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Chincoteague Vacation – Day 6

On Day 6 of our vacation (Thursday, April 11th), after eating breakfast, we went to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. We drove, rather than ride our bicycles. It was a chilly and windy morning, with a temperature reading of 49 degrees.

We saw NINE wild horses in the lighthouse parking lot and watched as they walked down Beach Access Road to the Wildlife Loop.

Wild Ponies in the Lighthouse Parking Lot

Wild Pony in the Lighthouse Parking Lot

Wild Ponies in the Lighthouse Parking Lot

Wild Ponies Walking Down the Beach Access Road Towards the Wildlife Loop

Wild Ponies Walking Along the Beach Access Road to the Wildlife Loop

There are 8 wild ponies in these two pictures; however, we saw a total of 9 ponies.

Wild Ponies Walking Toward the Wildlife Loop

One of 9 Wild Ponies Making its Way to the Wildlife Loop

This was the straggler, the 9th wild pony.

Seeing the horses was really cool. We have always seen evidence that the horses have been on Beach Access Road, but had not seen them there before.

Before leaving the Wildlife Refuge, we visited the Assateague Lighthouse.

Assateauge Lighthouse

The Assateague Lighthouse stands 142 feet high.

After visiting the lighthouse, we returned to the warmth of our vacation home. Bob turned on the heat for the first time since our arrival. For the next few hours I washed, dried and folded two loads of laundry; we ate lunch (ready-made lasagna and cheesecake); and we relaxed, enjoying the peaceful setting of our Airbnb vacation home, Tranquil Shores.

Around 3:00 pm we left for one more visit to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. We drove around the Wildlife Loop three times.

Wildlife Loop Snake

Wildlife Loop Great Blue Heron

Wildlife Loop Cattle Egret

Wildlife Loop Turtle

Turtle Crossing the Road at Wildlife Loop

Wildlife Loop Little Blue Heron (adult)

We drove also to the beach and back, along Beach Access Road. We were saying so long, until next time, to a place that we have grown to love.

Leaving the Wildlife Refuge, we picked up a 12-inch sub at Subway to share for dinner and went to Island Creamery for ice cream. Yes! We ate dessert first.

Returning to our vacation home around 5:00 pm we discovered piles of dirt had been placed in the deep holes (craters in some instances LOL) on the road to Tranquil Shores. Thankfully a resident pulled in after us. We didn’t know if we should drive on the grassy area to the right of the dirt piles (to go around them). She told us it was okay. According to the resident, the piles of dirt will be graded the next day. I passed this information to our host, as I thought he might be interested. Our host replied: “I’m so glad we finally have it getting done. Last winter was so hard on the road! Corralling all the neighbors to pitch in was a project in and of itself!”

TO BE CONTINUED

Susan and Chance Visit the Audubon Center

My friend Susan’s 11-year-old grandson spent the week of July 20th at his grandmother’s house. On July 25th I met Susan and her grandson, Chance, at the Audubon Center & Sanctuary in Jamestown NY. Chance wanted to see a snake. Susan knew there was a good possibility that he would see a snake at the Audubon Center, as she had seen a photograph of the snake that I had seen there earlier in the week. Susan preferred to not go to the Audubon Center alone (she does not like snakes!), so I agreed to meet the two of them at the nature center.

Susan and Chance near entrance to Nature Center Building

Susan and Chance at entrance to Bob’s Garden —
an herb, kitchen, and butterfly garden
named in honor of one of the Audubon Center’s
early founders, Bob Hallquist.

Susan and Chance

Chance sees a snake.

Chance wanted to see a snake. He saw two snakes! This is the first snake that Chance saw. I enlarged the hole and the snake so that you can actually SEE the snake. The second snake that Chance saw was a short distance from here. It was lying in the weeds.

Nature Center Visit

I spent a couple hours the morning of July 22 at the Audubon Center & Sanctuary, located in Jamestown NY. The Audubon Center is less than a 1/2 hour drive from my home and is one of my favorite local destinations. I enjoy walking along the nature trails and photographing whatever happens to catch my eye.

Audubon Center & Sanctuary

Snake!

Snake’s Head!

Geese

“Liberty”

No visit to the Audubon is complete without seeing “Liberty”.

I happened to be at the Audubon Center, when Liberty was given her lunch.

I hope that you enjoyed looking at photographs of what caught my eye during this visit.

