Look, Deer!

Our older son has just completed his thesis for his master's degree and it has kept him swamped and away from us since summer. We knew that by now, we would have some celebrating to do. Sometime in the early summer, or maybe even spring, we made a reservation to spend this past weekend in a beach cabin at St. Joseph's Peninsula State Park about 180 miles west of here. The rates are reasonable and the cabins book up quickly up to 11 months in advance. What we could not tell from on-line is that not all cabins are not created equal and we happened to reserve the only un-remodeled cabin in the park. It was OK, but the renovations are nice.

Our route took us along US highway 98 that follows the coastline, right at the Gulf coast water for miles on end. It was a crystal clear, blue day on Friday when we went down. It was cold and windy, but beautiful. We stopped in Apalachicola for lunch and then walked around the village, poking into the quaint little shops there. It was fun, but we were probably the most impressed with the book store.

We arrived at the park in the late afternoon and were greeted by deer on the drive in.

We were to see groups of up to seven at a time during the weekend. The last morning, there were two grazing and browsing in the yard, having their breakfast as ours was being prepared.

Tracks were everywhere in the park; they seemed to enjoy jogging on the bay side beach. We also saw the tracks of many raccoons and bobcats, as well as fox, mice and, perhaps, coyote.

The Flint River Park

Outside the Flint River Aquarium is a nice little urban park. They have very large art-turtles, like Gainesville has art-gators and Lexington, Kentucky has art-horses. Each has a different design and theme. This particular one showed such a sense of humor.

The park terraces down to the river. The leaves--especially the cypresses--- were lovely, as was the water.

Look! All you flat water paddlers: rapids, sort of.

The retaining wall was set with benches and interesting and subject-appropriate designs.

The streets downtown Albany were already decorated for the season. The son wondered if it was early Christmas, or simply announcing deer season.

BIG Catfish

There was an exhibit at the Flint River Aquarium on catfish. They were sharing information about catfish around the world. The smallest fish known is a catfish, as is the largest fish, at 17 feet long. The mascot of the exhibit was huge. Several adults could fit inside and see the diagrams on the walls showing the internal organs of the fish.

 

This gives you a better idea of its size.

This beauty was in a live tank. Its underbelly was a beautiful lemon yellow. I don't remember in what part of the world it lives.

And what is a catfish exhibit without a noodling activity??  You know where you go after a very large catfish with your HAND in its mouth!

You might notice I said "you",  not "I".

Flint River Birds

The Flint River Aquarium had a new addition from when we were there last: an aviary. It was a sizable net-enclosed outdoor room. Here are a few of the birds that were residing in there.

A Canada goose:

A pair of hooded merganzers:

A little blue heron:

A black-crowned night heron:

And a yellow-crowned night heron:

 

It is a nice exhibit. However, the blue jay that landed on B's head a couple of times was a little startling! It made me stop and put my camera strap around my neck. If it had decided to try out my head, I did not want to drop my camera.

Beauty and the Beast

While the greater part of the exhibit is on the Flint River, there were exhibits that showed other rivers, as well as some sea life.

These are piranhas. Thank goodness we don't have them in our rivers. I did not remember them  appearing to have glitter on their scales.

It reminds me of the story of the Rainbow Fish who shares his shiny scales with other fish.

The arc in the background of the top picture is part of a large globe that shows areas of heavy rainfall.

There was a small exhibit of the desert-dwelling Gila monster. I found this guy fascinating. I love the colors and patterns of it. It moved very slowly.

The texture of its skin was just so cool. It probably has to do with just that---staying cool.

This one also has a real dinosaur appearance.

Going Fishin--But Just Lookin

We took a Sunday drive up to Albany, Georgia to the Flint River Aquarium. It is a hundred miles one way, a "bit of a poke," as one son would say. We had been once before and wanted to show the "kids." It may be hard to get everyone together, so we settled for showing the younger son and will try to take the older one and his wife another time. It is a neat place and we all enjoyed the afternoon.

There are a great number of tanks and one of them is quite large (175,000 gallons, 22 feet deep). The exhibit focuses on the fish and other animals that are found in the Flint River.

Here are a few.

Large Carp:

Two species of ENORMOUS sturgeon:

Bass:

Gars and Catfish:

Many turtles, including everyone's favorite, the alligator snapping turtle:

(What a dinosaur!) This one was a baby.

I took these pictures of a big guy the last time we were there.

For perspective:

And of course, we can't forget the alligators.

More gars with an alligator.

This picture below is nothing that I am proud of, but the subject is of personal interest. This is an amphiuma. We have two species that live in our rivers, streams and swamps. I had read of these, but once when we were out "jeeping" with friends after a heavy rain, we came upon several of them on a dirt road, where they had washed out of their home. They look like eels. They are amphibians (a kind of salamander) but spend most of their time in water or mud. They can grow to be real monsters--up to four feet long.

They are apparently fairly numerous, but not commonly seen and most of us spend our lives completely unaware of their existence, which is probably just fine with them. As for me, I doubt I will ever forget that first encounter on the dirt road in the forest.

We think this aquarium is a well-kept secret; but for those interested in the nature around us, it is well worth a drive.

There will be more in the following days.

Signs of the Times

Someone years ago had the bright idea to embellish the deer crossing signs at St. Marks. They are all decorated and never fail to get my attention and make me smile.

Note: not only does this one have a red pompom nose; it has googly eyes!

 

This sign caught our son's attention on our return trip.

Come on, you KNOW you want to go!

(Or not!)

We have eaten at Savannah's but have never even heard of lard wrestling. You have to admit it is for a good cause and it is a creative way to deal with the results of having fried a LOT of food.