Last weekend, my parents and I drove up to North Las Vegas hoping to see hot air balloons sailing through the air at the city’s annual Balloonapalooza Festival. The three of us were hoping to take some cool photos of something you just don’t see in Vegas that often.

It turns out that for wind reasons, the balloons weren’t launching that day. So as not to waste the gas we used to drive all the way up there, we kept going up to the master-planned community of Aliante, which my parents hadn’t seen yet.

It ended up being worth the trip, because we found something else to take photos of: the ducks, geese and turtles at Nature Discovery Park. Here are some photos of our visit. This is just a tiny fraction of what I got. Trust me, I took a lot of photos.

Also… can you believe this is Las Vegas? It seems like it’s straight out of some lake-filled town.

This guy looks like a traditional duck.

I think this guy is a crane. My friend Dale would know.

The funny thing about this crane is that it wasn't hanging out with the other birds. Actually, all the birds were only hanging out with the other birds like them. Birds of a feather really do flock together.

This guy looks like Donald Duck. And he was actually pretty big, too.

An adult and baby turtle poke their heads out for air.

A kid feeds a goose a hot dog bun with his mother's help.

Here is a Canadian goose preening.

Here is a Canadian goose doing whatever it is they do.