Gentle Aquatic Giants

(This blog post is from Angie)

Those who know me are familiar with my love of animals. I often enjoy watching animals in the zoo, or dogs at the dog park, and giving a play by play of what I see. A few people have told me my commentary is quite funny. I can't help it. I find animals and their behavior to be a mirror image of humans. When I can be close to animals in some form, I definitely try so I can get up close and animal. 

On a recent trip with my daughter, we swam with manatees. It was an awakening because as big as manatees are (and they are massive!), they are incredibly gentle. They are herbivores so they don't have biting teeth. They gum or grind all of their food. How cute is that? I could see myself having a nice vegetarian heavy salad with them and shooting the breeze - talking about aches and pains and how crunchy the lettuce was since the last time we ate together. 

What I love about travel is that it allows me to explore new places and meet new creatures. I don't know how else I would have been able to meet the manatee if I hadn't been able to travel.