Busch Gardens

While in Tampa, a coworker of Paul's scored us free tickets to Busch Gardens, right in the heart of Tampa!  (Which free-ness was incredibly wonderful, as the parking, food, and disposable camera almost cleaned us out as it was!)  I had a lot more fun than I was planning--as someone who doesn't really like roller coasters, I didn't know what to expect.

The cool thing about Busch Gardens is that it's a zoo and amusement park rolled into one...with some water and a bit of museum to it, too!  I had a blast.  We BOTH did!  I'll let the pictures prove it.

Weird guy on stilts that welcomed us into the park.

The train ride that takes you all around the park.

A crash of rhinos, sleeping!

Giraffes playing peek-a-boo behind the trees.  :)  They're my favorite.

Paul did this ride on his own!...

Yeah, not one but TWO 90 degree drops, and one of those they stop you at the top as you're hanging over it so you can really see how far down you're about to fall.

Then you go down into the water and splash innocent bystanders.

I mean, there is a WALL of water in that splash zone!

I DID go on this log ride with him.  :)

And the Grand Rapids ride...where I got soaked WAY more than he did!

As for the zoo, we got THIS CLOSE to a tiger (behind thick glass).

And right underneath him, too!

These cute little lizards are EVERYWHERE in Tampa.  I mean, EVERYWHERE.

We went on the skyride so we could see the park from a different angle.

Paul made me a little scared every time he moved to one side or the other to take pictures, so here he's making fun of me.  :)

What a view of the park, though, huh?

Those are elephants.

They had this recreation of King Tut's tomb that we got to walk through...it was pretty awesome.

And, of course, Paul made friends with the locals.  :)

We were pretty tired by the end of the day, but it sure was fun!