Manatees, Dali and food trucks!

We wrapped up our days in the Tampa Bay area with a few more fun stops.  Our hosts were amazing tour guides and made sure that every day was packed with fun, adventures and food.  We went to the local power plant to look in their canal. I mean seriously, if you are a nasty, rusty, belching, power plant,   you have to put some sort of distraction nearby.  Their choice was excellent, as the canal seemed to be the home of many manatees.  These adorable animals are on the verge of extinction, yet they have no natural predators.  They simply move slowly, don’t see well and seem to run in to a lot of boats! But in the shadow of this power plant, they are safe and protected.  Nice work!

Then we went to the epic FOOD TRUCK GATHERING at the fairgrounds. Since our eyes wanted more than our stomachs could handle, we each bought one or two things and shared them at the table. Excellent way to sample some good chow.

Another great stop on this adventure was in downtown St. Petersburg.  This city had recently hosted a grand prix road race, so the streets looked more like a track than a city, but our stop was at the Dali Museum.  You know this artist as the guy that painted the melting watches. But Salvador Dali actually did a lot of stuff that was way stranger than that one. He studied much of the work of DaVinci and loved the blending of science with art.    There is a Lincoln painting, which actually is an optical illusion and is not Lincoln at all. He understood pixels and the effects on our eyes long before cell phones could take photos.  It was a great museum and garden area. All of this made better by hanging out with great people.  Thanks for inviting us to park in your driveway and taking us to explore your community.