Day 47 - Florida

Day 47

November 27

Miami, FL

Dear Miss Smith,
            Today we had the fun of our lives! First after we left the Everglades we went to the Miami Sea Aquarium.
            We all wanted to do the Sea Trek Reef Encounter. We were told we were not to wear jewelry if we were going to be going to participate in going into the water. I almost felt disappointment when they asked for glasses, I mean, who would want to miss out on all the fun and only get to see a blurry vision of every thing you wished to have seen. But then they told me I could have my glasses but every one wearing sunglasses were required to not wear them.

Another group in the water.

            All four of us gasped when we saw the helmets we were to use: They looked like an old-fashioned helmet they wear when they go into the ‘deep’, they were white, and suctioned to your shoulders, hooked to a blue hose, and looked like you had a alien antennae on the top of you head.  They had us wear diving suits.
            When we were ready, all of us tourists slid into the water where thousands of fish and rays, quietly and peacefully swam.

            The water was actually very pleasant to swim in. We all gasped as we slid farther into the cool water.  Other people were on the other side of a glass window, looking in on us. I started when a turtle of large size swam right up to where every one else was gathered.

            Amy, Priscilla, Grace and I enjoyed it all, the rays coming up real close and seem to look at you strangely then wander off, the fishes would just look then dart away with their mouths would open with supposed, huffing and puffing.

            After 20 minutes underwater we all had to climb out.

           We went over to a show where a Killer Whale and streaked white dolphins playing together and performing. The Killer Whales name was Lolita she was pretty magnificent. She and her trainer ‘walked’ on water, the dolphins did their own thing too.

We clapped at the end of the performance; delighted at the wonderful and amazing tricks they continued to do till they disappeared into their own little pool away from the people. Also we were given shirts from a friendly tourist who accidentally bought the wrong sizes for his four children. When he noticed that we were about the right size for the T-Shirts he asked us if we wanted them.

            We had lunch at one of the cafeteria’s restaurants, and then walked over to all sorts of different exhibits. We saw sharks and clownfish,

dolphins playing in the water, nosing the glass and ‘talking,' went to the Shark Channel and stared at the shark’s cold blue eyes,

saw manatees lazily float above the water, and visited Discovery Bay. Who knew there were such pretty and exotic things living in the water? God knew of course.

             We were going to spend sometime at Salty’s Pirate Grounds, where you could cool off but we didn’t have the time so we just went to the gift shop.

Priscilla bought a beautiful seaside hat, with a blue flower and blue ribbon. I bought a tote bag with red, white and blue pansy design. Grace got a sea star tan, purse with ‘Cs’ all around it, well they looked like Cs.  We even saw a lovely pen stand in the shape of a heart. I got it for my Mom; she would love it for her next anniversary.  I also bought a postcard to send to my family.

            We had a wonderful time at the Miami Sea Aquarium; I hope I get to see it again someday.

Till next time,

Mikayla

Day 26 - Louisiana

Day 26

Nov. 8   

New Orleans, Louisiana

 Dear Mrs. Smith,

            It has been quite fun so far, and we have been to the Audubon Aquarium, Zoo, and Insectarium. 

Golden Lion Tamarin

            First we went to the Zoo where we saw Monkeys that looked like Lions, gorillas, Flamingoes, from a bright pink color to white, and Rhino Birds.

Malayan Sun Bear

            My favorite is the Malayan Sun Bear, but Grace’s was the Miniature Donkey. It was not more than 36 inches. 

Amur Leopard

Amy however, I think she liked the Amur Leopard while Priscilla liked the blue and gold Macaw.

Macaw

            Of course they had the common ferret, found in a pet shop. But still it was fun to see the giraffe’s, and see the Lions, the Lemurs, and the alligators.

            In the Insectarium there was the Underground Gallery where we were ‘shrunk’ to the size of a bug. Priscilla thought the huge bugs were interesting, though I thought the large worm was a bit much. Amy and Grace did not seem to mind the big bugs on the walls and in the hallways.

            When we came to where real bugs were I was glad that they were small and not as big as the other ‘bugs’.  One of the prettiest was the pink Katydid. I admit it was kind of pretty but… I just do not like bugs. 

But I did like the blue morpho Butterfly.

            What was really funny was that when we stopped at the Tiny Termite Cafe to eat since Priscilla had worn her Bee Hive hat the Honey Bees in the glass exhibit on our table tried to get into her hat! 

            Then we moved slowly from exhibit to exhibit, commenting here and there on the odd bugs and butterflies we saw.

            Priscilla and Amy decided that we should move on to the Aquarium before 5:00 pm.

As soon as we got there I saw a large White alligator. “Wow, he looks like he been painted, then bleached” Grace said softly.

            “Yes and look at those spots,” Priscilla pointed out.

             We saw penguins, “African Penguins!” I gasped, looked at the board again.

             “Yep, but they are on the southwestern coast of Africa” Amy said looking down and reading.

            Then we saw the fish: Blue Surgeon, the common Clownfish, Lionfish, Potbellied Seahorse, sea Anemones, and Sharks. 

There were also some stingrays and turtles.

Smile!

 I really thought for second that the Blue Surgeon fish looked liked Dory in Nemo.

The day ended all too soon. And, to tell you the truth, I wanted to stay there longer!

Sincerely,

Mikayla

Day 18 - Texas

Day 18

November 1

Corpus Christi

Dear Miss Smith,

We woke up early this morning. We were going to try and finish the Alamo puzzle we bought yesterday. We finally finished it about breakfast time. We ate, then left for the day journey. My favorite part was the Texas Aquarium. There were a lot of exhibits.

Hans

First we went to the island of steel exhibit. They had a shark named Hans. There were all kind of fish to look at.

Next we went to the flower gardens. They had a show were someone was feeding sting rays.

After that we went to the floating phantoms exhibit. There they have jelly fish!!!! It was awesome.

Then we went to the dolphin bay exhibit and we watched a dolphin show it was pretty good. We got to feed them.

After that was the amazon exhibit they had piranha’s.

We went to the Tortuga cay exhibit. They had turtles.

After that was the swamp tales. They had the coolest alligators. Wow.

Then we went to the otter creek exhibit. It was cool.

Grace- Bald Eagle

Then we went to the eagle pass. They had an eagle named Grace, like my sister at home.

Then we went to the living shores exhibit they had animals you could touch.

When we were done with that we went to the other parks. It’s been a long day. Bye.

                                                             Love,

                                                                  Levi