Sandhills Revisited

A return visit to one of our all-time favorite campsites was next, Monahans Sandhills in West Texas! Again, the truck hadn't even stopped before the kids asked if they could go run thru the sand. I counted down, "on your mark, get set....GO!" and they jumped out and took off up to the top of the first dune.

We were lucky to get a campsite this time, apparently it's spring break for kids locally and the campground was full. A cancellation came thru while I was on the phone and they gave the site to us! Whew! The next morning I set off to see what birds I might find in this desert. I was absolutely shocked to return after a couple hours having SIX new life birds freshly added to my list! My highlights were my first view of a Pyrrhuloxia (a desert cardinal) and gorgeous views of a scissor-tailed flycatcher.

The kids had a blast jumping off the edge of the dunes.

 After sledding we went for a family walk and watched as scaled quail ran back and forth across the path ahead of us. We followed animal tracks and realized we found jackrabbit urine on the sand. Interesting.

I've been reading, Birding on Borrowed Time, by Phoebe Snetsinger, which details her world travels in search of new birds. A stay-at-home mom who'd reached her mid-30s before being introduced to birding. I could relate. Despite many extremely difficult events including an early cancer diagnosis with only months to live, this resilient and determined woman took it as a challenge to see every bird possible until her last day. She not only lived much longer than the doctors told her she would, she set a record by seeing 8,000 bird species, more than anyone else in the world. I finished the book, sitting on a sand dune watching a gorgeous scissor-tailed flycatcher hunting and resting on a tree next to me. Phoebe would have been pleased.

Before we left, I took advantage of the beautiful surroundings for family photos.

Until next time, Texas.....

Vegas Roadtrip 2018 {Arkansas & Oklahoma}

It's been a couple years since we've been to Las Vegas. We'd been feeling the pull to visit our friends and some of our favorite places for quite some time. We left from Tallahassee after spending time with family. We even managed to take Grandma to the doctor utilizing some creative transportation. There are two states between here and there that we've never been, so we took a northern route to spend some time in Arkansas and Oklahoma. First stop, Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas.

Asher has been looking forward to trying his luck at digging for diamonds ever since he first learned of the place a couple years ago. Upon arrival we found out they were closing early! Ugh! We had only an hour to search, but our admission ticket would be honored for the next day as well. We did our best without tools, but were unsuccessful.

We were surprised to see they have a pool for summer visitors. The campground was full, so we stayed at a small campground nearby. The people there were very friendly and suggested we take a short hike from the campground to a small pond. I spotted some nice birds along the way and then we heard a large animal deep in the woods, stomping and grunting at us! We imagined bears or some other wild and dangerous creature. We later learned it was a herd of deer that regularly come thru those woods. The next morning we took their advice again by driving to the dam overlook. The dam has been here for about 50 years and only three times has the water level been this high!

Back at the state park, we decided to rent some tools for today's search.

There are three ways to find diamonds. The first is called surface searching. This is what I did. Raw diamonds are smooth, round and reflective. If you get close the the ground, with your back to the sun, a diamond should glisten in the sunlight. Though six diamonds larger than half a carat were found in the last two weeks, you're most likely to find one about the size of a match head. And whatever you find you can keep!

The other two search methods incorporate the use of screens. For dry screening, scoop a few handfuls of dirt into the screen and shake left and right to allow the dirt to fall and leave you with just rocks to pick thru. The third method is wet screening. After filling the screen with earth, hold the screen under a tray of water and slowly shake. The heaviest stones will fall to the bottom of the screen. Remove from the water and carefully turn the screen upside down on the ground. Any diamonds will now be on the top of the pile. Sort carefully.

We gave it a good try, and after a couple hours we decided to call it quits and have lunch. We had fun and fortunately the kids weren't too disappointed. The beautiful pieces of jasper and quartz we found left us feeling pretty content. The ranger was shocked by the large quartz I found while surface searching.

Later that day we arrived at Red Slough Wildlife Management Area in Oklahoma. 

We'd reached our 47th state together!

This hotspot has recorded over 300 species of birds! I enjoyed birding from the ground and the platforms while daddy and the kids tried to spy an alligator. No luck, but I was very happy with my birds.

An American Bittern trying to hide with his bill pointing to the sky while looking at me under his chin. Too funny!

We spent the night at a Cracker Barrel parked next to these beauties! Next stop, sand dunes!

4 Years on the Road

In April we celebrated 4 years on the road. I love taking the time to look back at our year and all of the amazing experiences we've had. This year we traded the big 37ft fifth wheel for a 16ft Wolf Pup travel trailer. Wow, what an adjustment!

The big RV was like a condo on wheels; two bedrooms with doors that closed, a large bathroom with shower. The new RV has one door which opens to the wet bath, basically a toilet inside a shower. It's so small we never use it as a shower. It has a bunk bed which the kids and I share and a couch for Daddy. It's not perfect, but it serves our purpose. We wanted to sell the big RV while the market was good for it and we needed a smaller RV to easily explore the narrow roads and low bridges in the northeast. We intended to only be in it for less than six months, just until we flew to Spain, but plans changed. Our route took us from Florida up the east coast into Canada's New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island before heading back to Florida and then to Las Vegas.

We attended church with Jimmy Carter, stood in the bedroom of George Washington during his stay at Valley Forge, and learned all about Minutemen in Massachusetts. We witnessed the largest tide change in the world at Hopewell Rocks, went clamming in the Bay of Fundy, counted falcons and helped release tagged butterflies in Cape May, New Jersey. We hiked Clingmans Dome in the Smokies, Cadillac Mountain in Acadia, and White Point in Nova Scotia. We encountered a bear with cubs along a trail in Shenandoah. Asher rode a motorcycle. We visited two zoos, multiple nature centers and museums, LEGOland and Dutch Wonderland. Took factory tours of Cow's Creamery and Hershey. We tried raw oysters, discovered we love clams and mussels and fell in love with hot, buttery lobster. We participated as a family in our first Night to Shine event.

We explored 37 National Park sites, 7 State Parks, and 5 National Wildlife Refuges this year!

I attended my first birding festival, The Biggest Week in Ohio, and my first international birding festival in Colombia. I saw 10,000 sandpipers and plovers resting along their migration path on the beach of New Brunswick and brought my total bird species count to 771. Daddy spent a month in Cuba walking the same streets that his father did so many years ago.

This year we added 13 new states- Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,  Delaware, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, plus Washington D.C. and three new Canadian provinces- New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. This brings our family totals to 47 states, 6 Canadian provinces and Japan. The only states we're now missing are North Dakota, Minnesota and South Carolina.

What will this next year look like? Good question! We haven't really decided. You'll just have to watch as it unfolds.