Moody Gardens Rainforest & Cafe - June 26th
Wake up Thursday morning to no sunrise and more rain throughout the day
Pickup discount tickets to Moody Garden's Rainforest
Girls ready for the rainforest after the Rio 4-D movie
Start out with sights (blurry) and sounds of the rainforest
Begin ascent to enter the rainforest pyramid from the top
Looking down before finally entering the pyramid
Cross the walkway to the center of the pyramid
You can't have a rainforest without coconuts, right?
Looking down two levels below to the birds and ray pond
Enter the butterfly tent and check out the monarchs
A butterfly protests that she is not on the list
Two lists with eight butterflies each
From the list, this may be an orange julia
This butterfly is not on the list either, PRETTY!
Still can only identify monarchs, sad
Continue on, out of the butterfly roost
Looking back at the butterfly roost before moving on
Upper box of leaf-cutter ants, they travel down 2 levels
White face saki's from Guyana entertain from above
Enter the next level of the rain forest pyramid
Various colored poison dart frogs
Red eyed tree frog will follow us to Rainforest Cafe
Venous Palm Pit Viper from south america
It's a Porcupine, not a hair rock band in concert
Down to another level in the rainforest pyramid
Two komodo dragons keep an eye on visitors
Parade of tropical flowers on this level
Speckled pink flowers next, NICE
More orchids and other plants everywhere
Make it down to the pond with parrots perched
Alex and Donna walk around to see all the exhibits
Find the Egyptian fruit bat cave
Stay still well enough for a decent photo of the bats
Next, to the main tank in the middle of the level
Turtles and fish swim in the tank
Several types of ray swim within it
Blue parrots and scarlet ibis
Colorful parrots stay on their perch for photos
They make for great photos from near or far
Tough to photo the 20+ foot constrictor in low light
Three different rays along with turtles in the pond
Circle around and take pond photos from different angles
Anchomanes Difformis - not black eyed peas
Bottle palm with blossoms
Erin is not so sure about dragonflies as big as her
Butterfly chrysalis hatching area off to the side
Axolotls are amphibians that never leave the larval stage
Conclude the rainforest pyramid and step outside to check the weather, looks like we are in for a little more rain
Weather is taking a chunk out of the Colonel's business
Palm Beach's Aquatic Playground is just beyond the bldg
Movie theaters, gift shop and food court inside
Rainforest pyramid elevators & stairs concealed in rock
Finish up with the IMAX 3D movie on penguins
That is a lot of penguins and none of them are tap dancing
Depart Moody Gardens for the seawall's Rainforest Cafe
Alex greeted by the Cafe's mascot, Mr. Green Jeans
Sit in the middle with our back to the aquarium
Get our photo taken with the elephants after ordering
Donna happy to sit and relax for the 1st time today
Enjoy an onion ring cone with the drinks
Watch Alex as the animals come to life
She didn't enjoy sitting under the monkeys 2 years ago!
I'll show you what a scary monkey looks like!
But first lets watch the elephants move and trumpet
Head downstairs to the river adventure ride
Climb aboard and the adventure begins!
Leopards above us purr at our patronage
Alex is a little unsure but stays in her seat
Another leopard greets us from the forest
Huge constrictor above waves us on through
Animals pop out of the dark on both sides
Erin leaves her seat for mommy's lap
Elephants take a break from upstairs to join the fun
Alex takes in all the movement in the darkness
Donna and Erin back into the temple
What will we find inside here?
A clearer view of the stained glass window
Durga offers us a cool drink of water
Python waits until we pass to spit water in the channel
Please exit to the right when the ride ends
The last remnant of the Sea Arama Marineworld Park?
Check out the rainbow on our balcony at Silverleaf
Rainbow makes a complete (but obscured) arch across
Alex loves checking out the rainbow!
Finally catch a sunset on the last evening of our week at the the resort
My first view of the sun touching the horizon
Last moment of the sunset as it sinks below the horizon
And it is gone Worth the wait? Yes!
Back up to see the blue sky and orange clouds