Wordless Wednesday

San Antonio, TX

Riverwalk and the Alamo

Happy Birthday, Meika!

My little girl is 5 today!

Bird Number 376

Whooping Crane!!!

Thanks to my good friend Bron for making sure that we got on the Skimmer so we saw them before they left for the summer.

Made it to Texas

Houston from the Interstate. As we were passing through. (Ignore the dirty windshield).

Next up: The Alamo and San Antonio Riverwalk.

Egret nests

Don't they have the most beautiful plumes? No wonder they were hunted to near extinction for their feathers.

A mated pair.

Can you see the blue egg?

Turtles on a log. (What else can you say about turtles on a log?)

But what do you do when they REALLY want your lunch? And if YOU'RE the lunch, does that count as feeding them?

Louisiana

We spent a couple of days in Lafayette, Louisiana. Not really sure why we chose there, except that they have a KOA. But we did have a good time. The first thing we did was go to Avery Island. If you don't know anything about Avery Island, you don't use Tabasco Sauce. Avery Island is where they bottle Tabasco. The only place in the world where Tabasco is bottled. The peppers are grown all over the world (mainly so that in case of a natural disaster or plant disease, they won't lose their whole batch). They have a free tour (it costs $1 to get on the island), which includes a short video and then you get to walk by the bottling area. We were there on a Sunday, so there was nothing going on. And you get a free tiny bottle each of the red and green pepper sauce. There is also a very elaborate country store with everything and anything Tabasco. If you can put a picture of a Tabasco bottle on it, they have it. But they also have a very large food section. I didn't realize that there are 6 kinds of pepper sauce as well as salsa, worstershire, and soy sauce. They even make mustards and mayonaise with Tabasco in it. Anyway...it was fun.

This was out front of the store. It is called Ta-Bass-Co. Cute, huh?

They also have a garden that you can drive through. It's a 4 mile loop and is a very nice drive. (They do charge admission to the gardens.) This was on one of the fences. Didn't realize that this was an issue.

I don't know. Do you think he looks dangerous? I think he looks asleep.

They didn't have any warnings about the turtles. Maybe the dangerous alligator signs are for them.

There is a large colony of nesting Snowy Egrets there. The family has actually put up these elevated platforms for them. Most of these birds are on nests that contain 1 to 3 eggs. The eggs are blue. The birds are gorgeous.

I have more pictures to share. I just wish I could figure out how to put more than 5 pictures up at a time.

'Til next time!!

Claustrophobia

Ever have a bad case of claustrophobia? If not, and you'd like one, take a trip through the USS Drum, a submarine next to the USS Alabama in Mobile. You have to be small, thin, and crazy to have worked on one of these things. And I had the joy of knowing that I was above water. I can't imagine what it would have been like while in the middle of the ocean, under water, with no way out. Somehow I don't think men volunteered for sub duty. In any event, it was a real eye opener and quite the learning experience. I'm glad we went both to the Alabama and the Drum.

Wordless Wednesday

The USS Alabama

Mobile, Alabama

Sorry, these aren't in order. I keep forgetting that they come in backwards.

Coming out of the tunnel that goes under downtown Mobile.

Going into the tunnel. I couldn't get any pictures in the tunnel. The flash kept reflecting off the windshield.

These were taken from the bridge over the bay while heading into Mobile.

Mobile is a really neat city. It is definitely worth another trip.

Next up, the USS Alabama and USS Drum

St. Petersburg

This guy (or gal) along with a Great Blue Heron were seen begging from the campers at the KOA in St. Petersburg.

Nothing like an Egret begging for dinner at your site. Not something you see every day in Alaska.

My Florida Birding Adventures

Birds from the Ding Darling NWA:

Snowy Egret

Roseate Spoonbills. Trust me, they're there.

