Brevard Zoo

We checked out of the Day’s Inn Titusville at 8:45 and drove the 30 minute trip south on I-95 to the Brevard County Zoo in Melbourne.  Our Cincinnati Zoo membership got us half price admission to the zoo when it opened at 9 am.

The Brevard County Zoo is only 25 years old and is still growing.  The lady at the entrance told us that several new exhibits have opened recently and several more are scheduled for opening in the next few months. Among the new exhibits are a sloth and the black bear.  In addition, the entire rain forest section has been completely renovated. 

We started in the Africa section and saw the zebras and rhinos enjoying the sunshine on the late January morning.  Not long after we got there five, giraffes came out to browse on branches placed on the viewing platform by the zoo staff.  We were very impressed by the number of local volunteers at the exhibits to inform visitors and provide assistance. We were also struck by the number of sponsorships at the zoo.  Most of the animals on display were named by community members who had purchased naming rights. There were plaques on sections of fence, benches and many other areas of the zoo indicating contributions from donors. 

We stood at the lemur island for a long time watching them playing and romping in the morning sun.  The volunteer told us that the lemurs are unable to swim and will not enter the water to leave the island.  In fact, if one of the lemurs falls into the water,  it will likely drown. They had nine of the ring tail lemurs with seven males on one island and a male and female pair on another island. 

We went into a walk through aviary with lorikeets and one with cockatiels. Visitors can purchase sugar water for the lorikeets and seed sticks for the cockatiels while walking through the exhibit. There was a large cockatoo outside that would laugh and do flips on the perch. 

In all, we spent about three hours in the zoo, staying until around 12:30 when we found a picnic table outside the zoo entrance where we had our peanut butter sandwiches and fruit for lunch.  Day was sunny and pleasant and we enjoyed the company of our friends, Steve and Marcia.

After lunch we made the 2 ½ hour drive back to Steve’s house in Sebring.  The sunny afternoon made a pleasant drive west across routes 60 and 98.  We especially liked the small town of Yeehaw Junction along the way.

After unpacking from our trip, Mary and I walked northeast along Lake Jackson doing a 3 mile walk that Steve does on many days.  We stopped briefly at the public beach and chatted with a nice couple form Minnesota.  We were still interested in walking after returning so we continued southwest on Lakeview Drive to a community center area where there is a library, theater, fishing pier and public beach.  We walked past some interesting homes and several large live oak and banyan trees.  

We went to dinner with Steve and Marcia at one of their favorite restaurants in Sebring.  We had been to Dimitri’s Restaurant with them in 2019 and enjoyed it very much.  Steve had a lasagna, Mary and Marcia had Cuban sandwiches and I had a fish sandwich.  Several of us had their Greek lemon rice soup, which was quite good. We all agreed that the meal was excellent and did well to finish.  After our meal the waitress gave each all take-home servings of their rice pudding because of Steve’s military service.