Migratory path of two Denver Snow Birds Part 4 (A 2023 travelogue of Denise & Gary Flanders)
Central Florida is a Mecca for tourists with kingdoms built to rodents and film studios. We go in search of the ‘real’ Florida so we end up in many state parks. Close to NSB (New Smyrna Beach) is Blue Springs State Park, winter home to hundreds of strange creatures. Yes indeed, the mysterious Manatee, aka ‘Sea Cow’. We drove the 45 minutes to Blue Springs State Park. It has been a place where Manatees come during the winter. The water in the park is warm so it attracts hundreds of ‘sea cows’. “Manatees (familyTrichechidae, genusTrichechus) are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorousmarine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), the West Indian manatee(Trichechus manatus), and the West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis). They measure up to 4.0 metres (13 ft 1 in) long, weigh as much as 590 kilograms (1,300 lb), and have paddle-like tails.”The Manatee in Florida is the West Indian Manatee. It’s range is denoted in green. “Manatees weigh 400 to 550 kg (880 to 1,210 lb), and average 2.8 to 3.0 m (9 ft 2 in to 9 ft 10 in) in length, sometimes growing to 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in) and 1,775 kg (3,913 lb) and females tend to be larger and heavier than males. At birth, baby manatees weigh about 30 kg (66 lb) each. The female manatee has two teats, one under each flipper, a characteristic that was used to make early links between the manatee and elephants.” (The photo is an injured adolescent Manatee that is tagged so the park rangers can monitor his movements and recovery.)It is fun to be partners with someone who believes the old adage: ‘strangers are friends you haven’t met yet’. One morning Denise made a fancy breakfast for ten new friends. From a hiking trail at Mt Falcon in Colorado to the beach in Florida our new friends Daniel and Lexi. Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold. Our old neighbors in Winter Park Florida. 40 years ago our kids were best buddies. New friends from Atlanta who we met walking on the beach one morning. Thirty three years ago we met our old friends Viv and Jim Elliott. When we want to show visiting friends the sunset we take them over to New Smyrna Dunes Park. Jim and I walked out on the fishing dock and saw a nice ending of the day. As soon as we left the park we looked up in the sky and saw the Space X launch of a GPS satellite on a,rocket launched from NASA Kennedy space center. With the sunset the vapor trail from the rocket turned orange. It was a great way to impress visitors. Pretty cool way to end a day. We love our times of having adventures.
deliriouslove1970. The life & times of Gary and Denise Flanders. (Free and worth every penny. If you would like to compliment the editor, send to garytheflan@deliriouslove1970.com. If you would like to complain, call your mother.) 
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