2005 - Way Back Wednesday (Part 3 of 3)

In 2005 we entered several 5K and 10K runs (5K - Teri; 10K - Mark).  During the spring and fall there are several runs every weekend.

In October we went to LaGrange, Texas to run in the Best Little 10K in Texas.

Mark came in 3rd place in his catagory! 

November is nice and cool in Texas and, just like the year before, we spent Thanksgiving in one of our favorite places - Goose Island State Park in Rockport.

Our site.

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is a great day trip from Goose Island.  It is a 115,324 acre protected area along the Gulf Coast. 

There are always plenty of alligators to find.

 Birds are easy to find.

 

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a trip on the Skimmer with Capt. Tommy.

We have an early morning departure.

 

We always see Whooping Cranes.

Whooping Crane family.  

The brownish ones are the youngsters.

 Sandhill Cranes are abundant on the Whooping Crane Tour. 

Sandhill Crane

We always come across a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins.  They like to play in the wake of the boat. 

Short video.  

It's very loud so you might want 

to turn your sound down.

 

There are plenty of birding hotspots on the Texas coast.

Long-billed Curlew

Great Egret

Roseate Spoonbill

 

Loggerhead Shrike

In December all of our (Mark’s) hard training was put to the test.  We entered the Decker Challenge 1/2 Marathon (Mark) and the Deck the Halls 5K (Teri). 

Mark in the middle of the picture with the white hat.

It was a great way to end a very busy year!

Hope you enjoyed re-visiting 2005 with us.

2005 - Way Back Wednesday (Part 2 of 3)

 *** More pictures from our life in 2005 ***

In June, Travis County Audubon offered a class on dragonfly identification with Professor John Abbott at the University of Texas.

Netting Dragonflies

The nice thing about studying dragonflies and damselflies is that you can net them and put them in a clear bag for observation.

Bluet

Texas has 160 species of dragonflies, nearly half of the 327 species known in North America.

Mark bought a net and we had a lot of fun studying the dragonflies and damselflies around our house.

Four-striped Leaftail

Red-tailed Pennant 

Of course, there are other interesting things to look at while chasing dragonflies: 

July is always a good month to get out of Texas.  Before retirement we almost always headed to Ruidoso, New Mexico during the week of my birthday.  The higher elevation temperatures were very comfortable.

We stayed in a couple of different campgrounds through the years but in 2005 we were at the Southfork Campground in the Lincoln National Forest in Nogal, New Mexico.  Unfortunately, this campground was wiped out during a fire that was started by lightening in 2010 and is no long open for camping.

This campground was usually not very busy and we always had a great site. 

Our site. 

One thing Ruidoso has no shortage of is hummingbirds!

Without going very far from our campsite there were many hiking trails.

 

The mountain streams are very cold!

 

Lots of snow melt keeps the streams flowing, even in July.

 

Lots of pretty views from the hiking trails. 

Every flower has a bee. 

Or a butterfly. 

There are still some remains of pioneer cabins in the area.

We always put out plenty of hummingbird feeders and had no problem attracting a lot of the little guys. 

Short video of hummingbirds. 

 

They were very thirsty

Before the fire the White Mountain Wilderness area in the Lincoln National Forest was absolutely beautiful.

There were lots of places to explore. 

Plenty of beautiful, clear streams everywhere. 

Beautiful views. 

Lots of deer and other wildlife. 

More water and flowers everywhere.

 We could hike as far and as long as we wanted. 

All laced up and ready to hike.

 

We drove back through this area a few years ago.  All that remains of this lush, green forest is charred tree stumps.

Tomorrow: Running, Whooping, and Dolphins (2005 - Part 3 of 3)

 

2005 - Way Back Wednesday (Part 1 of 3)

2005 was a fun year for us.

In February we visited San Diego, California.  Mark was awarded The Association of Drilled Shaft Contractors Outstanding Service Award for 2005, and we were flown out for the presentation.  

We rented a car and took advantage of our week there. 

We went on a few hikes:

We spent a lot of time at the beach:

Sand writing

We are always looking at birds!

Bufflehead

Marbled Godwit

We spent a morning at the San Diego Zoo:

San Diego is probably an area we wouldn’t normally visit but we did enjoy our time there.

At the end of February, we went on a wonderful trip to Belize:

(See Blog Post from April 1, 2013)

Sand writing.

In early April we went on a long weekend birding trip to High Island (Texas) with friends Rick and Sharon.

This is a very well-known area for migration.  There are many birds migrating from South America to their northern breeding grounds.  This is the best time to be in this area.

 

Boy Scout Woods is also a great place to be during spring migration.

 

It was a short trip but we saw a lot of birds.

                    

At the end of April, Mark went down to Mexico for a week with some friends of his.  It was a birding and butterfly trip.

 

Gray Silky-Flycatcher

Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrow

Cinnamon Hummingbird

Colima Pygmy-Owl

Tomorrow: More of 2005