Manatees!

Blake and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary on February 28th.  We celebrated by going out to dinner and by buying ourselves a circular saw.  We figured that since the 5-year mark is technically the wood anniversary that a saw fit the bill quite well.

Instead of going on a separate celebratory trip, we decided to take a day in Florida to explore the coast.  A couple google searches later and we'd come up with the perfect plan: kayaking with the manatees.  I was ecstatic - manatees are the coolest!

We drove 50 minutes through the heartland of central Florida (welcome to the south!) to Crystal River, which is on a bay on the gulf coast.  We rented a tandem kayak and paddled out into the canal toward the warm, crystal clear springs where the manatees spend their winter months.

I wasn't able to get a good photograph of an actual manatee (you can sort of see one having a snooze on the bottom in the middle-right picture below), but the scenery sure was gorgeous.  It's the sort of magical place you want to visit over and over again.  I can't wait to go back.