I’ll share a sentence or two from a letter I sent them after they left: “I love how the five of you enjoy each other’s company. I am extremely proud of the way you have all turned out to be good, intelligent, interesting, humorous, musical, productive, fun-loving people. (I could have listed more adjectives, but I was fearful of a reprimand from Kelly. Overuse of adjectives, or something. LOL!)”
Here’s Gail on the trail, with the river on the right.
And yours truly…
The trail is shared by bikes, hikers, and horses!
There are many places where you can rent bikes (though we brought our own, of course), horses, or things for having fun on the water.
It really was a great ride! On our way out, we took this shot of the area we had just ridden. You can see I-77 where it bridges over the New River. You can see the beautiful countryside, and an arm of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background. We’ll be coming back to bike the other segments of the trail, for sure!
Like most years, my pick did not make it to the top. Though I truly congratulate Lee DeWyze and [...]]]>
Like most years, my pick did not make it to the top. Though I truly congratulate Lee DeWyze and wish him the best, I think America missed it on two extremely artistic and talented contestants: Crystal Bowersox (from Toledo, Ohio! Yey!) and Siobhan Magnus.
In the past, the American Idol finalist has not always been the most successful. Sometimes it’s best to be number two. So I hope in the future to hear a lot more from both Crystal and Siobhan and their very special, unique talents.
I’m grateful for all these young people on American Idol. Their music brings me a special joy. They are all winners in a big way!
The Yellow-crowned Night Heron:
Similarly, this Red Shouldered Hawk was really far away, but it’s cool to see them in the wild.
Turtles on a log:
A male and a female Eastern Towhee:
And a lovely female Bluebird:
Looking for birds is a great excuse to just be outdoors. I’m glad Gail and I share this kind of geeky interest. Now I’m tuning in more and more to the beautiful plant life in this part of the country. I’ll share some of that later.
]]>I was limited to two cold, overcast days because of my work schedule. Bummer. Gail had the chance to spend an extra, even colder day, 29 degrees at the crack of dawn, which is the typical starting time for these events. But even so, our group spotted 40 different species on each of the two days I was there. This is less than half of the usual. Photography was also less than ideal, though I will share at least a few of my pictures of the Yellow Throated Warbler that was my favorite bird of this trip.
Here is part of our birding group at the New River Gorge, with the famous New River Gorge Bridge in the background:
The New River:
Railroads parallel the edge of the river, dating back to the time of active coal mining that started over 100 years ago. Coal mining has long since been “tapped out” in this area, which is now a protected National River.
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And here are a couple more cuties. Well… at least Princess Gail!
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]]>There were majestic birds on the courses, like the great blue heron:
There were birds of prey, a red shouldered hawk and an osprey:
A little blue heron and a white ibis were helping find my [...]]]>
There were majestic birds on the courses, like the great blue heron:
There were birds of prey, a red shouldered hawk and an osprey:
A little blue heron and a white ibis were helping find my ball:
And like everywhere I go, I spotted these common birds:
I seem to attract them!
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