Road Trip - Part 3: More Wildlife!

 The next day greeted us with another beautiful sunrise in Cocoa Beach. Inspiring!!

Some of these next photos are from the previous day and some from last Sunday, but all of them were taken at Canaveral National Seashore, a most amazing place!! (If you click on the photos you can see larger versions of them.)

The beach there is quite long and beautiful, but it was definitely too cool to hang out for long.

So, we went to look for wildlife and were not disappointed. We saw many interesting birds, such as these roseate spoonbills.

So graceful!

And a little comical.

Aren't these interesting looking? It's the endangered wood stork. I think they are related to vultures. Their faces certainly suggest that...

Speaking of vultures, I love this photo!

A little blue heron (I think),

an ibis (love their blue eyes!),

and a snowy egret (just look at those yellow feet!).

One of the fascinating things about Canaveral National Seashore is there are areas from which you have full view of the space shuttle launching pads. I think the space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to go up February 24th!

I think this is one of my favorite photos from the whole trip. We took this picture from the car, which is why the armadillo didn't shuffle off. We saw so many of them on this trip, which was a treat!!

And then came the big excitement and surprise. Alligators!! I didn't even look for them because it wasn't very warm, but when we drove down an unpaved road along two ditches filled with water, one on each side of the road, there they were.

Sunning themselves,

all very docile and not moving at all (although one of them did blink at me). Can you see the teeth on this one? (Actually, if you click on the photo above, you can also see a very healthy row of teeth!)

The one below obviously believes in the many health qualities of a good mud bath.

We probably saw thirty of them (at least!). Some big, some small, one a mere baby, and all of them looked different in some way.

We even saw one that had obviously been in a fight with another, but I didn't post the photo - didn't want to gross you out.

This one was well camouflaged, don't you think?

Here's the only one we saw who didn't look completely asleep. He was holding up his head, but also not moving an inch.

Aren't those claw marks impressive where they pull themselves from the water?

Daniel and I were laughing at me. I was the first one to tell Daniel to stop the car so I could get out and take a picture. Five years ago, that would not have happened. I would have safely stayed in the car. However, this time, too, we made sure there were none by the road and that there always was water between us and them. And as you can see, we are still here to tell the tale...

Before we left, we made one quick stop at the Kennedy Space Canter to get some information for our next visit. Can't wait to tour that place!

Thank you so much for traveling along with us!! Tomorrow, I think I will have new art to show you. Plus, I have lots of yummy recipes to share. So, stay tuned...