birding in Panama

sapphire-throated hummingbird (female)

Great-Tailed Grackle	Panama City
Tropical Kingbird	Panama City
Great Egret	roadside
Cattle Egret	roadside
Orange-Chinned Parakeet	Isla Cañas
Ruddy Ground Dove	Isla Cañas
Blue-Gray Tanager	Isla Cañas
White-Tipped Sicklebill	Isla Cañas
Magnificent Frigatebird	Isla Cañas
Yellow Warbler	Isla Cañas
Mountain Thrush	Isla Cañas
Whimbrel	Isla Cañas
Sapphire-Throated Hummingbird	Isla Cañas
Yellow-Headed Caracara	Isla Cañas
White Ibis	Isla Cañas
Brown Pelican	Isla Cañas
Amazon Kingfisher	Isla Cañas
Lesser Kiskadee	Isla Cañas
Red-Crowned Woodpecker	Isla Cañas
Great Kiskadee	Isla Cañas
Brown-Headed Parakeet	Isla Cañas
Great Black Hawk	Isla Cañas
Gray-Breasted Martin	Isla Cañas
Squirrel Cuckoo	Playitas Resort
Fork-Tailed Flycatcher	Playitas Resort
Gray-Headed Chcachalaca	Playitas Resort
Osprey	Playitas Resort
Masked Booby	Playitas Resort
Bare-Throated Tiger Heron	Playitas Resort
Laughing Gull	Miraflores Locks
Anhinga	Embera Indian Village
Ringed Kingfisher	Embera Indian Village
Palm Tanager	Embera Indian Village
Yellow-Crowned Night Heron	Panama City
Wood Stork	Tocumen Airport

**birds in bold are new (lifers)**

blue-gray tanager

whimbrel

brown pelicans

magnificent frigatebird (female/juv.)

snow route

To get to my parents, the route is I-40 to I-81 to I-77 to I-74 to hwy 52 to hwy 109. We only made it Friday to the I-81 section near Kingsport, TN. I drove the first 4 hours (what should have been half of the trip) and Ryan took over just as the weather got bad. At this point in our trip, we were stopped behind a jack-knifed semi truck and just waiting for someone in front of us to move.

Even though this isn't the best picture, it shows the situation best. The 2010 Camaro is stuck behind a jack-knifed semi. The lights to the far right belong to a truck heading to Winston-Salem. We followed that truck for a while, watching it struggle to get enough traction to get up the hills. At one point, the semi just started sliding sideways down a banked curve.

After about 5 hours and only going about 5 miles, we decided it was best to try to find somewhere to spend the night. They obviously weren't doing anything to improve the road conditions and more and more drivers were getting stranded as cars filled the ditches and median.

Thanks to the GPS, we were able to see which exits had hotels. After calling, we found out that there weren't any vacancies until exit 63, Airport Parkway, at the Red Carpet Inn. After getting off the exit (and having to help push 3 cars out of the way on the ramp) and seeing a handful of cars ditched at the bottom of a LARGE hill, we realized why they still had rooms. We parked and hiked to the top, happy that we weren't having to sleep in the car.

This is the view from the hotel parking lot of I-81 on Sabbath morning.

Ryan helped some others out then got our car out of the place we had left it overnight. We decided to get back on the road before what had melted turned into ice.

By then, the plows were out and spreading a sand mixture on the roads. It was still icy in spots, but we were finally able to cruise again.

I'm not sure if this is after getting on I-77 in Wytheville, VA or before. The oncoming traffic looked like this much of our trip. You can see the slush in the left lane heading our direction. It kept switching from 2 cleared lanes to only one, quite unexpectedly at times.

At about 2:00p, we pulled into my parents' driveway. They weren't sure we'd even make it that far into their neighborhood with steep hills in either direction from their house. Needless to say, we were glad to be off the road!

Thankful for home

Oreo and Maggie took us on a walk around the neighborhood Wednesday.

Maggie smiles for her picture

Grant & Kirsten with Bilbo, the new kitty

Thanksgiving spread

matching Life is Good models

ready to eat

Bilbo!
Kirsten, Ryan, and Grant testing out the giant windchimes at the Greensboro Arboretum

Grant & Kirsten

Ryan & Me in a gazebo

Skye matches the bathroom blues

Pit Saturday night

We stopped in Kingsport, TN to see Tara, Bill, & Karen. They made us a great lunch and helped break up our trip nicely!

we're back!

Our return trip was 785 miles through Virginia and Knoxville. We didn't keep track of the northern route on the way there, or the driving around to Chestertown and Baltimore . . . I'll post some pics later.

4 for 4

Our last game was on the way home from Mt. Vernon. We stopped to see the Cubs play in Cincinnati and the Strunks came with us. Their son Josh drove over from Kettering to meet us.

Bronson Arroyo, a former Boston player, started for the Reds.

The center field was made to look like a riverboat.

There were a lot of boats on the Ohio river that day.

surviving in the heat

Lou Piniella came out to yell at the umpire when the Reds player was ruled safe.

Josh, Jean, and Ed Strunk

the whole gang in the 14th inning, when we finally decided to leave
As we were walking out, Alfonso Soriano hit the go-ahead run for the Cubs who won 6-3 in the 14th!

Sabbath in Mt. Vernon

We went up the hill to Mount Vernon's church on Sabbath not knowing who we'd run into with school out and no advanced warning.











One of the seniors who just graduated was the preacher that Sabbath. We sat in the balcony with several MVA faculty and students who got a kick out of a surprise visit from Ryan. It was fun getting to see everybody again, even if I didn't know them that well.

The Strunks made plans to eat a picnic lunch at a nearby park with the family of the business manager at MVA, including their 1- and 4-year-olds. We had way too much good food.

I conquered the rope tower thing!

We hiked for about 30 minutes before coming to the end of the trail and the "waterfall." Look closely or you might miss it.







Here's us standing with the trail and waterfall behind. Some of the MVA kids that came with us climbed up the hill and hiked to a nearby dam and then back along the other side of the creek.

The surround rock is all sandstone and has carvings all over the place, some dated in the late 1800s. I wonder if the dates are accurate?











The covered bridge was really neat, but I worried about a few of the boards. They were only nailed down at each end.

Ryan and I played on the swings next to the creek while waiting for the group to decide to head out. I think I made a few nearby parents nervous . . . either that I was going to slam into a post/tree or that their kids would imitate me!







If you ever followed Ryan's blog while he was a Mt. Vernon resident, you're familiar with this local landmark. We went to visit Ryan's old "neighborhood" at the Arbors before supper Sabbath. Sure enough, Ryan's old neighbor Bob Beck was on his porch. He yelled, "You're a long way from home! Hi Ryan!"

winding and unwinding

On Friday we said goodbye to family in Michigan and drove a couple hours to Sandusky, OH to experience Cedar Point. We got slightly discounted tickets and headed in with the sun shining in a cloudless sky.

This is the view as you drive across the last bridge approaching the park. The big coaster on the left is Millennium Force, one of my favorites. We rode the red and yellow one, the Dragster, last. (Click the link for a pic of us riding.)

We had Ryan's camera with us before lunch and snapped a couple of pictures inside the park. The Twister is behind us.

Ryan's pic of The Twister