12-3-16  Wakodahatchee and Green Cay!

I figured it was a little early for the nesting birds, but wanted to go check them out anyway.  It almost turned out disastrous!   I pulled my phone out of my pocket on the boardwalk and the rental car keys fail within an inch of the end of the boards!  Sure glad they didn't fall in the water!
First bird to greet us --- Reddish egret?

flowering wetland plant

 kingfisher

Great blue heron

very large alligator

 Mr. Blue again.

 reddish or glossy egrets

 iguana

 grebe

 cormorant

 very large iguana

 osprey

 again

one more.

 red bellied whistling ducks

 a couple soft shell turtles

on to Green Cay----

 heading around Green Cay

 mossy turtles

 teals and a grebe

 nice to see water back in the wetlands.  When we left in May, it was pretty dry.

heading back towards the entrance

reflections

 after about 3 hours of wandering around the 2 wetlands, I went back for Ken and we headed back to Flanigan's.  Saw another one of the Pompano fish sculptures along the way.

 sunset at the beach after dinner.

 We took a walk along the Pompano pier as the sun was setting.

 not the greatest sunset, but not the worst, either.

 the Hillsboro lighthouse off in the distance

 the new parking lot lit up nicely at night.

I really do miss south florida.  Glad we got to spend a few days here before heading off on our cruise. 

12-2-16 Mounts gardens in West Palm Beach:

How I've missed the flowers and tropical plants year around!  Had to get my fix by running up to Mounts Gardens.  It's a reciprocal garden with Missouri Botanical Gardens, so we get in free.  Not that there's much savings there, I believe it's only $5 to get into Mounts. 

 Walking with our new buddy.

Love all the green

 an Egyptian goose coming to say hi.

 It was a nice walk through the gardens.

 nice to see flowers still blooming, too.

 such a variety of flowers still blooming.

 and colorful leaves.

 the herb garden

 a rainbow eucalyptus tree

 one of the statues in the garden.

 cool palm tree.

 interesting fuzzy water lilies.

 lots of butterflies in the little butterfly garden

 monarch

 swallowtail

 looking back towards the little butterfly garden---all open air.

 koi

 our little buddy

 decorative cabbage

 this guy didn't know he's suppose to be in the butterfly garden.

 pretty bell flower

 even Ken seemed to enjoy the strole

 cactus garden

 more colorful leaves.

 heading out.

dinner at another of our favorite restaurants---Flanigan's

 Ken enjoyed his rib dinner so much, we went back again the next day!

Love how South Florida does it up for the holidays!