Monday, April 1

My birthday. April Fools day. Or like the Marines I worked with preferred, Eddie Fools day or April Schools day.

Molly and I are coming off of a whirlwind trip to visit Oregon State University in Corvallis. This is not a recommended weekend trip. Two days in airports and airplanes for two days of visiting. Probably better than a Conestoga on the Oregon Trail but I would need to consider it a bit. Which would be worse; Indian attacks, starving, dying of thirst, fighting dysentery and cholera or going through airport security checks? Do the TSA people wear those blue rubber gloves so we don’t catch something from them or so they don’t get something from us? Some of those guys seemed to like their job a just little more than they should have.

The airports are pretty much a world onto themselves. I’m pretty sure we cross time zones walking through the Detroit airport. This is also the home of the Starbucks at the end of the universe. At least there’s fountain right by the Starbucks. Something you can mindlessly stare at, waiting for the caffeine to kick in after the 4:30 AM start. And there are house sparrows flying around in the terminal, living off crumbs from the Starbucks baked goods. Always fun to watch the expression when wasted travelers see birds hopping around in front of them. The first reaction is always to look around and see if someone else has seen them too. After all, when starting at 4:30 AM the birds could easily be a hallucination.

Starbucks at the end of the universe.

The fountain along side the Starbucks at the end of the universe.

Corvallis is an interesting place. I’m used to a lot of coffee shops associated with a college town. In Corvallis, brew pubs seemed to be preferred over coffee shops. Not that I’m opposed to this mind you.

Part of the charm may have been the weather. Balmy and pleasant. Almost like they ordered great weather to lure in prospective students. Trees budding out, flowers blooming, strolling without a coat, sitting outside drinking. Don’t get much better than that unless scrapple is involved.

Molly doing Corvallis.

Didn’t get any real birding in at Corvallis. Molly didn’t let me take my binoculars on the campus tour so all I could ID were violet-winged swallows and scrub jays. Heard a chick-a-dee call I didn’t recognize but couldn’t see it for an ID.

Saturday afternoon we went out to Newport on the coast. Newport is a combination working fishing town and tourist trap. Home of the Rouge Ales Public House. Great beers and good food. They even have a dog menu should you want to bring in your canine friends. No scrapple though.

Nets on the street at Newport.

We played on the beach for a bit too. I like any beach, but the beaches of the Pacific Northwest coast are a little different. Rock outcrops with tidal pools full of things we don’t normally get to see. Sea urchins, barnacles, anemones, little fish, starfish… I can easily spend a day just poking around tidal pools. Throw in marine mammals like sea lions, seals, and whales and you start wondering why you got a return ticket to Lansing. At least we don’t need to worry about tsunamis in Lansing.

I guess you run up the cliff in case of tsunami.

Tidal pool things.

Tidal pool fish.

Orange starfish.

Purple starfish.

Orange and purple starfish.

Molly.

Molly at the coast.

Molly trying to start a new religion at the coast.

I didn’t have a spotting scope so all I could ID with binoculars at the coast was white-crowned sparrow, red-tailed hawks, surf scoters, Western gull, and pelagic cormorants. None that count towards the Michigan list but always good to see anyway.

Western gull.

Pelagic cormorants.

Courtship on a cliff. As most courtships are I guess.

We finished our Oregon trip Saturday night having dinner with our nephew/cousin Nathan. Then it was up at 4:30 AM Sunday for another fun day flying back to Lansing.