2Jan22 photos: lantern festival

We took the opportunity to go to an Asian lantern festival at the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Garden while we were relatively nearby for Christmas.

I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting, but what we saw exceeded my expectations—it was delightful!

Lovely to see some cactus. A little bit like being home. Though I have never seen one nibbled on by a camel.

Cute little mushroom. One of many.

photo of a red mushroom lantern with white spots

Snakes!

Just as mean-looking, a dog (that reminded us a bit of one of our dogs)

photo of a Chinese dog lantern with a mean look on his face

I was very excited to have still water for reflections. We don’t have a lot of still water at home.

The peacock was really neat. The lights moved up its feathers and also changed colors. When it completed its cycle, they were solid green and moved down into a folded-back position, the way an actual peacock would.

photo of a peacock lantern; green body with alternating blue and pink feathers

Water critters

The dragon was enormous and wonderful to look at. The lens I brought combined with the space we were in didn’t allow for a shot of the whole thing.

upward shot of a dragon head lantern

The butterflies were also neat. They made up the top leafy portion of a tree. The sign indicated that this actually happens, where migrating butterflies will completely cover a treetop, making it look like a butterfly tree. What a sight that would be!

photo of dozens of overlapping butterfly lanterns in several colors

And some pelicans

photo of pelican lanterns

The lead photo, the pandas, shows Rocket Kid’s favorite part of the whole thing.

Next week, I’ll share photos from the beach, also taken on this trip.

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