Lions, and Hippos, and Bears..... Oh my?

Ah, taking a trip back home..... That could only mean more Zoo's and an Aquarium visit!
So I took a weekend trip back to Melrose to visit my family for the holidays... and made sure to make some time to visit Franklin Park Zoo,  New England Aquarium, and Stone Zoo. Woo, ANIMALS! I hadn't been to Franklin since the year before I moved, and NEAQ I hadn't been since the year I did (Stone was in fact the last blog post I made :X)

So... onto the photos! yaayyy.

Day 1?

 Franklin Park Zoo, Boston's Zoo, wooooo

Over the summer of 2009 the move Zookeeper was filmed here, although it wasn't released until 2011.

And as most Zoo's should.... there are animals here :O... 

Like this Wildebeest

And this Lion!!

And this crazy-ass-Vulture! (Ka-Kawwww)

The Capybararara was not amused. Moving on.

!!!

(((Sleeeeeeepy Hippo!!!!!!)))

And we'll leave the zoo with this photo of the beautiful Wood Duck!

quack quack quack

Uh... Day 2.

Ok, next stop on my whirlwind Boston Adventure!.... NEAQ!

Woo, the New England Aquarium!

So much had changed here in the past few years since my last visit. I had no idea about two of the biggest changes.... The first being this.

They now have a Ray and Shark touch pool where the Jellyfish wing had been.

Its pretty big and seemed popular.

Although down stairs where the rest of the Jellies had been is now kinda depressed.

Not much going down here anymore, they even removed the color changing light tank. my favorite part down there... Oh well.

Back upstairs the Penguins were doing their things... Like swimming, squawking, being majestic on the rocks... You know, Penguin things.

EPIC BLUE LOBSTER!

Out back is where I found the other new expansions/revamp

The Sea Lions now have a pretty big area, although it seems the River/Sea Otters have been removed? The area still looks great, much like the new Touch Tank area. So I guess Way to go NEAQ.... 

(although you should bring back the color changing jellyfish tank)

So yeah... Now its the last day of my trip and I have an afternoon flight some.. So once again I find myself taking a short trip to the Stone Zoo before heading back to Homelando

Day....three

Wasn't I just here like... 3 months ago? Well, whatever.. Its all good, they have bears here!!! :D :D :D

Don't harass the animals?

:3 Rawwrrrr :3

(When you type "Rawwrrrr" Firefox spellchecker asks if you meant "Strawberry")

<3 bears <3

Hey look!

It's a Puma, I mean.. Mountain Lion, I mean... Cougar.

(Eh, same animal, different regional name)

Although...........

This one is named Zeus :)

And with that it was time to head over to the airport and head Ho-Ho-Home... But first we have time for just two more......

BONUS DUCKS!!

So yeah, fun little trip home.. Got to see my friends and family, and some bears, ducks, a hippo...Woo.

(At some point I'll get around to posting my "Car Tribute", started over a month ago... And at some other point I'll toss up my year-end-review....thing. And coming in late January there may be an Atlanta post (or two, we'll see) )

quack quack.

Bears at the Zoo! :D

See, I'm still updating this... WITH BEAR PHOTOS!

(here's a few photos of the Black Bears at the Stone Zoo from back in August when I went home for the weekend but there was a hurricane so I couldn't go to Six Flags or Lake Compounce or Luna Park or Scream Zone or.......... Well, at least Quassy was open!)

BONUS DUCK

Quack quack quack

(((I'll have a real update again soon... From Atlanta, or Legoland, or something.. I don't know)))

Hot air balloon's near Disney World

Yup.... Here's a few.........

Thrilling!

Really, Irene?

Story Time! - So I've lived in Orlando, Florida for two years now and there has yet to be a Hurricane... the ONE weekend I get to come home to Boston and they're the ones about to get hit by one... The first in 20 years... Back in 1991, before I was even in Kindergarten, Hurricane Bob hit Massachusetts... The only Hurricane I've ever "been" in. Now I'm stuck here waiting for Irene to make her moves.... And shes doing a pretty good job at ruining my trip but at least day one went off without a hitch.

OK, lets do this... Yorks!

Childhood memories from 20 years ago!... aww
(hey look at that... something else 20 years in the making)

 It's a Zoo Amusement Park Fair

Quack, quack, quack... Moving on!

((because))

After 15 years or so without a coaster..... The Zoo/Park has added this!

Wacky...Mouse

 Got my $2 in ride tokens... (thanks MOM)

And........... Cha-Ching? #665 I believe..... and certainly worth the 1,200 mile trek.

Oh hey and they have......

A Scrambler

And a Round-Up

After all that excitement I took a lovely stroll across the street and into York Beach, Maine.

An old New England seaside town? It'd be pretty if not for all the power lines.. everywhere.

Ah, much better! And so different looking/feeling than the Florida beaches I've been to this year.

Uh, or not.

FUN O RAMA

(That can only mean one thing!!!)

Cake flavored Ice Cream.

And some pretty beach side houses before Hurricane Irene destroys them

(like she destroyed the rest of my trip)

Ah, a nice 2 hour trip to Maine... Because nothing is better than being at work till 1.45am, being at the airport by 4.30, getting to Melrose by 11, and then sitting in a small car with your entire family for a few hours just so you can ride some stupid-ass-little-kiddie-coaster that you've already ridden at least 20 others of already.... but not this one and you needed to mark it off on Coaster-Count so your life could be complete.... and to top if off Not 1, nor 2, but 3 of your flights back home have been canceled due to the first Hurricane to hit New England in 20 years! [/RANT]

And a photo to leave this post with...

Disney's Pocahonts King! Yeah...

Who knew Tampa was more than just Busch Gardens?

And that we'd get lost......

So Nick and I went to Busch Gardens after weeks of trying to plan a trip out there.. After being rained out of the park we decided it would be a good idea to try and find downtown Tampa... In the process of that we kinda ended up at an Air Force base, oops.... And then some random little pier/park thing, Ballast Point.

Yup

Ballast Point Park, thrilling.

 I'm sure......

Hey look, a pier. It seemed like a good idea to walk down to its end, during a thunder storm...

So a-walking we went.

And what did we find along the way??? well...

Fishing poles...

A bucket with blue crabs in it?

And some fish that got cut the fish up

"It's hauntingly beautiful"

d'oh! Its not even the Gulf :( just Hillsborough/Tampa Bay
(maybe next time....)
And with the storms rolling back in.. and me not wanting to get my camera anymore wet than it already was... we ran back to Nicks car. yay
Oh yeah, and Tampa is like.. a real city..

See?