Adventure Logan

Wednesday we visited the South Florida Museum in Bradenton with Steve and Carol Hiltz. It was the first time for all of us and we enjoyed it very much. There were 2 special things that we wanted to do – the Bishop Planetarium and the Parker Manatee Aquarium and we managed both.

The show in the planetarium was awesome – titled Passport to the Universe (and narrated by Tom Hanks) it is an incredible journey from our home planet and the Milky Way galaxy to the edge of the universe. We sat under the dome and experienced a great virtual tour,  flew beneath the rings of Saturn, into the heart of the Orion Nebula, and out into the vastness of the observable universe. That little speck in space which is Earth suddenly seems pretty small.

The Parker Manatee Aquarium, designed to house three adult manatees, holds nearly 60,000 gallons of water, including a medical pool. The pool offers both deep and shallow water, allowing the manatees to maintain natural feeding behaviors. The facility is the permanent home to Manatee County’s most famous resident and the oldest known manatee in the world, Snooty. Born on July 21, 1948, at the old Miami Aquarium and Tackle Company, Snooty was the first recorded birth of a manatee in captivity. “Baby Snoots” was brought to Bradenton as part of the 1949 Desoto Celebration. Since then, he has greeted more than one million visitors. We were there for the lunch feeding (Snooty is hand fed) and very fussy, LOL!

We toured the other exhibits and then walked to the riverside to eat a late lunch at Pier 22. All in all a super day with great friends.