Some businesses truly deserve kudos for what they do with their social and environmental relationships. Today, we got to see an example. In Ruskin, FL, manatees often congregate near the warm water discharges at the local nuclear/coal power plant, especially if the weather is chilly. Think of it as a sea cow family spa. This power company knew that peole would visit the cove where the manatees hang out and they could have just let people come and go as they pleased (complete with hazards of parking lot runoff, garbage, boats in the cove, people getting too close to the manatees, etc.). Instead, they worked wih the local goverments to set up a manatee viewing and education center complete with boardwalks out over the cove, a solar powered visitor center, and an exhibit on what environmentally-friendly landscaping looks like in Florida.

All in all, you might not remember much from today either than that Grandma Carol got you an adorable manatee T-shirt and you got your first postcard to add to your visiting places collection (we’ll do this in the future and have you write on your postcards what you did/saw/want to remember about places you visit). Daddy and Mommy will remember that they got to see dozens on manatees for the first time including a mom with two calves, a couple very large males, and several playful manatees who liked to surface near the boardwalk and blow nose-fulls of water into the air.