Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore, California - May 28, 2008

 May 28
We rose fairly early and had a light breakfast at Bruce's. While we sat there eating breakfast I managed to do a little backyard bird watching and added 2 more birds to my lifelist: Oak Titmouse and Anna's Hummingbird. After breakfast we were out the door for a big day of sightseeing. 

Our first stop was Golden Gate National Recreation Area. We had great views and really good visibility, Bruce even stated it was better than usual as we could see the Farallon Islands off in the distance. Bruce brought his spotting scope along and we got decent looks at some harbor seals and as usual I had my binoculars along and added a few more birds to my life list: Wrentit, Brant's Cormorant, and Western Gull. We could also see Alcatraz and Angel Island from our vantage point...we tried to get tickets to Alcatraz, but that just didn't work out.

If you look real close you can see the harbor seals and the cormorants.

Emily was cold. If we'd had a better camera I would've tried to get this shot with Alcatraz in the background.

After our stop there we headed over to another national park, Muir Woods National Monument. Once I got the car parked and joined the group at the entrance we were greeted to a fawn crossing the walkway trying to get back to its mother that was waiting on the other side.

I have to say this place is truly amazing. If you are even remotely close (500 miles or less), you should definitely check this place out, absolutely beautiful. I was amazed at how quiet it was there given the number of people there and its proximity to the Bay Area.

Before we got out on the trail, Bruce made a request to keep a lookout for a barred owl. He'd stopped at the visitor center and inquired and was told where to go wait. We got there and he decided to sit for a while, as it was my first time there I decided I wanted to carry on, but I would still keep my eyes peeled. As Bonnie, the girls and I were walking and had lost sight of Bruce we heard a loud noise up in the canopy and looked up to see the barred owl being chased and harrassed by 3 robins. Bruce was nowhere to be seen. We all stood there and watched it for about 10 minutes, then it was decided that I go back and fetch Bruce, but luckily he'd heard the racket too and was already heading that way. So I added barred owl to my life list along with winter wren.

This deer was quite content to just lay there and let everyone that passed get a picture.

Once we'd made it around the main trail we headed back to the visitor center/gift shop for everyone to take the necessary breaks and to pop in to the gift shop for a souvenior and the mandatory magnet. There were numerous sightings of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore while we took our respective turns at the rest rooms. What a great start to the day.

Once we'd finished up and got loaded back in the car we were off for Point Reyes National Seashore. Along the way Bruce and I saw a few birds and pulled off to look over a few of the marshes that dotted the roadside. In the process I added Clark's Grebe to my life list (yet another emerging theme). We drove a little while until we were at the town of Olema, CA. There we had lunch at The Farmhouse Restaurant. Bruce and Bonnie enjoyed fried oyster sandwiches and as I don't do seafod I decided to devour some roasted pork chile verde with black beans and rice and the fresh torilla chips that came with it. Pretty good lunch to fuel us up for the hours ahead. We got to the main entrance around 3 pm and drove around the area for about 3 hours. Along the winding roads we stopped to view wildlife at various points.

From this lookout I added common murre and pigeon guillemot to my life list.

Elephant Seal Overlook. Oddly enough we saw elephant seals here. They were on the shore to the left and for a really good view you needed a scope.

We saw tule elk grazing, male elephant seals sizing each other up and a variety of birds...I got a much better look at a surf scoter than I had the last time one turned up in Oklahoma and also added Common Murre and Pigeon Guillemot to the ever growing life list. We got back to Bruce's place and by that time we were pretty well wore out, so we had some pot roast that Juliet had made, quite yummy. After dinner we sat around and talked and then it was off to bed. 

Lancaster County, PA - May 29, 2009

Friday 5/29
We got up and had a quick breakfast and we were off for yet another new state to me...Pennsylvania. Aunt Cindy had the day off and so she joined us. We headed out towards Lancaster County. We made good time, but then we hit a construction snarl and were waiting in line for what felt like 45 minutes and was probably pretty close to that to go maybe a mile. Once we cleared that construction it was pretty smooth sailing on into the Lancaster area. By the time we got into the main touristy area, it was time for lunch, we headed away from the bulk of the shops and had lunch at Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant on the outskirts of Intercourse, PA. The grounds were beautiful and the food was outstanding.

Like the sign says...Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant, Lancaster Co., PA. (What the sign doesn't say, but should...mmm mmm, good food).

Flower and bird nest at Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant, Lancaster Co., PA.

Flowers at Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant, Lancaster Co., PA.

Flowers at Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant, Lancaster Co., PA.

