Dolphins and a Tortoise

Linda wildlife , , , , ,

We are enjoying being back in Florida.  We are catching up with friends and enjoying the natural environment.  We went kayaking today and encountered some dolphins.  That’s not unusual around here, but these dolphins came close to Regis’ kayak to check him out.  It looks like one pair of dolphins was a mom with her young one.  Click here to see the video of our trip highlights.

We also found a gopher tortoise floating in the water.  At first, I thought it might have been a terrapin because I knew it wasn’t a sea turtle.  Regis figured out it was a gopher tortoise, so we rescued it and placed it back in the sand dunes.  We don’t know how this little tortoise wound up in the water, but we know that sometimes well-meaning people think they are sea turtles and put them in the water.  Gopher tortoises live in the dunes by the water (and other places in Florida) and they cannot survive IN the water.  Hopefully, this little tortoise will be okay.

On the way back, I noticed a large animal surface in the water and then drop back down but I couldn’t figure out what it was.  Regis and I were headed that way, so we watched for it as we got in the area.  Suddenly, something large moved in the water beneath Regis’ kayak and stirred up a lot of silt.  We discussed this for about 5-10 minutes and decided that it was probably a manatee that I saw and Regis probably moved over top of it and startled it.  If that is the case, he is lucky to not have been upended.

We don’t see manatees in our area as we kayak, but we know they are around in the summer.  We’ll have to pay more attention!

When we got back to the boat ramp, Regis got a cute video of a hermit crab.  It’s on the end of the video mentioned above.

I’m also very excited to find that 3 Black Skimmer pairs have nested on the beach in Anastasia State Park.  These are the first Skimmers nesting on this beach since at least 2005.  Mostly, the Black Skimmers nest on rooftops because there is insufficient habitat for them on the beach.  That is not ideal since rooftops get too hot for the eggs and chicks and they can get washed off the roof in the many rainstorms that hit Florida in the summertime.  I was told by a Florida Wildlife Commission employee that these are the only Black Skimmers nesting on a beach in all of Florida that they know of.   Let’s hope this is the beginning of a recovery since Black Skimmers, among other shorebirds, are threatened.

Home

Linda travel , ,
0807 Dart
Dart resting comfortably on the couch after our long trip. He slept well after this shot.

On our second day heading back to Florida from Pittsburgh, I woke up feeling like we had the day off from driving.  As I thought about, I realized that we did not travel two days in a row in the motor home except for the first two days of the trip.  It was nice always being able to spend the next day recovering from a long day of driving.

After Regis took a stroll through the last campground of the trip, he came back to tell me he saw Skeletor.  Does anyone remember Skeletor?

0807 Skeletor
This was in our campground in South Carolina. Regis says it’s Skeletor.

The campground in Virginia had a bowling alley, batting cages, a miniature golf course, and they delivered pizzas.  You never know what you’re going to find!

It’s a bit warm in Florida, but it is good to be back home.  I think Dart is very happy to be back.

0807 Dart and Giraffe
Someone told me that my last picture of the giraffe did not make it clear how big it is. Therefore, I am including this picture of Dart with the GIraffe.

Pittsburgh

Linda travel ,
0804 Pittsburgh 2 (1 of 1)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Dart was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Specifically, he was on Mount Washington (formerly known as Coal Hill).

We had a great time visiting family for a couple days.

We have been feeling like yo’s yo’s since we left New York.  We’ve been traveling through the Appalachian Mountain Range as we drove through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and now Virginia.  Up and down, up and down, up and down.  There aren’t too many flat spots to be seen.  The scenery has been beautiful.

0804 Pittsburgh 1 (1 of 1)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Heat and Guns

Linda Uncategorized
0801 Mountain Top Campground View (1 of 1)
View from campsite in Pennsylvania.

