Next on our Mold-A-Rama Road Trip (after Knoxville, Orlando, and Miami) we hit Sarasota and Tampa. We were lucky enough to stay with friends in Sarasota for three nights and commute to the places we wanted to visit.
The first place we tried to go was the Mote Aquarium, which was only a few miles from where we were staying, but I got mixed up about the times and we were there an hour early. We asked the kids if they wanted to wait, or wanted to head somewhere else. They surprised me by asking if they could get back in the car and watch a movie. I was sure they'd want to be anywhere but the car at that point, but I didn't mind the idea of taking a walk and then reading for a bit if the kids wanted to curl up together and watch Spirited Away again. However, the DVD player had other ideas and started spewing smoke (?!) so Ian and I declared it was time to roll.
It's a pleasant zoo. It was one of our "zip through" locations so we didn't spend a huge amount of time there, but we did see a good raptor show that included trained chickens and an owl that flew over our heads. We learned that whenever you hear a bald eagle on TV or in the movies doing a big cawing-screech sound it's really a red-tailed hawk call dubbed in. Bald eagles make a cute little chirpy noise, but that's not as impressive in a big patriotic moment. Another thing we learned was that great horned owls have no sense of smell so they eat skunks.
We also saw a clouded leopard, and we bought some overpriced popcorn that came in a bucket that has turned out to be incredibly handy for carrying snacks.
