Yesterday was a big day. I hear there were some kind of goings-on in Washington, D.C. I don’t know. I took a bunch of six- and seven-year-olds to Manatee Lagoon in West Palm Beach.
Florida Power & Light (FP&L) has a power plant located right beside the Intracoastal Waterway not far from the Riviera Beach Marina. It’s been there for years. I don’t even pretend to understand exactly what it is that they do there, and I don’t really care to research it that deeply, but suffice it to say, something about what they do produces what they call “warm water outflows” into the Intracoastal.
On cold days, the manatees that inhabit that section of brackish water between mainland West Palm Beach and the island of Palm Beach are drawn to the warm water the plant puts out. They’ve done it probably since the plant began operations. And the manatees have always drawn crowds of people who want to catch a glimpse of the gentle giants in their natural habitat.
About a year ago, FP&L decided to accommodate the lookie-loos. They built a beautiful new visitors’s facility called Manatee Lagoon. They have a small museum complete with gift shop and cafe (natch), and while they’re open to visitors six days a week, they also offer educational programs for school kids. And it’s all FREE. Which is perfect.
I picked the date back in May, hoping that January 20 would be cold. Seems a safe enough bet, right? Average highs that time of year should be low 70s, but the mornings should be much cooler. Of course, yesterday’s high was 81. Yeah.
But it was an amazingly beautiful day, and the staff could not have been nicer or more accommodating. They took the kids to a large meeting room and gave them pertinent information on their level, even allowing them to handle some manatee bones. Then we were taken to the observation deck where, yes, thank goodness, we saw a couple of manatees.
So, like I said, big day yesterday, right?
This song has echoed through my brain all week. It seemed the right one for tonight. Mr. R. and I are still living in reno limbo. We couldn’t really call our home relaxing right now, but it’s starting to come together. Can’t wait to show you a week’s worth of improvement, but that’s another post for another day. Hope you and yours feel fine.
Happy Saturday night!
Adventures in Date Night 
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