While in New York, our campsite was not far from the Susquehanna River.  We went to see it.  Having lived in Maryland most of my life, I am familiar with the Susquehanna emptying into the Chesapeake Bay.  It contributes 50% of the freshwater into the Bay.  It was interesting to see how it looks much further north.

On our way to and through Pennsylvania, we drove alongside and crossed the Susquehanna River several times.  I never realized how much territory the river covers.  It meanders all over Pennsylvania.

0801 Susquehanna River (1 of 1)
Susquehanna River near Harpursville, New York.

Not long before we arrived at our campsite, we heard something rolling around in the back of the RV.  I was in the passenger seat and too lazy to get up and climb over the dog to figure out what it was.  I told Regis it sounded like pretzels to me.  We keep our pretzel nuggets in a sealed canister.  No problem there.  As we heard them again, I said I was sure they were pretzels.  We were almost to the campground, so why get up?

Later, while making dinner, Regis opened the cabinet to get ingredients.  He was deluged with coffee beans.  Apparently, the reusable tape to reseal the coffee bean bag is inadequate to survive the rigors of the ups and downs of the Pennsylvania country side.   We have coffee beans everywhere.  We will be finding them for years to come.  But, the cabinet does smell nice.

Also after setting up the site which is located at the top of a mountain, we relaxed to enjoy the view.  Two things we noticed immediately which told us for sure we were back in the US.  First, we heard the air conditioners running.  It is hot here.  Second, we heard gunshots.  Lots of them.  Since we figured there is no battle going on, Regis surmised that there is a trap and skeet range nearby.

Just this morning, I mentioned to Regis that I brought too many shorts.  One of my Canadian friends told me it also gets hot in Canada, so I packed for the heat.  I did wear shorts, but it was not always my primary attire.  We rarely had the air conditioning on.  More often, we had the heat on.  Sometimes, the motor home would heat up in the sun.  After the sun set, we would turn the air conditioner on to cool it off to better match the outdoor temperature.  And, sometimes we would have the heat on by the wee hours of the morning because it was so cold.  We have been very fortunate to have dodged the summer heat.

Not so anymore.  I will be wearing those shorts all the way back to Florida.  It is August 1 and we are just now beginning to experience the summer we grew up with.  Hmmm.  It’s not too late to turn around and head back north for another month!

Animal Adventure Park

Linda travel, wildlife , , , , , ,
0730 Tajiri (1 of 1)
Tajiri at the Animal Adventure Park.

I visited the Animal Adventure Park today and saw April the Giraffe, Oliver (dad), and their baby Tajiri.

The Park is nicely done.  The animals look healthy, the environment is well maintained, and the animals have enrichment programs.  There is also nice landscaping around many enclosures.  I was impressed.

0730 Animal Adventure Park (1 of 1)
Animal Adventure Park

The highlight, of course, was seeing April and Taj.  I was one of the millions who watched April give birth to the calf.  Therefore, it was very special to see the giraffes live.  There is an interesting set up that allows the park visitors to feed carrots to April and Taj.  This allows for some intimate contact which was thrilling to the visitors young, old, and everyone in between.  I was able to touch April and it was incredible to be so close to such a beautiful animal.

0730 April and Tajiri and Fans (1 of 1)
April and Tajiri at the Animal Adventure Park.
0730 April getting fed (1 of 1)
A woman feeding April a carrot from her mouth. Animal Adventure Park
0730 Tajiri eyelash (1 of 1)
Tajiri at the Animal Adventure Park. Look at those eyelashes.

My favorite animals turned out to be three young bears.  I got a short video of one of the bears licking peanut butter off a tire.  Click here.  The park keepers brought some apple tree branches into the enclosure and two of the bears had a blast playing with them.  Who knew how much fun branches could be?  The bears were just too cute.

0730 Mom and Baby (1 of 1)
Mom and baby at the Animal Adventure Park.

The park runs a live cam of the giraffes on Sunday through Friday 4-8pm.  See it here.

