Today is my son's birthday, but he is in the hospital, facing possible surgery depending on what they find. So instead of taking him out to eat and maybe having a family day at Busch Gardens tumbling in the roller coasters and visiting the new Cheetah cat exhibit, I'll be visiting bedside.
Anyway, I thought it might cheer him up
to get some extra birthday wishes
from you.
Here are some shots from our recent visit to Busch Gardens in Tampa.
Loved the cheetahs, came away with several fine shots too, still unedited.
You look good enough to eat ....
The most popular and the newest ride is
the cheetah roller coaster,
be prepared to wait in line for that one.
The tickets were an early birthday present, expensive, like 84 bucks, but Florida residents get a break, if you buy a one day ticket you get to visit all year long for free - a great deal.
This fearsome dude,
a very old crocodile
looks positively menacing - don't you agree?
My little niece, Natascha was here from Germany and we took her for a day. She couldn't decide which she loved best, the many roller coasters or the fabulous animal exhibits.
We had a great time and if I ever get 'round to it, I'll do a full photo essay about Busch Gardens - bottomline, if you get a chance to go, do it, you'll love it - something for all ages and don't miss the train ride.
Below is one of my son's favorite roller coasters.
I can tell you I'm not going on that either - no way:)
But he and Natascha loved them all and only regretted that we didn't have enough time to try out the other two roller coasters.
The gorilla exhibit
had a cool rain forest setting,
they really enjoyed the waterfall to keep cool in the heat.
All photos copyright © Rose Hill
Here he is with his wife Cristina, her knee dislocated, so she's been wearing a knee brace and trying to stay off her feet as much as possible.
You could rent a scooter for $40 a day and it gave us priority treatment - she called it the "princess treatment" - for things like the sky ride (no waiting in line and we scored a return trip so she could get back to her scooter).
Worked for the train ride too, which has it's own wagon at the end, with a platform to bring her on board - scooter and all, very cool and handy.
They get two thumbs up from us for being super ADA friendly.
Markus and Cristina
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARKUS - GET WELL SOON!
© 2012 Rose Hill All Rights Reserved
All images are © Rose Hill
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Comments: 40
Someone on Gather is sending up Birthday Prayers for you:)
Nice photos.
You really need two days to see and do it all.
If you guys know a good fix - please let me know!
When it comes to Gather articles that I want with a specific format or with images integrated into them I only use the Gather article editor as a presentation vessel for HTML code that links to an image off site, within a web based hard drive or as they call them now clouds.
The CSS code that Gather uses is bastardized and won't accept normal cascade formatting, html or xhtml codes. They've neutered the CSS to keep the memory resource use low.
So I create my text or image file and then uploaded it to a site called Dropbox (www.dropbox.com). Drop Box will allow you access to your files from any computer in the world, just as long as you know the name and password associated with your account. Oh and at the 4Gb size, accounts are free, but check it out and see what the current offerings are.
Once you have the image uploaded to dropbox, via the icon on your desktop, you can retrieve a URL for the image, that you can insert in your article. Once you have the URL, open the HTML editor in your Gather article editor and use the HTML command . < i m g s r c = "[ d r o p b o x u r l ] " , w i d t h = " " / > and of course save/submit. Once it is in there you can move it about or change the size.
I have used this process on this Gather article (the two columns of names)
and in this article (the two shorties)
Let me know if you need help or clarification
Get well soon!
It has been at least 28 years since I've visited Bush Gardens!!! My sister's and my combined families met in Tampa for a long three-day weekend and had a ball!
I recommend their main restaurant, good food and reasonable prices - eat upstairs and overlook the park.
If you go around Halloween and Christmas there are always special events, from bands to other entertainment in the evening hours.
I plan on going when it's not so hot-I'd like to get more garden and landscape shots and maybe next time a better shot of the white tiger.
Yes, the landscaping was gorgeous back then so I imagine it has had to improve with the years!
I pray everything will be alright. :)
some Good Rest.
Thank you submitting to Gathers Luminous Writers and Artists.