A trip to Florida

What's that??? A manatee!!!

No, that's just Ed.

Last weekend, Tammy and I were able to get away and take a trip to Florida to see one of our friends get married. The shot you see here is of Ed getting into the water to swim to the '3 sisters' which is an area that has a natural spring and a beautiful place to see. We were at a town called Crystal River, which is about a 1.5 hour drive from Tampa.

One of the things they are known for is the manatee population. We were fortunate enough to have some time to take a couple of kayaks into the water and do some manatee searching. During our time out, we saw 4 manatees. 3 up close, and another one about 40 feet away. The ones we were able to see up close were right on us. So close I was afraid one may tip our kayak. Tammy wanted to get out of the kayak so bad and swim with them, but that never happened.

It was a very fun experience though to interact with such docile creatures like that. There are a bunch of rules you have to follow in regards to the manatees. If these rules weren't in place, there is no telling what the manatee population would be like in the area. Probably population of 0.

It was great to get away for a weekend (Thanks Mike and Sherry for watching the kids), just to give us a bit of a recharge before the holiday season hits. Not much longer until Thanksgiving is upon us!!!