Lions, Tigers, and Bears...Oh My!

Going to Busch Gardens and the zoo are two of the greatest joys in my life! I absolutely looooove animals! It's a passion that I will one day work with. But for now, I am content being a military wife. If you haven't been to Busch Gardens, you must go! They have the best animal enclosures and they interact with their animals during park hours. What's more...they have roller coasters there too! What's not to love?
While we were on vacation we went to Busch Gardens, Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, and parasailing in the Isle of Palms, SC. It was a fabulous mini vacation!

You know I have pictures to share! Here they are in the same sequence we experienced them. :)

First we visited the Gorillas and Monkeys at BG.



Monkey eating an apple.

Since there were a lot of kids in the monkey place, we decided to go back later for more pics. We moved on to the Flamingos! They are so tall!

Since it was springtime, there were a lot of animals getting their "spring" on. Like these two reptiles. lol

We visited the hippos. Hippos are my absolute favorite! They are so very graceful in the water and cute too! We posed with these replicas, since it was quite hard to get a pic of the real thing. There were a lot of people there!



We caught the elephants just as the trainers started working with them. I was able to get some pics of them doing tricks. So adorable!




Isn't this tiger incredible? BG did a great job with this one.


There is just something about white tigers that is magical. They're beautiful.

Look at those paws...they're huge! We were actually able to get this close. BG had a glass enclosure that you could pop your head into to look at the "baby" tigers.



Here are the elephant clones for picture taking. Greg thought they looked thirsty. lol


The magnificent Lions.



I had some fun on the roller coasters. I really love the Montu. I rode it a lot! I tried to convice Greg to try it, but he said maybe next year. :P


We finally got around to returning to the gorillas.

Mom and baby just lounging around.



Isn't he cute!?!?! I swear he looks like a toddler. I begged Greg to buy him for me and let me take him home. lol ;)


Big Daddy Gorilla


Mr. Monkey

Us at the Zoo entrance.

Rhinos!

Greg on the sky lift over the zoo.

A pic of the Kangaroo from the sky lift.

Me on the sky lift.

More Rhinos.

I can't remember what this was, but it was cute. I'll have to ask Greg.

Turtles getting cozy. :)


Greg and I on the boat in Charleston getting ready to parasail.

Up, up, and away!





The view was amazing! We were flown over the island and the beach area. We did the 800ft ride.

Here's the dip in the ocean.


Back up again!

Me on the boat with some kind of windblown hair!

What a wonderful vacation together. :)