Back to John Pennekamp Coral Reef Park

Posted on November 9, 2019November 2, 2019 by Dusty Roads

Back to John Pennekamp Coral Reef Park

Back to the Park

The whole purpose of my trip to Key Largo was to see the reef at John Pennekamp Park so it was only reasonable to go back to the park after lunch. My receipt got me right in. I still had all my snorkel gear. When you rent it you rent it for the day so I thought about an afternoon snorkel. My feet were still hurting from the morning adventure on the coral so I decided I’d check out the visitor center first.

Environmental Education and Visitor Center

The Visitor center was refreshingly cool. As I walked in I saw a theater that was running a continuous loop of film. One of the other visitors was just leaving and he told me I had perfect timing. The loop was just starting again. That was good enough for me. I popped into the theater and made myself comfortable.The underwater photography was beautiful but the message was a serious one. The movie was about an hour long and it was about the conservation of the seas. It followed the life cycles of the tiniest creatures ending with the mammals. It was very worthwhile. Throughout the movie people came and went. Too bad they didn’t sit through to the end.

30,000 Gallon Saltwater Aquarium

The main feature of the visitor center was the 30,000 gal aquarium. The aquarium was filled with native fish. Kind of a sneak preview of what you could see on the reef. Smaller aquariums featured different reef animals including my lunch, the Florida (spiny) lobster.

Back to the Park

If you go

The park is open daily from 8:00 a.m. until sunset but parking can fill up early. All park buildings including the Concession Building and Visitor Center are open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

All visitors are required to pay an entrance fee:
$8.00* per vehicle. Limit 2-8 people per vehicle.
$2.00* Pedestrians, bicyclists, extra passengers, passengers in vehicle with holder of Annual Individual Entrance Pass.
$4.00* Single-occupant vehicle or motorcycle.
*Plus $.50 per person Monroe County Surcharge.

A little Slice of the Old West

Posted on December 28, 2017December 27, 2017 by Dusty Roads

Jackson Hole, a Little Valley with a Big Old West Feel

The Wild West comes alive in Jackson. Jackson is the biggest little town in Jackson Hole and the county seat of Teton County. Jackson is the town, Jackson Hole is the Valley. My visit was in the fall, a shoulder season so many of the rootin’ tootin’ cowboy activities were done for the year. To embrace the Old West Days you need to plan a visit on Memorial Day weekend. Jackson kicks off the tourist season with a celebration of western heritage. Enjoy the Jackson Hole Rodeo and the Town Square Shoot Out.

First Stop the Visitor Center

I was nearing the end of my visit to Wyoming and other than driving through Jackson I had spent very little time there. I thought I should take a few hours and explore. My first stop was the Visitor Center. You’ll find the Visitor Center as you drive into Jackson from the Airport. It will be on your left. It’s a large building right next to Flat Creek. In fact, there’s a large observation deck out the back of the building that looks out over the marsh. A great place for bird watching. Outside by the entrance is a statue of an elk.

Inside the Visitor Center

Maybe Welcome Center is more appropriate because the inside was warm and welcoming. To your left is a diorama of an elk herd. Follow their lead to the 2nd floor to view beautiful paintings and prints of the Jackson Hole area. Back down on the first floor is a large gift shop with the usual T shirts, sweat shirts and key chains but the registers are manned by rangers and very knowledgeable locals. They have all the most recent information on animal sightings and maps. Needless to say, I did not leave empty handed!

Anchorage

Posted on July 6, 2013July 6, 2013 by Dusty Roads

As Mr. Roberts would say “It’s a lovely day in the neighborhood.” And that would be very true here in Anchorage. Sunny and warm, a perfect day! We ate breakfast in the hotel. When we were ready to go exploring the doorman pointed us in the right direction. It was just a couple of blocks to the Visitor Center, a sod thatched log cabin right there on a main street.

Our plan for the day was the Anchorage Zoo. There was a shuttle from the Visitor Center right to the Zoo. We got there just after the shuttle had pulled out so we had about 30-40 minutes to wait. I wandered the street exploring the souvenir shops while Sandy went into the Visitor Center and chatted with the ladies working in there.

Nearby was a Cultural Museum. That would have been interesting if there was more time. The totem poles were different.

One of the stores had a big plush bear in front of it.

Another was called “Once in a Blue Moose.” How cute is that !

I loved the Blue Moose totem pole by the door.

Look at that! They have a sign post! The first time I ever saw one of these was in Hawaii. Its a sign post with the distance to other places like North Pole. San Francisco, Seattle, Boston and so on. It’s always interesting to see what places made it onto a sign like this.

A trolley was offering city tours and if we’d had more time that would have been high on my list of first things to do. Trolley tours at a new location are one of the best ways to get the “lay of the land” but since we were only going to be here one day the zoo was a better choice.

When the Zoo shuttle arrived and we got settled, the driver told us how nice it was to finally get sunshine and warm weather. Like everyone else she said spring had come late this year. Normally the weather we were getting now should have started 2 weeks earlier. Just our luck!

It was about a 20 minute ride to the zoo. We were dropped off right by the entrance. We’d have about 1.5 hours before we’d have to catch the shuttle back so we could get back to the hotel for our shuttle to the airport. The driver said it was a little zoo and that we’d have plenty of time.

Maybe now I’d finally get to see some of the iconic Alaskan animals that had been eluding me.