White Ibis

Little Blue Heron

White Pelicans

List:
Brown Pelican
Yellow-Crowned Night Heron
Bald Eagle
Pied-Bill Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Little Blue Heron
Double-Crested Cormorant
Snowy Egret
Tri-Colored Heron
Laughing Gull
Osprey
White Pelican
Red-Breasted Merganser
Red-Shouldered Hawk
Herring Gull
Forster's Tern
Lesser Yellowlegs
Killdeer
Reddish Egret
Roseate Spoonbill
Willet

On 2/16, we spent some time at Manatee Park. While Bill went paddling down the river, I sat under a tree with a book. Here is what I found:
Red Cockaded Woodpecker
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Northern Parula
Eastern Kingbird

And then we went to the Corkscrew Swamp. Had a really good day for birds:
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
Mourning Dove
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Cardinal
Painted Bunting
Carolina Wren
American Goldfinch
Blue-Headed Vireo
Great Crested Flycatcher
White-throated Sparrow
Common Yellowthroat
American Kestral
Palm Warbler
Eastern Wood Peewee
Eastern Phoebe
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Northern Parula
White Ibis
Pine Warbler
Black & White Warbler
Barred Owl
Anhinga
Common Grackle
Turkey Vulture
Red-Shouldered Hawk
Wood Stork
Yellow-Crowned Night Heron
Little Blue Heron
Pileated Woodpecker
Black-Crowned Night Heron
Great Blue Heron
Tri-Colored Heron
Great Egret
Swallow Tail Kite
2 Racoons in a tree
4 alligators
3 different kinds of turtles
squirrels
a yellow snake of some sort
and a small lizard
All in all, a good time in Florida

Total Florida birds: 104

Life Birds to date: 349

Texas, here I come!!

Ft. Myers and elsewhere in Florida

So, after Titusville and the Space Coast Birding Festival, we traveled across the state and headed South to Fort Myers. Not having been to Florida before, we really didn't know what to expect and where the best places to go would be. I'm not sure Fort Myers in the winter is one of those places that I'd go to again. It is full of retirement trailer parks. The RV resort we stayed at was like that. Bill and I don't really fit in with a lot of the people who full-time RV. We're a tad younger than most of them. It's not even like being in a town full of my parents. It's like being in a town full of my grandparents. We're a generation to a generation and a half behind them. We really can't relate to anything they do or say. And let's not even talk about their driving.

We have, despite all of this, met some really nice people. The folks that were next to us while we were in Fort Myers are from Missouri. I'm glad we had such nice people next to us, especially since our doors practically opened on each other. Dave, Judy, Glen and their dog Lucy. And next to them were Jim and Joy and their dog Needleteeth (aka Needles), along with a cat (which we never saw) and a parakeet (on the back porch). Our Alaska license plate seems to bring a lot of people around. Most of them in Fort Myers brought up Sarah Palin. I am SO SICK of having to field questions about her. Sorry, lost my train of thought...

So, I thought when we went to Florida it would be full of Hispanic folks and there would be a lot of Spanish and Mexican food and all things Latino(a). Wrong. I was surprised at the number of Canadians in Florida. And all the French being spoken. I was expecting Spanish, not French. I guess if we were closer to Miami, then I'd have found a decent margarita. Not in Fort Myers. As a matter of fact, you were hard pressed to find any minorities there. It's funny. I grew up in an area where there were practically no "others." Then I went to Anchorage and it's diversity of race and ethnicity. And I like it. But in Fort Myers, the majority of the population is white, and retired. I found it very interesting. Just a thought.

Oh, and I have never seen so many churches, pharmacies, and grocery stores before. There was one on just about every block. As for the pharmacies, there are CVSs and Walgreens. And usually if you found one, the other was across the street. Next to a grocery store, which more likely than not, was a Publix. Not a bad market, actually. But every denomination of church (and some with no denomination), with the Baptists being the biggest. Some of their churches were enormous!

