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08 September 2007

Green Key and Hampton Inn

If there are no mangroves,
then the sea will have no meaning.
It is like having a tree without roots,
for the mangroves are the roots of the sea..."
Words of a Thai fisher from the Andaman Coast


This Yellow-crowned Night Heron was one of the highlights of Green Key in New Port Richey. I had to wade out around the mangroves, approaching in a slow, stop-and-go zig-zag, pretending to be more interested in finding a nice seafood breakfast. He let me get closer than I could have hoped before retreating back into the thick mangrovian tangle.





The other biggie - for me - was a Roseate Spoonbill duo feeding too far out for a decent shot. I'm a sucker for pink birds. 8-]

After Green Key, we checked in at the Hampton Inn on US19 in Tarpon Springs. It was a complete 180 from the place we stayed last trip. I could just about live in this hotel. We'll likely be using the rest of our Hilton Honours points to stay here again next time.


With Duller home on vacation, actually expecting me to share the puter, and me still feeling a bit peaked, I'll just be posting a bit here and there over the next few days. Love y'all loads! Have a JESUS-filled day! ^i^

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the pictures and hearing about your trip. If you like roseates, you have to come see me. We have tons of them in the bay by our house. Some nest in a tree with some smaller white birds and I think every time I pass what a beautiful picture it would make. Come record it for me!

R.Powers said...

What a jampacked trip! It sounds like you saw a lot in a short time. I love the heron doing tai chi pic.

SophieMae said...

Cathy, I thought of you while we were there. If we'd had more time and I could bring myself to drive across the Sunshine Skyway, we might have actually gotten down your way.

FC, he held that first pose a full minute and the second 4-5 minutes before he'd had enough of me.

I kept looking for a red Jeep as we drove through that area. We stopped at Sonic, which turned out to be a mistake we'll never make again. I'd much rather have eaten in somewhere, but we were trying to get home before dark. We just did make it.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely love the picture of the heron doing Tai-chi as FC says. Sounds like you had a great time, thanks for sharing the trip.

SophieMae said...

Thanks ever so, RCWB! I'm already trying to figure when I can squeeze in another run down there. 8-]

Steve said...

Hampton Inns rock!

SophieMae said...

Steve, amen to that! They really do it right. My only 'complaint' was that they served the same over-very-hard eggs both mornings. Tasted pretty much like boiled. Not bad, just not what I would've ordered if I'd had a choice.

Meems said...

sophie, i am just now getting around to some other blogs. wow... you really were in my neck of the woods. you may have passed by my house on your way from Tarpon Springs?

all of your butterfly shots are fabulous. is it my imagination or are all yellow butterflies faster than the rest? i see them in abundance but they don't seem to land for any time at all.

i really enjoyed your heron capture, too. sounds like you and your son had fun and you sure did covered lots of territory in a couple of days. :-)

SophieMae said...

Meems, our first night, we went across Gunn Hwy and Race Track Rd. When we went to Lowry, we took Tampa Rd out of Palm Harbor.

I think you're right about the yellow butterflies. Every now and then one finds a particularly tasty flower and stays put for a few seconds.

We really did have the best time! Next time, we'll have to slow down a bit. LOL!