Enjoying The Sounds of the Safari...Lion Country

Monday December 9- Today I got up and headed to Walmart...early. Well I wasn't early enough to avoid the traffic on Southern Highway. When I arrived at Walmart it was fine. I did avoid most of the people there. I got what was on my list and came on back. I unloaded the stuff and put it away. Jeff and I got ready and left for The Wellington Environmental Preserve. When we stopped at the Village Music store one of the employees told us about it. It wasn't very far from our park either. We parked and was ready to investigate.

We had a beautiful day to go but it was a warm one. The only problem we had was trying to figure out the map. We weren't sure which parking lot we were at and which way to go. After a bit we figured it out. It's just like anything else, it was new to us but once we got our bearings we were good. I got lots of pictures of really cool birds. The park has a paved walkway and benches along the way to sit. There are also boardwalks that allow you to walk over the water. The critters are everywhere. Here are some of the birds I saw.

I didn't even have to look that hard to get these shots. I want to go back and bring the bikes and take my time to sit and look a bit. There are gators here too, we didn't see any but I did spot something in the water. I got a picture and I'm calling it a turtle...a big one.

We ended up going all the way around the loop with a couple mix ups. Thinking the path in about 3 miles around but we did more than that because we had some mix ups. Then we climbed the tower to get a better look at the park....73 steps to be exact.

The view was amazing and the place was full of birds but people were few and far between. We had a nice day but next time I will come earlier with water, binoculars and a bike. They also have a gravel path that circles the whole park. When we got back to the car we were hot and thirsty. We could tell we had climbed those steps to the tower as well. After getting back and resting up we went to Outback for a yummy dinner.

Tuesday December 10- This morning I started my holiday baking. I made homemade caramels, made up the sugar cookie dough to chill. Then we had an early lunch. We are going to be on time for the movie today. It is movie day so the tickets are only $5.00. The theater wasn't busy either and the popcorn was good. The movie was really good. We went and saw Ford V Ferrari, we have been waiting to see it because it came out when we were in the Keys. No movie theaters there. It was well worth the wait. After the movie we came home and I made up a batch of sugar wafer cookies. I got them baked and stored away. We had an easy supper and called it a day.

Wednesday December 11- Up early and again with more baking. I made butter spritz cookies and pecan tassies. The thing about the spritz cookies, I haven't made them for a while. When I was a little girl my best friends mom made these cookies. When I got married she gave me a cookie press. I still have it and when I got it out it brought back great memories.

I also did some things around here. We had a happy hour with Jeffrey and Maren. We almost had to cancel happy hour because we got some rain but it stopped and we had a rainbow.

Thursday December 12- We had lots of rain last night. It was raining this morning. When it stopped I went to walk Ruby and we got caught in the rain. I thought I would take the day off from baking. I got busy cleaning inside the rig. After I finished cleaning I got back to baking. Today I made hidden treasures and melting moments. The melting moments is a recipe from my aunt Pat. Everyone loved them at our Christmas Eve family party. Mine are good but not as good as hers. Another fond memory. I watched a movie this afternoon. Then for supper we went to Park Avenue BBQ with Jeffrey and Maren. We have never been but they had. It wasn't too far from the park either.

Everyone's food was good. The prices were really reasonable and the help was friendly. We had a really nice night.

Friday December 13- There was more rain last night. I waited for the rain to dry up then I went to Walgreen's to pick up my meds. While there I got copies of pictures. I need to have them to make scrapbook pages for my grand kids birthday books. Next time it rains I will have something to keep me busy. We also got some decals ordered for the rig. We have one side where the decals have cracked and faded really bad. The rest of them look fine. Jeff did some research and found this guy that has the actual decals. We still have to get the old ones off and them on. We will wait for them to arrive before we do anything else.
I also got busy and rolled, cut, baked and frosted my sugar cookies. Now I am completely done with my Christmas baking.

Saturday December 14- Today I made up cookie trays to give out. Because there is no way we are going to eat all of these cookies. It is really windy today and we had a few sprinkles. The park is really busy here today. Seth Katie and the kids made it home safely from Hawaii.

Sunday December 15- It was a really pretty day today. I went to take Ruby for a walk when I saw a couple that asked if I was taking my dog to see Santa? I didn't know anything about that. They had Santa and Mrs. Claus here today from 11-12, to greet the pups in the park. I went back to the rig to get her in her Christmas suit and then up to see Santa. Ruby wouldn't let Santa hold her so I had to sit in with her.