We got the family style meal and everything I ate was good, but the star of the show was the fried chicken; I don't generally get too excited about chicken that I've got to pick off the bone, but this chicken was so good I picked both of the pieces I had down to the bone and had there not been other good stuff on the table I probably would've been content to just eat a plate full of that fried poultry goodness. Bonnie and I finished our meal out with Shoo-Fly pie and vanilla ice cream...stellar!

After lunch we drove around a bit and then hit one of the shopping areas out that way. We walked around for a bit and then the clouds broke loose and just poured all over the area. Luckily we had a pretty good sense of what was getting ready to happen so when the rain went from light to coming in small buckets we were already to the car, which was a good thing because before long it was raining barrels. We sat in the parking lot and waited for the rain to slow a bit and then we headed over to Morgantown, PA to have dinner with Bonnie's cousin Keith and his family at the Pizza Hut there (this wouldn't have been my choice for dinner, but it was centrally located and easy to find, not to mention being located off 2 main highways, so it was convenient). We had a nice visit and dinner. After we'd eaten and gone outside we continued our chat. Keith mentioned that they had plenty of room at their place and we were welcome to stay with them anytime we were in the area...this came in handy later in our trip and made for a nice change of plans (more on that in a future note). We got back to Frederick [Maryland] fairly late and pretty much called it an evening upon arrival...besides we needed sleep for a big day to follow.

Holbrook, Meteor Crater, Grand Canyon, AZ - May 25, 2008

May 25
We got up and got ready and headed over to the Burger King in town for breakfast, not my "ideal" choice, but with 3 females in the car with me, compromise is a good thing...that and just plain knowing when you're beat. After we got our grub on we went by Jim Gray's Gift Shop in Holbrook because the girls wanted to have their pictures taken with the dinosaur statues there.

This statue was across the street from the gift shop. I liked the mix of the petrified wood and other materials.

We got back on the road and hit our next destination, Meteor Crater near Winslow, AZ. Pretty interesting. They had a simulator that you could use to see what kind of damage certain objects would cause to various planets if these objects were to collide with them...I managed to take out a hole in the Earth the size of Texas on my first try, then Katie showed me up and took out the entire planet of Venus...kids these days.

Bonnie had to snap this one for my mom...there is a story, but I'll spare you.

After a rather stressful lunch (not near enough seating) at the Subway there at the crater we were back on the road and heading toward Grand Canyon National Park.

We made an unscheduled stop at Wupatki National Monument for bathroom breaks. So I decided, "we're stopped, might as well look around"...so we took a brief 1/8 mile or so hike to look at a couple of the ruins there.

After that brief stop it was back in the car and full speed ahead to the Grand Canyon...all the while looking at Mt. Humphreys (the highest point in AZ...also known to Emily as the snowy mountain [thank you Dora]).

We arrived at the Grand Canyon sometime around 3pm and proceeded to work our way around the south rim checking out each of the different scenic pull offs and some of the shorter trails off the main road. The canyon was quite a beautiful place, we didn't see or experience much of it, and I'd love to go back an give it a good weeks worth of my attention some day.

Amen. This was posted on the wall of the tower that overlooks the canyon.

Everytime I got out of the car my binoculars went with me in hopes that I'd spot a California Condor, no such luck, but I did manage to add a new bird to my life list: Juniper Titmouse. 

We drove over to one of the lodges there on the south rim and ate dinner at the Canyon Cafe, which was essentially your standard food service offerings. We got on the road, in the dark, and headed towards Williams, AZ. Along the way there were numerous signs warning to watch for elk, so I had Bonnie on the alert to help me watch for them...however, Bonnie apparenty has poor night vision or something because she didn't even see the one that was maybe 3' off the road. I managed to spot a coyote and a jack rabbit in addition to the elk, so that was the sum of the wildlife viewing for the day. We got to Williams only to find everything was booked up, surprise surprise. We headed out and just started scouring nearby towns that were in our general direction of travel and ended up in Ashfork, AZ at the Ashfork Inn...can you say dump? Well it was a bed and roof over our head and I didn't see any bugs while the lights were on, so we got a little sleep.

Delmar, DE & Assateague Island National Seashore, MD - May 27, 2009

Wednesday 5/27
We got up and had a quick breakfast and then drove towards Salisbury, MD where we'd be spending the night with Bonnie's cousin Craig and his wife Melissa. On the way over we passed over what was probably one of the top 3 longest and tallest bridges I've ever been over, The Bay Bridge. We got to Craig's house around lunch time and headed over to Delmar, DE where we enjoyed some good pizza and birch beer (yummy) at Delmar Pizza. We had a meat lovers and a vegetarian. Both were loaded with toppings and I can vouch for the great taste of the meat lovers and the vegetarian one must've been good because I think it pretty well got polished off too. After a filling lunch we headed out for Assateague Island National Seashore. We arrived just in time for a big school group to clear out of the visitors center and so we had it to ourselves.