Weekend Visit in Cuyahoga County, Ohio: Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Post #5)

Our fifth stop in Cuyahoga Valley National Park was at Ritchie Ledges. The Ledges Trail is approximately 2 miles long. The trail begins above the ledges and then drops down below them. It was noon by the time we arrived at Ritchie Ledges. It was hot, and we were hungry. In addition we learned that one of the trail attractions, the Ice Box Cave, was closed in an effort to slow the spread of a disease to the park’s bat population. Given the heat of the day, our hunger and the closure of the Ice Box Cave we opted to cross the meadow from the parking lot and visit only the Ritchie Ledges Overlook.

I used Microsoft’s Snipping Tool to cut out the Ledges Trail portion of the map that is provided on the Cuyahoga Valley National Park website’s map page.

From the parking lot the walk across the meadow to the bottom left corner of the map didn’t look far. Walking across that meadow with the noon day sun directly above you was far enough!

This view was our reward for crossing that meadow to Richie Ledges Overlook!

I DEFINITELY want to return to Cuyahoga Valley National Park in the fall. Imagine how beautiful that view will look with autumn foliage!

And, oh yes, I would like to walk the Ledges Trail, if only to view these magnificent rocks at their base.

Ritchie Ledges

We encountered a reptile, while at the overlook.

Thank goodness it was only a baby snake!

This is a Northern Ringneck Snake.

The snake was shedding its skin.

Here is a close-up picture of the snake’s head.

I wonder if the snake is having lunch, while it is shedding its skin? That’s a black ant on its head!

We spent a little over 30 minutes at Ritchie Ledges. From Ritchie Ledges we left the park and ate lunch at a nearby Texas Roadhouse. We both ordered salads and a beverage. Something we have to learn to do is carry water with us, when hiking. We always forget to do this. Well, I went through two large glasses of iced tea rather quickly and couldn’t finish my salad.

If you missed our first four stops in Cuyahoga Valley National Park you will find links to each stop in the list shown below. I will share photographs from our sixth stop in my next blog post.

Stop #1: Boston Store Visitor Center

Stop #2: Brandywine Falls

Stop #3: Blue Hen Falls

Stop #4: Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad

Springtime Nature Walk

On Wednesday, April 7th, Valerie C. and I visited the Audubon Center and Sanctuary in Jamestown, New York. We arrived shortly before 10:00 AM and didn’t leave until around 1:00 PM. There are three trails at the Audubon Center. We walked part of each trail. We saw geese, an eagle (too far away for a good picture), ducks, various birds, reptiles and amphibians. Valerie saw a deer. She caught a glimpse of its white tail, as it passed in front of us a good ways down one of the trails that we were walking.

These are two of the many geese that we saw on our nature walk.

Snake!

This snake was lying curled up on top of a low bush. We wondered if it was dead. We passed by it again towards the end of our walk. The snake was still lying on top of this bush; however, it had changed its position. No, it wasn’t dead! After seeing this snake the first go-around, we saw three more snakes!

My friend Valerie

We were walking on this boardwalk a short time after taking this picture. At the same time that I noticed on my right what appeared to be a long snake curled up on top of a low bush, Valerie saw a snake in the water to her left. These snakes were much closer to where we were walking, and I raised my camera to take a picture of the one closest to me. The plan was to take the picture and get the heck out of there! As I raised my camera, the snake uncurled. It wasn’t one snake; it was two snakes! They looked as though they were slithering, quickly, towards me ONTO the boardwalk! I didn’t give it a second thought. I touched Valerie’s shoulder, said emphatically “they’re coming!”, and pushed my hand gently on Valerie’s shoulder. It didn’t take much to get Valerie moving. We both made quick steps forward, all the while watching behind us. The snakes didn’t go on the boardwalk; they slithered into the water. Seeing four snakes during one nature walk was more than enough for me! I really wasn’t that pleased when we saw that first snake. At least that one was farther away, and it wasn’t moving!

Toad ?

I think this is a toad, as it appears to have a bumpy skin. This was the only amphibian that we saw. We heard lots of them singing or as they jumped into the pond when we walked by. We didn’t see any turtles. We kept looking for turtles because I had hoped to take a picture of several of them sunbathing on top of a log or a rock.

This bridge caught my attention. I loved the reflection of the bridge in the pond.

Reflecting Bridge

While we walked through the forest, I smelled Spring … an earthy fragrance.

I tried to capture the smell of Spring in this photograph.
Can you smell the earth?

Before leaving the Audubon Center we visited the eagle called Liberty. I took a picture of her screeching. Neither Valerie nor I had heard an eagle’s cry before. That was so cool!

Liberty