See The Sea Cow? We Did!

We went to the Big Bend Power Plant where they have an area specially set up for viewing the manatees that congregate by the cooling water outflows from the steam generators. Afterward our visit, Luann and I went geocaching in an effort to get more exercise. It was a cold day, but since we are both working on losing some weight, off we went...

But first, here is a picture of the power plant from the manatee observation area. ...

Remember, 'Click-On-A-Pic' to see a larger version of the image.

"Watch Your Tail", too funny...

There were a bunch of these spotted rays everywhere.

Oh look! Kylor is here!

And so is Karen, and Brendon and Tony too.

There must have been hundreds of mantee here.

But that makes sense, since the air temperature is in the mid-thirties, but this temp gauge says the water temperature is a tepid 67 degrees.

See the camera on top of this pole? well, if you want to check out the manatees without coming out here, you can go to their webcam page HERE and you can move the cameras around and zoom in and out to get a better look at things around the viewing center.

Peekaboo, I see you!

Here is the inside of the manatee museum (nice and warm) where we needed to find information necessary to complete a virtual cache here. The following signs are scattered throughout the area, and there is much to learn.

It was interesting to read about the manatees that they are tracking in the area.

This shot shows you how busy this place was, even in 38 degree weather.

And I mean it, the place was packed for such a cold day.

A couple of snouts on the surface as these air-breathers get a breath of fresh air.

When we were done, we looked for the geocache located out front. Kylor did a great job of finding it. At this point, Karen and family headed for home, while Luann and I struck out into the nearby environs to look for geocaches and photographic opportunities.

Here's a picture of the power plant, but of the opposite side and from a view from on top of a hill (next to a geocache, of course).

I asked Luann for her tripod and she said it was in the car, so I turned myself into a human tripod instead. That worked.

Found it!

And we swapped the green jeep travel bug for a green street rod TB.

Ah, the light is begining to fail us, so a couple of sunset shots are in order.

It always amazes me the distances Luann's camera can span whenever we go on a photo shoot.

Oh, and I had read a story in the news where green tree iguanas were getting so cold in Miami, that they were stiffening up and losing their grip and falling out of the tree they were sitting in. Well, as I was taking the trash cans out this morning, I came across this good-sized gecko that was upside-down in the grass and completely immobile (it looks like he fell out of our oak tree). We brought him inside, warmed him up and put him back outside later on. Poor little guy...

Here is the almost-frozen gecko I found in the yard when I was taking the trash cans to the curb.

He made himself comfortable in the container I lined with paper towels. After things warmed up a bit, he was set free in the yard and he scurried off. Hope he does well...
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