We’ve been retired for 10 years. This s a look back at our second year of retirement.
2011
January - March
We volunteered at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in
Alamo, Texas. Our jobs were to lead bird
walks, keep the birds fed, clean ponds and keep up with weeding and
gardening. Mark gave several
presentations that were very well attended.
Mark leading a bird walk.
Feeding the birds. They love the oranges!
Cleaning the pond.
All kinds of things live in the pond.
Planting tiny little plants.
Mark gave several different presentations.
While in this wonderful birding hotspot of Texas we took
advantage of other birding sites.
S. Padre Island World Birding Center
April
In April we started making our way to Maine where we spent the summer.
States traveled through to Maine: Texas, Arkansas,
Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire,
Maine.
We enjoyed Caddo Lake in Texas.
Hiking in Arkansas.
Visited Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and found a few trails
to hike.
May - June
We were still in Kentucky at the beginning of May. Diamond Cave was our last stop before heading
to Pennsylvania.
We made a detour to visit Hershey in Pennsylvania. It was worth the trip.
Fellow Santa Ana volunteers Carolyn and Wally asked us
to come to Magee Marsh in Ohio for the birding festival.
We had some cold, rainy weather in New York before
getting into Maine in mid-May.
Letchworth Falls, NY
Morris Dam, NY
In Maine we quickly discovered black flies, moose flies, and many
other critters ready to take a bite out!
Each little black dot is a biting critter.
Our volunteer position was in Aroostook State Park in
Presque Isle, Maine. It was our first
(and probably last) “host” position.
The lead ranger really wanted to make Aroostook a birding destination so Mark was asked to give several birding presentations and bird walks.
Mark giving his wonderful Birds and Their Bills presentation.
The presentations were not well-attended. The campers were not interested in birds.
We had a few other jobs such as cleaning the shower/rest rooms, and painting the flag pole.
Fresh paint on the flag pole.
We saw a few moose, discovered whoopie pies and went to the local festivals.
Draft horse demonstration at the local festival.
Moose poop is big!
Whoopie pies were a big hit.
Next time: The
last half of 2011.
Unlike your first retirement post that mirrored places we've been, this one showed lots of places we have planned/hoped to go. Although flying things big enough to show against a white cloud doesn't sound appealing. Mammoth Cave was on our itinerary for this spring....of course now all of that is doubtful.
ReplyDeleteYes, everything seems to be up in the air right now, doesn't it. Our Colombia trip was set to start this week but they've closed their borders to international visitors so that is a no-go.
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