Photos from Moody Gardens in Galveston, TX

For my birthday last year, I got a couple of yearly membership passes for D.H. and I to Moody Gardens in Galveston. It's not that far from our house, and we both like to go watch IMAX films and look at the exhibits. Since the passes are set to expire this week, and we won't be renewing them until the beginning of Fall, we decided to spend a couple days seeing and doing everything that interested us while we had the chance.  Here are some of the many photos I took while we were there,

Above, are the penguins being fed by their handlers. You can see the penguin exhibit from both ground level and underwater vantage points, depending on which viewing window you're looking through.

Above, is a little fish that I had to get a photo of because he was hanging out right up against the glass and being still. My camera doesn't take great photos in low light without flash, so most of my fishy photos didn't come out as good as this one.

This pretty bird landed right on  the rail a few feet away from where you walk through the rainforest habitat, and was completely unafraid of the people walking by and stopping to look at and take it's photograph.

A pretty coral colored flower I spotted on the way to ride the paddleboat. The grounds are covered with tropical plants and butterfly attracting flowers. There are walking paths outside of the pyramid buildings that are lined with beautiful landscaping.

This is the paddleboat we took a ride on. It goes for a spin around a body of water behind the Moody Gardens property. This thing is absolutely HUGE! There are climate controlled rooms to ride in, as well as plenty of park benches outside up front and on the upper deck if the weather is pleasant. We rode outside because it wasn't too hot that evening.

One of the two giant river otters at the gardens, sleeping on a warm rock in the afternoon. That morning we were able to watch them be fed and play and swim around for a while.

This was one of the few butterflies that had landed on an observation and feeding platform in the butterfly garden section of the rainforest pyramid. The rest were flying around or landing high up on the netting that keeps the butterflies in and the birds and climbing animals out.

Seahorses in the aquarium pyramid. I have always been fascinated by seahorses,and there are several different kinds on display there at Moody Gardens.

A sculpture of giant crystal rods outside the back entrance of the main visitor center. The water features were drained for some reason that day, but the sculpture was still worth getting a photo of.