While we were in Fort Myers, we did a lot of outdoor stuff. We went to Sanibel Island a couple of times (beware: the bridge to Sanibel costs $6 to cross it. Pretty much if there's a bridge, it costs you to cross it.). But we spent a lot of time at the Bonita Springs Dog Beach. We apparently have 2 dogs that absolutely LOVE the water. If you doubt me, check out Bill's blog. We went to Lover's Key State Park and the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. When we were on Sanibel, Bill paddled around the place while I went to the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. I scored a Roseate Spoonbill there! I will publish my lists in a different posts so those that don't really care about my lists can move on. We did other things while there, but those are probably the most memorable. I think if we were to go back, we'd use the Timeshare and stay on Fort Myers Beach in a condo instead of a squishy RV park.

After spending way too much time in Fort Myers, we moved north to St. Petersburg/Tampa area. We checked out a couple of brewpubs in the area, so Bill was happy. And he took the kayak out every day since our rv site was about 20 feet from the kayak/canoe launch. We didn't have to haul the kayak some place so he could paddle. We stayed at the KOA there. KOA's have to be the BEST campgrounds. The sites have room, the people are nice and the amenities are great. We have a couple KOA's booked for this trip. St. Petersburg has some retired communities in it, but there are "real" people there too. Tampa seems to be a nice city. We drove past the downtown rather than go there. We did get to Ybor City. There's a brewpub there. We made it for Fiesta Day. A big, mostly Hispanic, street party. Kind of like a Hispanic Mardi Gras. It was fun.

From Fort Myers to Tallahassee. We hit Sam's Club in Tallahassee. And the mall. That's about it. The temperatures were definitely cooler. It actually went down to freezing at night, and one night it got below freezing. We stayed at another KOA about 15 miles outside Tallahassee, so we didn't get to see the place. Other than being the capital of Florida, it's home to FSU. That's about all I can say about the place.

And now we're in Lillian, Alabama. At yet another KOA. Technically, we're in Pensacola. Blue Angels land. Navy land. We went to the USS Alabama yesterday. It was cool. You can walk all over the ship (battleship) and then you can go to the USS Drum (a submarine) and walk through it. The sub was rather claustrophobic. I have some pictures that I took, and I'll post them later. We also went to a brewpub here too. It's called McGuire's. You'll have to check out Bill's blog on this one too. He'll no doubt talk about it.

We leave tomorrow for Lafayette, Louisiana. To stay at yet another KOA. (If you're heading out for a weekend camping, you REALLY need to check out these KOA campgrounds.) I'll expand on my bird lists for Florida and on the USS Alabama when we get to LA. Thanks for listening to the rambling.

Where Am I Now?

Hello all!

Yes, I know. I've been remiss in my postings. But the weather has been nice and sunny and warm and the last thing I wanted to do was sit in front of my computer. I didn't even check my email daily.

So, today, we're in Lillian, Alabama, which is right over the border from Pensacola, Florida. (Technically, we're in Pensacola. Still in Florida.) We left Fort Myers and headed to St. Petersburg for 3 days. From there we headed north to Tallahassee for 2 days. We didn't do a whole lot in Tallahassee. Some shopping and stocking up and cleaning up for our trip West. And now we're in Blue Angels land. (No, haven't seen or heard them. Yet.) We're planning on going toward Mobile to see the USS Alabama battleship (it served in the latter part of WWII in the Phillipines and Pacific. I'll be able to tell you more about it after I get there.) We are going to try to get to the Navy Aviation Museum tomorrow. I really don't know anything about that one. We are in Navy central, though. The guy next door to us said it was a really great museum. You could spend the entire day there.

I have been birding. A lot. I will expand on that in a separate post so that all of you who are not interested in my bird lists can skip it and move on. I now have over 100 birds on my Florida list and have the chance to add more here. I have to be careful though because I am on the border with Alabama and I need to be sure I keep the 2 separate. But if I see a bird in the Bay while I'm on the Florida side, does it count as a Florida bird? Depends on my mood. And the rarity of the bird, I guess. :o)

So, we're off to the Alabama. I'll try to get back to you this evening or tomorrow when Bill takes the kayak out and I'm by myself for a while. Back soon!