Day #7

      Wow!!  I had the best time today. When I was a kid growing up in Tampa, I LOVED going to Lowry Park and Fairyland.  When friends and relatives would come from West Virginia to visit, Fairyland was always high on our must-see list.  They had large concrete statues depicting fairy tales and nursery rhymes along a winding path under oak trees.  You entered the whimsical park over a large rainbow bridge.  Cinderella's carriage was among the statues.  The old woman and her shoe.  The whale that swallowed Jonah was there, too.  You could walk in his mouth.  Since Disney World hadn't been built yet, I believed this was as close as I'd ever get to Disneyland.
. 

The old rainbow bridge to Fairyland, Lowry Park Zoo, c. 1980

     Then it had a small zoo, but now it's huge.  In 2008, Parent's Magazine picked Lowry Park Zoo as the #1 family friendly zoo in the US.  We were there for four

hours.  It was really hot, but it didn't rain.  So, all in all, it was a perfect day.



Lowry Park has a night-time show with Chinese

lanterns all through the park.  This is a replica of

Manfeilong Pagoda in southeast China.  It is made

entirely of 68,000 porcelain plates, cups and spoons.

They are all blue and white.  I would love to make

one of those from the collection of blue and white

plates I have gathered over the years.



The zoo has several white rhinos.  They are really

gray, and they are in the neighborhood of

6,000 pounds.  I never realized how huge they are, but the guy told us they are the second largest

animal next to the elephant.



The brown thing is a medium-size

stingray.  We got to pet them.

That was really fun and something

I've never done.  Neat.

Brody and Drew in

a hurricane simulator.

Pretty interesting.



Drew in front of the

manatee exhibit.  He didn't see

the turtle behind him. 

Ty, Brody, Drew

in front of the African

penguins exhibit.  If you

look closely over Brody’s

head, you can see one of the

penguins.



This picture is for my sister, Nancy. 

I’m not sure what kind of birds these are

but they look like flamingos hanging

out in the trees.



Brody inside a hollowed-out

cypress tree.

 

 

Until next time,

Dolores