Saturday, January 19, 2013

Manatee Festival-Crystal River,FL



Ken and I got up early this morning to go to the Manatee Festival in Crystal River. We walked through the arts and crafts and made our way to boat pier for the boat tour I had never seen a real live manatee before and wondered what all the fuss was about. Then I saw not one but two!

They are huge! But they tell me they are also gentle. People were kayaking with their children and dogs!

I have been wanting to take up kayaking but Ken kept telling me the alligators would get me. So I asked a guy, "What about the wildlife?"
He said not to worry, they usually go in the other direction and he demonstrated the technique for using the paddles.

The kayakers really had the best view, so close up. Some of the manatees even came up for air. there was also one swimming with her baby.

Seems the manatees come in from the ocean when the weather turns cold. the spring fed rivers are warmer so the manatees come in for the winter.

We had unusually warm weather for manatees and were afraid we wouldn't see any because they were heading back out to the coast. But we were lucky, we had a cold snap just in time to bring them back in.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!

One of the things I have been looking forward to is adopting a dog. When we moved to Florida, I wasn't able to bring Kelso with us. He has a wonderful home now, but we are missing the friendly drool of pup. So while my sister-in -law and AI were in Ocean Springs, Ms we came across this dog. Isn't he sweet?