Another Wednesday adventure;
Upper Tampa Bay Park.
Ryan was eager to get going. iTunes was giving me crap. We left about 9:30 Ryan chose the long route again. We got to the park at 10:30. There is a $2 fee to enter the park and the gate was not manned. I only $20 bills. I did find enough change to pay the fee.
The park was pretty much empty except for the lawn maintenance crew which woke up the millions of sleeping Mosquitos. I used bug spray but still got a few bites. The boys will only allow it on there legs and ankles, I wonder how they did. (Ryan has a few but they do not affect him. Andy has some that he has been scratching.)
We walked into the air conditioned nature center looking for a map. The trail maps are crude while the canoe maps are professionally printed. They have quite the array of fresh water and salt water fish. We even saw Dori, Nemo and Marlin. They have snakes and turtles too.
I was really surprised by the working bee hive inside the center. Yes, inside. It is encased in glass so you can see the bees working. The enter through a pipe in the wall.
There are satellite maps on one wall. One includes much of Tampa, another includes that portion of Tampa then a third includes just the park. Ryan took photos of everything.
There are two trails. One is called and bobcat and it goes along the boardwalk. The boardwalk is closed for repairs but the satellite map showed what I thought to be a secondary route. Ryan chose the bobcat trail. It circles the salt barrens. We saw
fiddler crabs running away from us. I tried to photograph them but they were too fast. Ryan tried with his iPod and was not even close. I tried to tell him to get his phone ready first before he went looking for them. He would not listen.
We ended up having to turn back. The path I thought we could use was not clear enough. Besides the walk was short enough. On the way back, we heard something in the brush. Ryan turned to go see but I pulled him back. There are snakes and other creatures there which would likely freak us both out. Ryan complained about not seeing any animals but he is too noisy and impatient. I said we could go to the zoo if he wants to photograph animals.
We got back and Ryan wanted to go for lunch. I tried a quick shot of my Lego guy looking at a flower. Lego guys don't stand up well in a breeze and there were loads of ants darting about. We left.
On the way out, I saw a turtle walking by the side of the road. I stopped and told Ryan to take a photo. He barely looked out the window. He was afraid of the turtle. Imagine if we would have seen a water moccasin or opossum out there.
We had lunch and came home. My first kit for
Lego master builder academy was here. I am not into space and kits like this but it was still fun to put together. The kit is very nice and comes in its own sorting and storage box. The directions are much nicer than the ones you find in typical kits.
POTD.
Dinner: salmon & grape tomatoes, black cherry sorbet
Card of the day.
No swimming today. There was light rain and I was concerned it would get heavier. I would rather reschedule than have to leave early. Andy was OK with that. 