Emily petting horseshoe crabs at the visitor center at Assateague Island National Seashore, MD.

As you can see, Emily petted some horseshoe crabs. We picked up a few souvenirs and then we got on the road to the bridge that crosses over onto the island. No sooner than we cleared the entry gate than we ended up in a stand off with one of the wild ponies.

Sleepy, the wild pony. Assateague Island National Seashore, MD.

He got out in front of our car and proceeded to fall asleep in the middle of the road. Finally I got tired of waiting and eased onto the shoulder and just went around him, where we were greeted with his more active friends.

Wild ponies. Assateague Island National Seashore, MD.

We moved on down the road and decided to go to the far end of the island and work our way back. We started out with a short walk on part of the dune trail.

Me walking the dunes trail at Assateague Island National Seashore, MD.

Assateague Island National Seashore, MD.

I don't think any of us anticipated how hard it was to hike in super loose sand, so I don't think we quite did half of the trail before we turned back. The next stop was much more agreeable to us all...the south beach.

Assateague Island National Seashore, MD.

Emily screaming her head off. She so enjoyed the ocean. Assateague Island National Seashore, MD.

Bonnie, Emily and I went down and got out and waded at the edge of the water. The Atlantic was quite cold, but that didn't stop us. Emily just screamed and screamed in happiness, this was her first time to be in the ocean in any way, so she really took it all in. After that, the girls were both pretty well wore out, so they decided to stay back while Bonnie and I explored a couple of the other trails. We walked a couple of different boardwalk trails where we saw sika deer, fiddler crabs, and a variety of birds including Red-winged Blackbirds, Laughing Gulls, Great and Snow Egrets, Greater Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Boat-tailed Grackles, Black Skimmers, Willets, and a lone Semipalmated Plover.

After our trip to the island we headed back to Craig and Melissa's where we were treated to a boat ride around the lake they live on. Emily got to steer the boat around a little which she enjoyed. After we got back, Craig fired up the grill and we had some burgers and mango salsa. After dinner we visited and Emily became better aquainted with the dogs. After we'd all had our fill of burgers and ice cream, we were off for bed and a somewhat laid back day to follow.

New Mexico & Eastern Arizona - May 24, 2008

Saturday, May 24
We got up relatively early for the late night we had and went downstairs for the continetal breakfast (which wasn't too bad, I actually got half decent biscuits and gravy). After breakfast we got on out of Texas and drove for a while until we got to Santa Rosa, NM. We had lunch at the DQ, not necessarily the local faire I was hoping for, but since there are maybe 2 left in Oklahoma I wasn't feeling too bad about it. After lunch we drove some more (this will be a recurring theme), we passed the Laguna Pueblo which looked pretty neat off in the distance, but we didn't get a decent picture of it. I noted that our outside temperature gauge read 66 degrees and this was 3 pm...ah cool weather, my friend how I have missed you so. We drove until we reached the Continental Divide and pulled over for a quick photo op, the temperature was 58 and it was about 4 pm by this time. Near Grants, NM there was a noticeable difference in the terrain, lots and lots of volcanic rock; apparently there was a volcanic eruption near there a while back. Along the way I noticed a fair number of pronghorns.

We drove a bit longer and finally got into Arizona. This was my first time to go to Arizona and so to mark the occasion we took a picture of the welcome sign as we blew past.

Near Fort Courage we saw a Chevy Cavalier with logos painted all over it advertistinghttp://www.mein08.com/. I haven't checked the site out, but apparently this guy thinks he's as good a candidate as anyone else running and wasn't afraid to drive around with it on his car.

After a little more driving (anyone detecting a theme here?), we arrived at our first "real" stop,Petrified Forest National Park.

We made a fairly quick, more or less car tour of the park. We made a brief pit stop at the visitor center to get a map and our "mandatory" magnet. It was amazing to look at all the petrified trees and think, "that used to be a regular tree and this used to be a forest". The area had a beauty all its own.

For some reason I wanted ice cream after seeing this. This area is part of "The Tepees".

Crystal Forest.

Crystal Forest.

What's left of an old car. The telephone pole in the back ground runs along Route 66.

Agate Bridge.

Our new family portait.

Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

The common raven was the first "non-eastern" bird I saw on this trip. I went on to see turkey vultures, great-tailed grackles, violet-green swallows by the dozen, cliff swallows in good numbers and a lone house sparrow.

Emily kept wanting to wander off.

We were treated to an awesome sunset.

After the sunset, we went to a shop just outside the park where you can legally obtain petrified wood products and each got a small momento. We then headed to Holbrook, AZ and our "wigwam". 

For some reason this reminds me of a Pixar movie.