but my hand shot up right away. He looked right at me and said “Did you see the episode about the Cheetos?”. Laughing I said yes and about the fence too! His reply was classic J-Mark. “They made me look bad. I can build a fence.”

The gator show was great! J-Mart called the gators to him by imitating a baby gator chirping sound.

Then he took one of the bigger gators and had him snap his jaws shut. Wow! It’s amazing how loud the pop sound is as the jaws close in a split second.

The easy stuff out of the way J-Mart got serious and performed the more dangerous tricks like holding the gator with his head and no hands.

After the show I asked him if the Gator Boys were coming back to Florida.

He looked surprised I asked. Then he tossed off “they are back now”. Yay! Mississippi will be coming to an end and Paul and Jimmy will be back catching Florida Gators again.

Airboat ride, gator wrestling and my “burning question” answered. Throw in J-Mart and it was a very successful visit! I said good-bye to the birds and peacocks and headed back to the Ramada.

It was long past 3 pm so check in shouldn’t be a problem now.

Airboats and Alligators

Posted on February 19, 2013February 19, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Ok so I guess I wasn’t on dry land for long. Off the cruise ship in the morning onto the airboat in the afternoon.

This airboat was different from any I’d been on before. This one was enclosed so there were no bulky ear protectors to muffle the sound.

There was also no wind in your face or water in your lap. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this.

I tried to manuver around the groups that wanted to sit together so that I could get a seat on one of the ends so I could take pictures. A good-sized man and his family scooted over so I could have a seat next to them so I had my prime spot. Now it would all depend on where the animals were.

We cast off with a roar ramping up to a pretty good speed. The operator zigged and zagged so spray would fly in all directions then just as quickly he killed the motor and we drifted into a clump of razor grass. While we sat there our guide explained about the eco system of the Everglades…how it isn’t a swamp, the water is not stagnant, how fragile it is even touching on some of the problems of invasive species. Then he reached over to start up the boat so we cold look for the main attraction, alligators, but nothing happened.

After trying a couple of times more he called the main office for a rescue. While we waited he told us stories about his childhood growing up in the glades and how the sun is your friend. If you are ever lost in the Everglades after dark it won’t be alligators and snakes you need to worry about…it will be the “skeeters”. As he went on about the “Skeeters” and what would happen at dusk we watched the sun sink lower and lower on the horizon. Just about the time we thought we should get out and start wading/swimming back, the rescue airboat arrived.

Lashed to the side of the new comer we all climbed over the side and into the new boat. All safely aboard we set off again. We hadn’t gone far when we heard our disabled airboard start up! Ok well at least it was a story to tell…Rescue in the Everglades.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We saw several alligators and learned about the role temperature plays in determining the sex of the babies. Also the affect climate change seems to be having on the eco-system.

In one of the cuts we saw a little back and red bird that seemed to hop over the big leaved plants. The plants looked like water lilies but our guide said they were not even related. He said he had saved the little bird as a chick and raised it at his home only releasing it as an adult. Sure enough, when he called it, it came.

We spent a bit of time feeding the bird and then it was time to head back. As always the time was too short for me. I wonder if I could get a job as an airboat operator???