3:30 am is sooo early!

Posted on July 11, 2016July 11, 2016 by Dusty Roads

Thursday morning it was time to rock and roll. Get out of bed, get moving. It was time to head to Marshfield MA where I would meet up with the Audubon Society for a tour of Maine’s Peatlands culminating in the PUFFINS of Machias Seal Island!

By 5 AM we were loaded into the Audubon van and headed to Ipswich River Sanctuary where we hooked up with another van. Altogether there were two leaders, Scott and Sue and 12 participants.

For the most part these are hard core Birders so I was about to be introduced to a whole new way of looking at birds. We were still on the road at lunchtime so when a Subway came up we pulled in and made the clerk’s day. The poor girl was faced with 14 hungry travelers and she was working all alone.

After lunch we all piled back into the vans and soon we were entering blueberry country. Our Birding stop was the Blueberry Barrens.

Blueberry bush

The birders were looking for Upland Sandpiper, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow to name just a few species.

UplandSandpiperOntarioCropped

We traveled on another long dirt road. It made me think of the time Sandy and I got twisted around on an Indian Reservation. We called it the “Longest dirt road in the world”. This one was a close 2nd.

Maine Dirt Road

The scenery was beautiful. The day had turned cool and damp and eventually it started to rain.

Maine

We stopped to check out a marsh with a beaver dam. The birders used powerful spotting scopes and saw all kinds of birds.

Beaver lodge

We finally arrived at our home away from home at about 5 pm. For the next 4 days we’d be staying at the Machias River Inn.

Dinner was at 6:30 at Helen’s Restaurant and then we wrapped up our day. We’d be up bright and early the next day. Breakfast was at 6 am!

Orca!

Posted on July 6, 2016July 6, 2016 by Dusty Roads

My neighbors and I were discussing my whale watch adventure and one of them kept asking if I saw any pretty black and white whales. I said not, Orca’s don’t come down to our coast.

That night on the news the headline was ORCA SIGHTING OFF CHATHAM, CAPE COD!

Orca

Guess that will each me to say we don’t get killer whales around here!

A Whale of A Time

Posted on July 4, 2016July 4, 2016 by Dusty Roads

Its the 4th of July weekend and I haven’t done anything that I wanted to do. I thought I had my former housekeeper coming over on Saturday to finish the paint job her son agreed to before he skipped town but she never showed. She finally Texted me late Saturday that she had to work but would come on Monday. I guess since she is from Brazil our 4th of July isn’t that important to her.

fireworks

I wanted to be here to keep an eye on the painting but I wasn’t going to give up my whole weekend either. Sunday I spent running around with my list of must-haves for the for the Puffin trip. so That just left today.

Capt. John’s posts to Facebook have been filled with successful Whale watching trips…calves, breaching and pods of over 100 whales. Amazing stuff. I decided to try the early trip. Maybe I’d be able to get back before they were all done with the painting.

Whales1

We were still quite away out from Stellwagon bank when I spotted a blow off out port side. I tapped on the glass for the crew and pointed. I got a nod and few minutes later the naturalist came on the speaker to acknowledge that whale but said he “wasn’t easy to watch” so we’d keep going.

The Captain played Sweet Caroline over the PA and encouraged everyone to sing along. That’s a great way to keep our minds off the whale!

Whale Fluke1

It was probably another 10 minutes when I spotted another blow, then another and wait. there’s another one! Pretty soon We had whales all around us and I stopped counting.

They were surface feeding and bubble net feeding. I had not seen that in years! I took over 100 pictures that I need to go through to share but here are a couple to give you some idea how close they came to the boat.

Baleen1

I’ll share more in another post. Right now I hear the fireworks starting so I need to keep an eye on Rocky. The noise scares him.

Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary

Posted on June 26, 2016June 26, 2016 by Dusty Roads

My Plantar Fasciitis has improved dramatically. My foot still feels a little bruised but I can walk without limping so it was time to see if it would hold up for a hike. I only have a couple of weeks before my Big Maine Adventure which will involve .5 – 1 mile hikes. It doesn’t sound like much but if you have ever experienced the pain of Plantar Fasciitis, you know it’s like walking on a golf ball! 10 feet is too far!

To improve my motivation I decided to head for Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Natick, MA. This is an Audubon property and I hadn’t been there before. It had the added benefit of being in Natick so I could include lunch at Kelly’s Roast beef.

Kelly's Roast Beef

Before I left the house I dug around to find my Audubon membership card. I’ve never been asked for it but I’d never been to Broadmoor before either. Turns out it was a good thing I made the effort. They have a Welcome Center that is staffed and they do check memberships.

Broadmoor

When I pulled in I was surprised to see a full parking lot. I figured that I wouldn’t see much with that many people tramping around but it turns out there are more than 9 miles of trails.

No way was I going to try any of the longer trails today. So I settled on the Mill Pond/Marsh Trail. It’s a mile long but I only covered the Marsh section. I wandered a boardwalk, watched a swan groom itself and admired the sunning turtles.

Broadmoor Swan

I met some nice people along the way but it wasn’t really as crowded as I expected.

Turtles

I will have to go back again as my foot gets stronger. I want to see the little waterfall at the ruins of the mill and there is supposed to be an active beaver pond with a dam and lodge.

Boradmoor-11a

Now to head home and see how the foot feels. Fingers crossed!

Vacation Planning

Posted on June 6, 2016June 6, 2016 by Dusty Roads

Anyone who has followed this space for long knows that my goal is to take a vacation in all 50 states. Obviously that means two or more new states a year or I’ll be 90 or older before I manage to complete that goal.

I’ve gotten a bit side tracked lately because with each upgrade to my time share they’ve given me a vacation that includes airfare. Bottom line is I keep taking the bonus vacations and have gotten off track from my goal.

So I decided to organize my thoughts and future plans.

July is a brief visit to Maine to try to capture an Iconic Puffin Photo. Its only an extended weekend. (and I’ve vacationed in Maine-Loved it)

puffin13

I have a vacation to Maui all scheduled, if not completely planned, coming up in November.

photo_road_to_hana_aerial

I’ve been to Hawaii twice before. Once to the Big Island and once to Oahu so this will be my 3rd visit to Paradise.

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In January my company will hold their annual convention in Las Vegas. I am seriously considering added a few days vacation on and staying at the Polo Towers. After all, my company is paying for my airfare. I’ve been to Las Vegas for vacation twice before but there are still things I’d like to see.

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