We drove out to Bradenton to visit the Hunsader Farms Pumpkin Festival last weekend. It was about an hour or so away. Upon arrival we were greeted by a gobbling turkey in the parking lot and hungry llamas at the petting zoo.
You got a little something on your chin whiskers....
There were booths, crafts, carnival games to benefit various charities, a monster truck (Gun Slinger) swamp buggy rides (yep, that is a real thing in Florida), train rides and more. But the wildlife rehabilitation booth was our favorite. There were four owls in all there, a broken winged barn owl that had been hit by a car, a one eyed horned owl (it's mom fed her a poisoned rat they said), another owl and this cute little Screech owl.
I love owls.
The hayride took us through a copse of woods and some of the farm where tomatoes were being grown and tended. It was nice weather and made for a neat day.
Are you a fan of hayrides? Any festivals or events near you that take you to the outdoors?
Looks like so much fun! Have you been to the bird of prey center in Maitland? If you haven't, you should check it out. It's really awesome. http://fl.audubon.org/chapters-centers/audubon-center-birds-prey
ReplyDeleteIt was a nice day. We have not! My girls and I love birds, especially birds of prey. We are still slated to move to Orlando in the near future so that will be a place I take the girls to help them with the transition of a new school and home. Thank you for the heads up! We are also looking forward to swimming at Wekiwa Springs. It looks beautiful. If you have any other recommendations I would love to hear them. Anything outdoors or involving good food. <3 Thanks, Nancy! xoxo
DeleteThat screech owl is a stunner (the photo too, posed so perfectly). I think we'd be good friends, alas no wildlife rehab booths here but he has an Ohio admirer, if there are donations for care let me know.
ReplyDeleteWill do! They did have a little box that we donated into but I don't remember the name of the place. We have a ton of wildlife rehab non-profits all around the state. There is a cool wolf one up in the panhandle I want to take the girls to one day and another one down in southwest Florida.
DeleteI adore hayrides! But I didn't manage to get to one this year. A sleigh ride when the snow comes down, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteI watch these vloggers out of Florida, and they went to a hayride out in the country recently. One ride was a proper hayride in the back of a flatbed truck and the other was him, like, CRAMMED into these hollowed-out plastic barrels that had been mounted to wheels and strung in a train, and they were all being towed by some maniac on a John Deere ATV. It looked SO unsafe (although it was pretty hilarious, too.)
A sleigh ride! How charming! I can only day dream of those. Maybe a carriage ride in Central Park will have to suffice. It is going to be COLD this weekend. (For me at any rate)
DeleteLOL!!! Yep. Sounds like a Floridian activity. And it is funny you mention the plastic barrels because that was the "train" they had for the kiddos. But I am sure it went much slower than the one you witnessed. :-)