Day: -2

Saturday. It’s the weekend before I start my internship. I have some time to spend with the family today. Everyone is super tired from the 24 hour drive the day before and despite mine & my Aunt Nikki’s best attempt to watch New Moon, we fell asleep early Friday night and somehow I got up at the crack of dawn. We went out to
breakfast at Pogey’s and then we headed down to Jupiter.

I wanted to walk through the Sanctuary before I started there and I was amazed. It is immersed in the swamp that makes up Florida. There is so much natural landscape that the animal enclosures are made around. It’s extremely beautiful. I discovered that they have 4 Florida Panthers and 3 Bobcats. They also have a ton of different birds. Different birds of prey, song birds, ducks, etc. There is a small pond where you can get turtle food and drop it down to the thirty or more aquatic turtles that are waiting hungrily below. They also have a pretty bad ass white raccoon and some other normal backyard animals. And they have a bunch of American alligators and crocodiles. I can’t possibly name all of the animals they have but they’re really cool. They do shows with the animals and have grade school volunteers. The best part for visitors – it’s free. This place runs on donations and other benefits. You can also donate online at www.buschwildlife.com . Don’t forget to find them on facebook (Busch Wildlife Sanctuary)! I have a couple pictures of the place but we weren’t there long.





I will be starting on Wednesday instead of Monday. I’m taking Monday and Tuesday to spend with my family since they’ll be here. My Uncle Dusty is also going to take me to see “The Tiger Lady”. This woman has a variety of different big cats like tigers, lions, and jaguars. My uncle and his buddies usually go out and hunt feral hogs (since they’re such a nuisance here) and, since nothing goes to waste while hunting, they’ll take the dead hogs to the tiger lady who will then feed it to the cats. I am incredibly excited to go see her! I’ll get to see the cats up close (not too close of course!) and she even has a baby tiger I’ll be able to tend to. This. Is. My. Dream. Job. Big cats are what I’ve always wanted to work with.

So later today we went to a beach (I can’t remember the name). And despite my phobia of swimming with fish, I went pretty far into the water. This was my first time ever seeing, or being in, the ocean. Let’s just say I like being able to see my feet at all times, I don’t mind the baby fish that swim by every now and then, and I prefer the taste of lake water to salt water (I wasn’t drinking it but it never fails to get some in your mouth).

Now we’re all hanging around just winding down. It’s been a pretty intense day and we’re all exhausted. I’m headed to bed.

Night.