April 24th, 2007

April 24th, 2007

Today we got up at the usual 7am and went to Burger King for breakfast, because it was close and fast and we had about an hour drive ahead of us to Busch Gardens near Tampa.

We got there around 10am and it was not very busy to get in at all.

The park is split into 7 sections and the first section was the Nairobi section and we started there. We saw the animals in that section: alligators, chimpanzees, gorillas, caiman, and tons of birds. There was a section called the Curiousity Caverns which include rare species of reptiles (a lot of snakes). We then went to the nursery and saw some animals I had never even heard of, but also some pot bellied pigs, warthog and parrots. We also visited with a friendly flamingo, who kept biting my watch and my camera. He/she was very cute and friendly and didn’t bite too hard. There was also a younger flamingo, who wasn’t pink yet, he was dancing with his head down. It was funny to watch him. We’re aren’t sure what it was actually doing!

We then caught a train that went around the park and on here we got to see a lot of animals out in the fields such as giraffe, rhino, hippo and various types of deer, birds, etc. etc. We got off at the Stanleyville section. Here we ate lunch at the Zambia Smokehouse. Brooke had bbq chicken and Keturah had bbq ribs. Kevin had a turkey wrap with coleslaw and I had a side salad and a small bowl of rice with black beans (although I didn’t get any beans!). It was all very good, although kind of pricey ($45 for everything). Keturah had chocolate pudding and Brooke had fresh strawberries, which cost 3 bucks each!

Kevin went on a ride called the “Sheikra”. Even Brooke wouldn’t go on it as it had two 90 degree drops and she said her stomach couldn’t handle it!

Keturah and I watched while Kevin and Brooke went on the Tidal Wave ride, which was a type of log(flume) ride. They got soaked! We almost went up on this bridge to watch them as they came down (would have made a great photo), but then we saw some people get soaked there, so we didn’t want to wreck our video camera, so we stood nearby.

We then headed over to the Bird Gardens section, where we saw a lot of different kinds of birds in the Aviary. They had a Lory feeding area, but they weren’t very hungry, so we didn’t buy any food for them.

We went to the Dragon section here, which had a bunch of kid’s things to do. The girls went through this climbing gym and Keturah went into this bouncy castle type thing and then they went through the little water spray pad so they could get cooled off!

We then went to the Morocco Section, where Brooke and Kevin rode on the Gwazi roller coaster (wooden one). Actually it included two roller coasters called the Lion and the Tiger. They had fun on both and there were no lineups.

We went through the Myombe Reserve and checked out some animals there, they were the ones we had seen from the train earlier.

We then went to the Congo Section where Brooke and I went on the Congo River Rapids and of course I got soaked to the underwear again! What are the chances of it happening twice I asked Brooke before we got on? She got a bit wet!
Kevin and Brooke went on the Kumba ride which was really fast and had a lot of spins and turns in it…Kevin said he felt a bit dizzy on it.

We had inquired about the adventure tours, where you can go out in an open air truck and pet and feed the animals such as the giraffe and bongos, but it cost 34 dollars for each person! Nice, but too expensive.

We then took the train again to the Timbuktu section. Brooke and Kevin went on the Cheetah Chase roller coaster and Keturah went on the Carousel Caravan.

We then went over to the Egypt Section where we some more Clydesdale horses because of the Anheiser-Busch sponsorship I guess. Kevin also got a free sample of beer at their hospitality house.

We saw King Tut’s tomb and the three of them went on the Skyride, which is a ride that stretches across the top of the park…I don’t like heights, so I rested on a bench.

We went to Adventure photo and I bought a picture of all of four of us, that their photographers had taken of us when we entered the park and then we headed back to the hotel or so we thought…

Kevin was supposed to have turned to go on 75 south and he went north instead. I didn’t really notice until he asked me how long we should be on the 75 because we weren’t on that road very long on the way there. That’s when I noticed he should have went south for a little bit. So now, I had to figure out how to get us back over to the hwy #4 as we were going parallel to it. We found a couple of little highways that led us to Dade City, where we stopped at a Wendy’s and had something quick to eat. We got back in the car at 8pm and drove until we found the right road and were finally on our way. We got to the hotel about 9:15pm. It took us a little longer than 45 minutes, but at least we got home eventually!

I went down to check my email and add a couple of more postings to the blog. I also checked out some of our pics that we had done in Belleville before we left for Disney.

If you want, you can check them out at www.photojenic-photography.com

They turned out pretty good. Hopefully our CD with the rest of them, will be waiting for us when we get back!

See you later!