I brought home a giraffe and Dart has been wary, but curious about it.  It’s a lot bigger than he is!  Regis almost broke a rib he laughed so hard when he saw me bring the giraffe out of the car.

0730 New Giraffe (1 of 1)
My new giraffe.

 

Back in the USA!

Linda travel , , , ,
0729 Campsite (1 of 1)
View from the picnic table in our campsite in New York. Those are mountains in the distance and a small lake about mid-picture.

We are back!  The first thing I did was turn on the data to my cell phone.  The world is now at my finger tips! Then, we drove to a truck stop, pulled into the truck gas pump, and filled up both tanks.  Aaah.

The weather is wonderful.  It’s somewhat tempting to hang out in New York until the temperature drops in Florida, but I miss home and my friends and I’m looking forward to getting back.

We have some random thoughts we want to post.  We missed these in our last posts.

When we were standing in the parking lot at Peggy’s Cove, Dart started growling and barking at a tiger that was painted on a nearby RV.  He never did calm down around the tiger.  I guess he’s not fond of tigers.

When we were in Riviere-du-Loup and returning from an evening stroll along the water, a 14,000 volt fuse blew on the power pole near us.  It was very loud and scared the heck out of Dart.  These types of fuses are made with an explosive powder inside and when overheated explode to break the connection.  The volume of this explosion is louder than a shotgun but slightly quieter than the percussion explosions of a fireworks display.  I’m surprised Dart let me walk him by the water again the next morning.

While in Riviere-du-Loup, we attempted to do a hike through a marsh.  What were we thinking?  We were looking for birds, instead we found more insects in one section of trail than all the flying insects we have ever seen in our entire life.  They looked like mosquitos but they did not land on us.  If they did, our bones and skin would be lying on the trail.  I returned to the car, but Regis was so fascinated by seeing so many insects at the same time, he risked his life by staying longer to observe the phenomenon.

Regis noticed that we have not stayed in a single campground where someone’s car alarm didn’t go off.  Now, every time we arrive in a campground, he waits for it.  As soon as it happens, he yells.  This is another thing Dart does not appreciate.

Our last campground in Canada required us to wear wrist bands.  I do not like wrist bands.  I hated it.  I was happy to cut it off the morning we left.   This campground had some highlights and some downers.  Let’s start with the bad stuff.  We have been camping all of our lives and never had someone’s campfire seriously interfere with our experience.  Our neighbors built a campfire one night that was very smoky.  The smoke filled our RV.  If Regis had not removed the batteries to the smoke alarm, it would have gone off.  We had to close all the windows.  (The batteries we removed because the smoke alarm keeps going off when we cook.)  The next night, the other neighbors built a campfire and smoldered it for a long time with something other than wood.  Regis thinks it was cardboard.  Whatever it was, it smelled awful and made me nauseous.  I could even taste it, which is weird.  Two nights in a row we had bad campfire experiences with our neighbors but haven’t had that happen to us in too many years to count.

0729 Oldest Bridge in Ontario (1 of 1)
The oldest bridge in Ontario.

The good part of our stay was that one night someone walked to the edge of the campground and started playing bagpipes.  It was awesome.  It’s the first time I saw someone play bagpipes that wasn’t wearing a kilt.  The next night, a camping neighbor started playing the guitar and singing.  I loved it.

0729 Yard Art (1 of 1)
Yard art on a trip through Leeds and the Thousand Islands in Canada.

We loved our trip through Canada.  It is a great country with wonderful people.  But, we are happy to return to the U.S.  In a future trip, we plan to go to Banff and Jasper National Parks.

Regis went grocery stopping after we set up our campsite in the U.S.  He said he knew he was back in the U.S. because there was 50 feet of mustard choices in the grocery store.  (Yes, he exaggerated, but you get the point.)

We are staying where we are staying because I plan to visit April the Giraffe and her baby and friends.  If you don’t know who she is, where have you been?  Google it!