When visiting the Gaucho Festival in Tacuarembo we stayed in Valle Eden, which is just west of the city itself. It was a pretty area. We rented a room, which seemed like the migrant sheep shearer’s quarters and was insanely over priced. Friends that went up with rented camping spots. They were dirt cheap and their tents were probably larger. We ended up leaving a day early because of it. We might go up again this year, but we’d definitely camp.

More photos from Valle Eden and the Gaucho Festival in my Gaucho Festival in Tacuarembo Flickr Set.

Yearly, Gauchos (Uruguayan Cowboys) and not gather in Tacuarembo, Uruguay (northern Uruguay) for a huge Gaucho Festival. An entire “camp” is set up around a medium sized lake just outside the city. The camps (in the grounds) are traditional gaucho camps and homes, displaying and demonstrating traditional living. Among other events, there are a parade and a rodeo.

More photos available in my Gaucho Festival in Tacuarembo Flickr Photo Set.

In the far northern part of Montevideo, about a 20 minute drive, is the Prado. Among the many things in the Prado area is the National Botanical Gardens. We were a little before the season for everything to be fully in bloom, but there were a variety of flowers still. There was also a Hawk prowling the grounds.

More photos in my Montevideo Prado Botanical Gardens Flickr Set.

Montevideo has a wide variety of native birds. As you might expect for South America, they seem exotic to “outsiders.” I’m still not used to having flocks of parakeets flying around the back yard, myself. The most common birds here are a Hornero (not pictured), the Tero (top picture), and the Monk Parakeet (the green birds with blue wings). I don’t know what the other pictured below is yet.

Many more shots in my Montevideo Flickr Set.

While traveling around the US, I also visited the Camden Aquarium. It’s not a bad aquarium, but doesn’t really stack up to the Monterey Bay Aquarium where I’d recently visited. However, their “big” tank was impressive and nicely setup for viewing.

I had some camera issues on this trip, so there weren’t a lot of pictures.

More photos in my Camden Aquarium Flickr Set.

One of the demonstrations at the games was a Border Collie herding sheep and ducks. The presenter described their heritage, work and training.

More photos in my http://www.aw-photos.com/blog/?p=545

The Roanoke Zoo also has a small, but excellent aviary. Probably not more than 20×20 feet, there’s a variety of birds that are obviously used to humans, calm, and beautiful.

More pictures in the Roanoke Zoo Flickr Set.

Roanoke’s zoo is small, but excellent. They make excellent use of the space that they have available and focus on animals that don’t take up a huge amount of room. It’s one of the best zoos that I’ve ever visited. I especially liked their red panda display and got what I think are some excellent pictures from it.

More photos at my Roanoke Zoo Flickr Set.

We had a very limited time to visit the Science Museum, so we focused primarily on the Aquarium. We also went up to see the “living roof” and had a meal in the restaurant (not the cafeteria). The food was excellent, probably the best food on the trip, if a little pricey. Well worth it though.

More photos in my San Francisco Science Museum Flickr Set.

We had a recurring “visit” in San Francisco. Several places we visited were in close proximity and within the territory of this hawk.

More photos in both my general San Francisco Flickr Set and my San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden Flickr Set.