Project 365 - Photo of the Day - April 4, 2008

Rachel had to work today at the Museum of Discovery and Science so that left Adina and me to find something fun to do together. So we piled into the car, drove down to the Seminole Reservation and went to a place called "Native Village." It has been there for years and years and unfortunately the man that owned it passed away right after Hurricane Wilma and the place went into disrepair, but luckily it was saved by some of the people that worked there and it is a tiny piece of old Florida mixed into the urban landscape. There are panthers, birds, alligators, crocodiles and many turtles and other reptiles. We had a lot of fun walking around for a couple of hours. It isn't a very large space. Plus to top it off, there was a film crew there from "Hogan Knows Best," a cable TV show featuring Hulk Hogan and his family. The Hulk wasn't there, but his daughter, Brooke, was there. Adina and I got a kick out of walking threw the film crew and watching them film a few scenes. I didn't take any photos of them because that would be copyright infringements and they were worried that we might have been in some of their shots and wanted me to sign a release form but I told them to not worry about it.



I liked this photo of the gopher tortoise because of the very warm light of the sun and his (or her) shell looked like wood to me.



This alligator was slowly moving into the pond. I took this photo as he paused and looked at me for a moment. I probably looked like a food source to him!



This was a very difficult shot to take because there were several layers of metal mesh between the bird and humans. They have VERY sharp beaks and claws and I was right up to the mesh to take this and it was hard to focus. This is the best I could do through all of the layers.



This guy was just hanging out on the outside of one of the enclosed areas. He let me get really close and then that orange thing came out as I was snapping photos. I liked the contrast between the very earthy tones of the lizard and the wood that he was standing on and the bright orange neck flap that they inflate when they want to attract a female!
















I just liked this because it looked like it was the old west.










I made Adina wait with me until the sun came out so that I could take this photo. It looked so much warmer with the sun than when the clouds were hiding the sun! The wood seemed to come alive with the light.



Thank goodness for the thick glass because this rattlesnake was very angry at me and was shaking his tail. You can't see the tail because it is blurred under it's head. It was a bit too dark and I really needed a tripod to capture this photo but I held my breath and kept shooting until I got one that was semi-clear.



Later in the day we went to a place called "Tate's." It is a very interesting place that has every comic book on the planet. Adina found this funny hat in the Anime section. I thought she looked cute in this photo.



And later yet in the day, we headed over to the Inverrary Hotel to pick up Joel and while we were waiting for him we walked over to the new park that was built next to the hotel by the City of Lauderhill. They have a tiny playground and Adina was testing it out. I liked this angle because Adina looks 12 feet tall!! She is really only about 5 feet tall!!