Monday, May 18

Well we made it back from Delaware, just in time for me to pack for a nine day trip to Arizona.  

The trip was fun, but kind of grueling. Modern road travel is really pretty good on Ike’s Autobahn, AKA the interstate highway system, except for some critical failure points. For instance, a choke point like the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Only way to cross the Chesapeake Bay unless you have a boat. And when there is a little mishap like an overturned semi on the bridge, things come to a screeching halt. For hours. 

Heading down the highway, making good time.

Not making good time at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

The culprit.

Despite the holdup coming in, we had a pretty good time. We only had a week so we pretty much did the regular things. Hung around Lewes, the oldest city in the oldest state. Lewes was originally founded by the Dutch in 1631. The first settlement was wiped out by the local Indians, but the area later resettled. Delaware was the first state to ratify the union, thus the tag line of the first city in the first state.

Dusk at the Lewes pier.

Not a business you are going to see in Okemos, Michigan.

Did some kayaking, both at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge and at Trap Pond State Park. Trap Pond has the Northern most cypress swamp in North America. You expect a dinosaur to pop out on you while drifting through it.

Lise at Trap Pond State Park.

Kayaking among the cypress trees.

We got some birding in too. Lise hit 200 species for the year on the trip and I got to 197.

Green heron at Trap Pond.

Black-necked stilt aerobics class. And one and two……

Vulture lunch. Who would have guesses that vultures are immune to botulism.

Didn’t have much time for serious photography but I got to play a little.

Moccasin flower at Cape Henlopen State Park.

Blueberry flowers at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge.

Sunrise at Indian River Inlet.

The bridge at Indian River Inlet.

And we got to do some good eating. Twice we went up to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. The birding is always great there, but there is an additional treat in the nearby town of Leipsic. Leipsic is really just a collection of homes that was originally settled in 1720. A few years ago they all pooled their money to buy a radar gun, which they pretty much use to fund the town. But they have Sambo’s there. Not much for décor but good seafood. After a hot day of birding there isn’t much better than cold Yuengling beer and fried oysters.

Inside Sambos.

Views out the window at Sambos.

The Sambos clientele while we were there.  A Rolls Royce with a Mercedes behind it on one side of the door. A Harley with our van on the other side of the door.

And of course there was the Putt-Putt championship of the world tournament. Well, really it was one game and Lise won it. But Anita and I had fun too.

At the Putt-Putt championship of the world.

So in general, we had a good time. Exhausting, but good. Tomorrow I head out for nine days near Portal, Arizona, learning how to do acoustic monitoring and netting of bats. Not quite sure where Portal is but we were told to forget about cell phone reception.