My Photo Adventures
     
Melissa L. Thornton            Artist....Photographer            Add color to all of YOUR life!!    

 

The 2015 Florida Adventure Trip
Thanksgiving Day with the Cousins...
press here to see the day before Thanksgiving with Julia at the horse stable

 

...While Henry, the local alligator,rests....
The food is planned and prepped....and football and Adele are watched...

 

 

 

The Bold Colorful Appetizers are served....while Tom Turkey roasts..

 

 

And then the hosts offer a sublime Thanksgiving dinner....with gorgeous table settings and fun after-dinner games...with prizes!

 

 

 

The next day, Mark and Kathleen take several cousins out for a fabulous boatride....

 

 

...and we see multiple pods of dolphins and hundreds of seabirds diving for schools of fish dinners....

 

 

 

 

One would think there were plenty of fish...but the birds compete with the dolphins...and the pelicans try to steal the cormorants' dinner...

 

 

 

There's lots of traffic...of all sorts....

 

 

Gorgeous, powerful birds...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some ate as soon as they caught their fish....

 

Some had to take off and dive and land several times for a bite...

 

Some just sat as though posing for a cameo shot...

 

 

Some remind us of Jurassic Park....the pterodactyls' escape....

 

 

 

That afternoon, Jamie, Kathleen and Melissa set out, first to see Jamie's favorite critter, Snooty, the local manatee at the South Florida museum...ADORABLE!...
...and then we went for a 'bold and colorful' walking adventure in the Bradenton Art Village...before returning to Mark and Kathleen's for bountiful leftovers....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the Thanksgiving events, I took off for my Florida Wildlife Photography Adventure with my new (early Christmas present) camera lens....here's the map...press here to follow the adventure route....
 

After a quick stop at the UPS on Saturday morning, I set out in my little red car...  

....press here to follow the adventure route....

 

A week later, I returned after 1350 miles of Florida adventure and remembered to give Mark his wild Maine blueberries!
And Mark and Kathleen and I have some fun times  with local friends...
...at Dee's Birthday Celebration..

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...and then Kathleen and I go bike riding in the sunshine, to work off some of that turkey...with thanks to Mark for lending me his bike!
...then I had to jump in that luscious pool...70 degrees...just right for a Mainiac...
...and off we go to the Selby Botanical Gardens...where all is bold and colorful...and holiday festive...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and a wedding is about to happen...

...and the colors are individually and collectively glorious....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and I must capture it all...while Kathleen is very patient...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...the children's garden attracts the child in all of us...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...the environs are beautiful....
...and filled with friendly creatures...dolphins...and a boatful of cormorants...
 

    
 

   

 

...then it's time for me to head back to Maine to get ready for Christmas...even though the grass is still green...and the temperatures are in the 50s!

But if you missed the link...here's the adventure part of the trip....

 

 


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