A Second Love

I know primarily I post about running and workouts, and although I like to tout this as a healthy living blog,I think that to be truly healthy, you have to be happy and balanced in all aspects of your life. I love the gym, I love to run, and I love knowing that posting my meals and weekly recaps inspries even one person! But I want to also let you know that it's not all I do (even though it seems like it). I have a job in the IT field and I have quite a few hobbies that sometimes get put on the backburner during race season, but I find the time for them to peek out here and there.

One of those hobbies is photography. I don't own a big fancy DSLR, although I'd love to own one. I am familiar with them(primarily Canon 5d,7d, and Ti models) and have toyed around with friends'. On the flip side of that, I find a lot of satisfaction when great pictures are taken with just a point and shoot or a cell phone. Most point and shoot cameras these days have comparable abilities to some of the bigger DSLR bodies if you learn to use them correctly.

Not too long ago, Mike picked up a new Nikon Coolpix S9300. I have always been a Canon girl for my P&S, so this was a first. Navigating the menu is a little more difficult, but once you learn the camera and it's "feel" it has the ability to take really great, sharp pics.

Mike and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather last weekend and head to Busch Gardens. He bought me yearly passes for my birthday, so I will be going there way more than probably necessary.

I absolutely love animals and the interaction in Busch Gardens. They are curious and not shy. I may have gotten lucky this day, but I came the closest to all of these animals than I have ever been in any zoos or sanctuaries. While I don't think that my photos are National Geographic quality, they aren't too bad!

Annnddd here comes the photodump:

You can click any of them to make them bigger.

These guys were so laid back. Just hanging out watching all the people in the park.

Did you know that Busch Gardens has SEVEN Cheetahs? I did not. They rotate them throughout the day in pairs. There are 5 females, 2 brothers, and of course the puppy(now dog) that was raised with the one cheetah cub. I didn't get to see the pup and cheetah out as we missed them early in the morning, but we did see two females in the morning, and the two brothers in the late afternoon. These pics below are of the two females.

This little guy was keeping a watchful eye on me.



The heyenas are so much bigger than normal dogs, but so evil looking. They were running around their pen making all kinds of noises. The lions are right next to them, and they were being fed. The heyenas creep me out. Pictures aren't great of them as they were moving around too much to grab a still shot.

BG has two types of Zebras in the park. I snapped this picture while the train that takes you out into the free roaming area was moving. They weren't phased or interested a bit

The train had to come to a complete stop out in the middle since these African vultures wouldn't get off the track. The conductor had to blow steam at them to get them to move. These guys are about 4-4.5 feet tall!









Saving the best shots for last - Simon (the male lion- has been at the park for 7 years) and two sister lionesses. I got these during their feeding time. All three lions know to go to a specific spot in their pen where the handler tosses them big "meatballs".
These shots came out great since the lions were very still while waiting for their meatball to come their way!

My favorite picture of the day:

Of course my camera battery died right around this point. We'd only covered about 1/3 of the animals the park has. Luckily for me, that yearly pass will come in handy when I'm ready to get pictures of the rest of the animals - including the tigers!

What are some of your favorite hobbies outside of healthy living/fitness?

Are you an animal lover? What's your favorite of the ones I posted above?

Do you take pictures when you go to the zoo/parks?