Flamingo Gardens and starting the cruise

Well, today is my last day on land for 11 days.

The morning started with a drive up to Ft Lauderdale to meet up with

my cousin by marriage, Annemarie.  She and her husband Roger (Ron's cousin) 

were here on vacation.  When I found out they were going to be within an

easy drive of where I needed to be on the 7th, we decided to meet up and spend

some girl time together.  I picked her up and we played tourist and went to

Flamingo Gardens, which happened to be near where they were staying.

This American-white Pelican had attitude.

He came up and started to attack Annemarie. She was videoing it on her phone.

When she posted it on facebook, a lot of her friends were laughing.

The Pelican  started to walk up to Annemarie, when it got near it lashed out with

it's beak, and continued on.  Maybe you had to be there, but we could not stop laughing.

It was a very pretty garden.  This area was for water birds.
A lot of the birds were brought here for rehabilitation.  They had been
injured or ill, but could not be re-released back into the wild.
This environment was perfect for them. There was an area
for reptiles, and raptors.  Naturally, a lot of birds were flying free.

Here is a Woodstork.

Got to love those Flamingo's.

When Flamingo's are in captivity they seem to have a deeper color.
They get shrimp on a regular basis which does enhance their
color. They are beautiful.

Did you know Peacocks fly and roost in trees?

The colors of a Peacock are vibrant and beautiful.

Love the colors.  We could not get any of them to show their fan's.
It is still amazing how long their tail feathers are.

This young White Ibis also wanted to be friends of Annemarie's
Maybe it because he wanted her to feed him!

Did have to check out a quilt shop.
These were their rows, for past years Row by Row.
Very pretty. I have to say the quilt shops in Florida have a lot of
bright beautiful fabrics.  Naturally, I had to see how many different
flamingo fabrics I can find.

No flamingo pincushions, but cute birds and cats.

Here is Annemarie and I at the gardens.
We had a  late lunch and all in all had a great day.
It was fun to catchup and spend the day together.

After I dropped Annemarie, it was time to catch up with Jan at the hotel
we were staying at for the night.  There were quite a few of the quilters staying
there for the night.  In the morning we would all be going to Port Everglades for
boarding our ship, Nieuw Amsterdam for our cruise.
The excitement at the hotel was on a high level.

It is time to start the festivities!
We have had the life boat drill, been to our cabin, unpacked the suitcases and
having our first cocktail before meeting up with the rest of the quilters.
They have a meet and greet in one of the lounges.  We get our name tags,
tote bags, and schedule of classes and activities.

It is time for the sail away.  The next 11 days of adventures begins.
We pass by these apartment buildings as we leave the harbor.
We are ready for the fun and quilt classes that Quilt Seminars at Sea
has arranged for us.

Let the adventure begin!
Mary