a good friday at silver springs

Yesterday, I spent the day at Silver Springs with my sister Julie and her family. We went on glass bottom boats over the springs and down the river; we took a jeep 'safari' adventure through the woods; we saw bears and alligators and snakes and bats. But the best part of all was...

...feeding the giraffes!!!


There were two giraffes and we got to hand feed them! They were so so so so so cute - and they had lllllooooonnnnnggggg blue tongues that stretched way out to reach the crackers we were holding.

I have never been up close to giraffes before. They were slow-moving and gentle and curious. They also smelled really really bad. According to Chemical and Engineering News, this awful smell may repel insects, including ticks, as well as attracting mates; it is also more pleasant to humans the farther the human is from the giraffe.

But for me, one look in those eyes and I just didn't care about the smell. And neither did my compan-ions.

This is one animal encounter I won't soon forget!