Saturday, February 5, 2022
Lee County Manatee Park, Brewpub Crawl
It was early in the afternoon by the time we dragged ourselves away from Bill and Patti's restful lanai for an outing to Fort Myers' Lee County Manatee Park. In the winter, when the Gulf of Mexico cools, manatees take refuge here in an inlet of the Orange River warmed by water released from an adjacent power plant.
Last week was especially cold for Florida, making today a good day for spotting manatees. We saw at least a dozen of the “sea cows” swimming lazily along, occasionally popping their noses out for a second or two before disappearing again below the murky surface.
Lee County Manatee Park
The warm inlet, full of manatees
Our best photo of a live manatee
We spent an enjoyable hour checking out the manatees and recreating a couple of fun photos from Tom's and my visit here in 2009. Manatees have a life span of 50 to 60 years, so it's possible we were looking at some of the same manatees as before. I don't recognize them, but do they recognize me???
Our best photo of a non-live manatee
When alligators attack!
Afterwards, the four of us drank our way back to Bill and Patti's via a series of fun brewpubs - Riptide Brewing Company, Ceremony Brewing Company, and Palm City Brewing Company. We ate burgers and tots from the MAD Brunch food truck at Ceremony Brew Co. - scrumptious and not heart healthy!
Jana with Bill's sexy muscle car
Very Florida
Great brews!
Jana, Patti and Bill
Back at the homestead, Bill turned on the Winter Olympics out on the lanai, and we may or may not have had even more beer...
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