After Jeff and I packed up some chairs, snacks and our cooler. We headed over to Wellington Amphitheater. They are having a benefit concert today for the Bahama's. They are having a bunch of tribute bands playing.

We arrived early to get a parking spot and a good seat. When we arrived there, there were all kinds of parking spots and hardly anybody inside with a chair. When they have there free concerts this place is packed. This time they are charging $20.00 a person. You can still bring in your cooler and snacks. It was very disappointing, the amount of people that showed up. We were kind of concerned with being in the sun all day. We had a shady spot for the whole thing. It was a wonderful day for the show. It would have been nice if more had showed up.

We only stayed and watched the first 4 bands. It was a beautiful day and the show was wonderful. We stopped to get a bite of supper on the way home. We stopped at Burger Fi. Everything was really good. Then we came on home.

Monday December 16- Today we hung around here all day. I decided to go up to the pool. Usually the pool is kept at a perfect temperature for me...warm. They had some problems and the heater isn't working properly. It's cold. Well it has been like this for awhile and today it is still cold. I sure hope they get it fixed before we leave.  The rest of the day was just hanging here. We did see the launch that took place tonight. It was nice to see some sunshine today. It has been hiding lately.

Tuesday December 17 - Today is movie day again. We are seeing Dark Water. It is based on a true story and we both enjoyed this one. We walked around the mall a bit. We came home and had a happy hour with Jeffrey and Maren.


Wednesday December 18- Another rainy day. This weather is getting old.  Jeff did get a reservation that we needed for next year so that was a plus. Couldn't stay in the rig all day so we went to get the pups a Christmas gift. Then a Trader Joe run as well.  When we got back I did the laundry. Then I got out my scrapbook stuff to go through. I will be working on the birthday pages with this weather.
We finished the evening with dinner out with friends. Jeffrey and Maren are leaving tomorrow so we did dinner at Outback. It was yummy.


Thursday December 19- Big day today.....It is Lion Country Safari day. It is also Christmas with the chimps. I made Jeff get over there early so we could be one of the first ones in. I get so excited. The weather was really gray and it looked like it could rain at any given minute. Lucky for us it held off.
The gates opened at 9:30 and away we went. We really didn't do much looking at the critters. I wanted to get to the chimp area and get a seat. We can go back and go through that after.

 We had a front row seat. We waited for the show to start. It did not disappoint. The weather could have been better.

These chimps know what they are doing. They put them on another island when they are preparing. When they open the bridges they line up and take off for the gifts. They grab them and run to a safe spot to open. We have noticed that food is the pick gift. They also like the frozen drinks. What a fun way to spend the morning. After this we headed to the parking lot. We parked and went in to the walking part. This is where you can feed the giraffes and the lory birds. I did both. I love feeding the critters. We also walked around looking at flamingo's, and more monkey's.

Now here are the pictures that highlight the day. I just love this part of the park. You can purchase the food for them right there and it isn't that expensive.

 We got a quick bite to eat. Then we got back in the car to do the drive thru part of the safari. It wasn't very crowded either. We saw lots of hoofed animals. Really like the zebras, rhinos, ostriches and lions of course. Here are some pics of them. Pictures say so much.

zebras everywhere

here's a herd

baby rhino-Bash with mom

This is how he was sitting

sticking out his tongue

albino emu

king of the forest

After the drive thru we headed back to the rig. The weather held off and it was a wonderful day.

Friday December 20- Today another gray day. I made breakfast, gave Jeff a haircut. I also got started on my scrapbook projects. I used to really do a lot of it. With this life style it isn't as easy to do. I really purged a bunch of my supplies. Now I just have basic stuff. I think the scrap booking phase has run it's course. I still enjoy it. I make each one of the grand kids a birthday book. I still enjoy getting them out and looking at them. To finish off this day we went back to Village Music. We hadn't really planned on going back but Jodi Gaines is playing there tonight and we really like them. We went over early and had supper before the show. We both had burgers and they were really good. The show was really good as well.

Saturday December 21- Another rainy day. Good thing I have some scrapping to do. We stayed around here all day. I watched a bunch of Hallmark movies. Jeff has found netflix.


Sunday December 22- Well it is gray again. We made the trip over to Generation Church. It was a wonderful service. It was also cycles for Center Street today. They have gathered up bikes to donate to those who need them. Boy did they have a great response. After church we had to get Ruby some dog food. Then we headed home. The rest of the day we hung around here. We have stormy weather in the forecast for tonight. Hopefully they are wrong. We do not want wind and storms. Until next time.....