Bob and I went for a drive on the afternoon of February 4th. We drove around the Allegheny Reservoir and through Allegany State Park near Salamanca, NY.
We stopped at Science Lake.
Science Lake at Allegany State Park. Look at that beautiful blue sky and the piles of snow.
On the way home Bob said he wanted to go to Washington Park.I didn’t want to go to Washington Park because I didn’t want to risk getting stuck in the snow. The narrow, rutted and gravel entry road is not maintained in the winter. Bob took us there anyway.
View of Warren from Washington Park
Bob took this picture of me at Washington Park
This is a dash cam video of our drive to and from Washington Park. Bob edited the video to add music and a few still images.
I am glad Bob didn’t listen to me (this time LOL). We didn’t get stuck, and the view of Warren from the park was splendid!
Amazon Photos made this Year in Review slideshow for me. Please click on “slideshow” to view the video. Keep clicking until the slideshow begins.
The slideshow features Bob and me, Stacey and our two granddaughters, my brother and his wife, three great nieces, a few of our local motorcycle riding friends, and some of our friends with whom we were fortunate to spend a week with in the Outer Banks, and lunch with friends in Salisbury MD on our way to Chincoteague VA.
What great memories to remind me that 2020, with all that was bad about it, still had good things!
I gave Bob a Kalimba 17 key thumb piano for Christmas a couple years ago. Bob had never played a thumb piano. In one week’s time Bob taught himself this song.
Photo obtained here
Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2021 from Bob and me!
Today (November 27th) is day 7 of our Thanksgiving week vacation.
Sunrise at Tranquil Shores, our airbnb rental
Late this morning we drove to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island, VA. We followed the Beach Access Road to Toms Cove, where we turned around.
Our first stop, while on the Beach Access Road, was at the Lighthouse Trail.
The Lighthouse Trail takes you through the woods to the historic Assateague Lighthouse.
Assateague Lighthouse
Our second stop was at a marsh area, where we frequently see wild ponies. We had not seen any ponies here since our arrival on Sunday, November 22. We saw some wild ponies there today.
The wild ponies finally made an appearance in the marsh seen from the Beach Access Road.
Our third stop was near Toms Cove.
Assateague Lighthouse, as viewed from Toms Cove area
You will recall from yesterday’s blog post that the reason we chose to spend Thanksgiving week in Chincoteague was to participate in the Waterfowl Week Special Drive. As I wrote in yesterday’s blog post, there is a 7.5 mile service road off the Wildlife Loop that is open to the public only during the Thanksgiving Day weekend.The service road opens at noon and closes at 4:00 pm.We drove the service road yesterday and again today.
We were parked alongside Wildlife Loop by 11:40 am, lined up to drive on the Service Road.
The line waiting for access to the Waterfowl Week Special Drive
The cars began to inch forward at noon.Yesterday it took us 1 1/2 hours to make the 15-mile round trip.Today it took about 1 1/4 hours.Yesterday was overcast; today was sunny. We saw far less horses and waterfowl today than we did yesterday. Bob didn’t have a memory card in the GoPro yesterday. The GoPro was armed today. This video shows very little wildlife, but it does show the terrain along Special Drive.
I took a couple photographs of the few wild ponies that we saw during our drive.
Two wild ponies
Three wild ponies
We ate lunch at Tranquil Shores.We had leftovers–sweet and sour chicken with rice, cottage cheese, potato salad and applesauce.
I wanted to see the lit Christmas tree at the Robert N Reed Waterfront Park in downtown Chincoteague.We drove there at dusk.
the Christmas Tree and me
Christmas decorations at Robert N Reed Downtown Waterfront Park
Sunset at Robert N Reed Downtown Waterfront Park
Aren’t the Christmas tree and the park, itself, pretty?
By the time we left the park, it was time to eat.We chose to eat inside the Chincoteague Diner & Restaurant, located on Maddox Boulevard next to the Best Western hotel. We had a choice to eat outside on their screened porch or inside the restaurant. It was a bit chilly to eat outside; the restaurant was not full of people; the tables were socially distanced; we smelled Clorox as soon as we opened the door; and the wait staff wore face masks. All of those factors went into our decision to eat inside the restaurant. This was the only restaurant at which we ate indoors, while on vacation. Bob ordered a Chef Salad.I ordered a toasted ham and cheese sandwich with French fries.The service was good, and our dinners were tasty.
From the restaurant we drove to Island Creamery, where the best homemade ice cream is served.We ordered our ice cream inside and carried it out to the car to eat. Yum!
We returned to Tranquil Shores, after our ice cream stop.
It is our last night here.We have had such a relaxing vacation.I wish we didn’t have to go home, but at the same time I am ready to go home.
It is cold outside. The wind is blowing; the snow is flying. At this moment, Weather Underground lists the temperature in my hometown as 13 degrees. It feels like 0 degrees. I was sitting in my home office, watching several starlings as they ate suet nuggets at our bird feeder.
I sure wouldn’t want to be outside today. I wondered how birds keep warm in winter. The answer was a quick Internet search away — How Do Birds Keep Warm in Winter.
Bob and I spent Tuesday, September 17, in Nags Head, at the beach house. It was a very windy day.
I enjoyed watching the waves crashing on the beach.
The pirate flag at the beach house next to ours was fully extended in the gusty winds.
The strong winds blew the sand onto our beach access.
I took a chance with my camera, taking photographs outside with the wind and blowing sand. I got lucky, though. The sand wasn’t blowing at me in the morning hours, and I was able to capture some photographs and video from the beach access. Later in the day, the sand was blowing so badly that I didn’t go anywhere near the beach with my camera.
The wind knocked down the beach chairs.
The wind knocked down Ed’s fishing poles too.
Ed and Scott, who was visiting for the day, braved the blowing sand to secure the fishing poles.
As the sun began to set, it cast a golden glow on the ocean waves and dune grass.
This is one of my all time favorite Christmas-time Flash Mobs! Would you like to see a Flash Mob performance in person? I sure would, only if not expecting one though!
