Close to Home

Sometimes beautiful things are so close to us and yet we either don't hear about them, don't pay attention or even just simply take the time to go and check them out. So it is that down by the smoke stacks on Apollo Beach, a 5 minute drive from my house, there was a place that I had never paid attention to though I would think that I must have heard about it before. Truly, after I took the time to check it out, I noticed the signs about it on the highway. Silly how we sometimes don't notice something that is right under our nose! Too rushed, too busy, to self absorbed? I'm not sure why I never paid attention to this wonder earlier. If I had checked this when I first moved here, it could have given me an extra two years of enjoyment!

During the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I wanted to do something special with my son. Something new. It occurred to me that it would be great to go down to the power plant and see what was really going on and find out if it was worth adding to the list of things that you bring visitors to see.

Oh my goodness! Well put together, it is an awesome sight. There is a coffee shop and walkways and a space where you can sit and eat, a souvenir shop. Like I said well put together. By now you are surely wondering what I am rattling about.

I am speaking of a well cared for Manatee Viewing Center. Manatees are huge, inoffensive sea mammals. Strict vegetarians, they seek the warm waters of Florida during the winter and even more so the warmer waters of places like Blue Springs, or the Crystal River and Apollo Beach power plants amongst other spots. Because we were having a cold snap, there were about 30 manatees in the inlet and according to the ranger there were roughly 80 manatees in the inlet in the early morning hours! What a site! I can only imagine that they must have been almost shoulder to shoulder, or is that side to side in the morning. Manatees are protected animals and they cannot be fed and people are not allowed to touch them. This isn't a problem in Apollo Beach since swimming isn't allowed and frankly I wouldn't be inclined to go swimming there, but in Blue Springs, humans and manatees share the beautiful, warm spring water.

Needless to say that any visitors I have with a little time on their hands will be directed to drive down Big Bend Blvd right down to the Manatee Visitor Center! I wonder if there is a similar site near your place that you have a tendency to overlook?