St. Augustine Alligator Farm

Everyone I talked to about St. Augustine told me to go to the Alligator Farm. It has been in this area since 1893 and now has quite a variety of alligators, crocs, turtles, monkeys, and birds from around the world. I expected a typical roadside "see the big alligator" display, but this is a very well managed zoo. We enjoyed watching the huge, slow moving gators. They crawled over each other to get to the sunniest spot. However my favorite part of the zoo had nothing to do with reptiles. The back section of the area is a big shallow swamp with many tall trees. There, above the resting alligators, hundreds of wading birds were nesting.
This time of year the great egrets and wood storks could be seen by the dozens in every tree. So many beautiful white birds that it looked like it had snowed overnight. We also saw a bunch of gorgeous pink roseate spoonbills. This was a very elusive bird in the wildlife refuge on the gulf coast on Sanibel Island. Everyone there was trying to spot one and here they were sitting in trees only 15 feet away!
We watched a number of brave folks who were navigating a ropes and zip line course which hung over the park. One couple spent quite a while looking down into an alligator enclosure beneath them before they stepped off the platform and slid out over the big gators who were lying in the sun with their mouths open.
It was much warmer today so we drove along the shore to a beach access and had our picnic lunch on the beach. I enjoyed watching a flock of brown pelicans who soared just a foot above the big breakers looking for fish. The seagulls who hung around us waiting for leftover sandwiches were not as fun. The surfers are back in the water along with some kids, but the dangerous marine life and riptide warnings are still in effect so I kept to wading in the shallows looking for shells. The sand here is so fine it isn't even "sugar" sand, it is more like powdered sugar. The only downside is that it sticks to everything.
We had a fried tilapia dinner in a beachside cafe along with a great mango daiquiri. Now I am comatose from sun, food and drink. A perfect day!