Roller Coaster Heaven

Ken had to go back to Florida again in January so I went with him on one of his three or four trips. (I lost count, he just kept going back and forth across the country.) We decided to try Busch Gardens this time and what a great choice that was. Not only was the weather iffy, so the park was pretty empty, it was unseasonably cool so the animals were in fine form.



We were unaware of the conservation programs going on in the park and spent a lot of hours in the animal education area. There is a train that goes right through the middle of the animal park and there were times that the train had to slow down and wait for animals to get off the train tracks. On a jeep ride, we were about 30 feet from a male white rhinocerous - how cool is that?




New baby white rhino - she was only about 2 months old - weighed 120 at birth and gains 5 lbs a day. She moved pretty quickly and mom was having a hard time keeping up with her as she was running through the preserve. I couldn't get a good picture because she was running away from the train.





Busch Gardens has some fabulous roller coasters and I rode all of them - some of them three or four times! By Sunday morning when it was time to leave Tampa Bay, I was one pretty sore girl. Their newest coaster climbs 200 feet right out of the gate, turns a corner, drops you over the edge, but comes to a complete stop for 10 or 15 seconds (maybe only 5 but it seems like an eternity) before letting you go and sending you on your way.