Tag Archives: travel

Olivia

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Olivia (aka Robin)

My third treat for the day was Olivia, a resident opossum at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. Olivia and her sister were orphaned at a very young age and are now wildlife emissaries at the park. On the day we were there she was assisting a volunteer with the park’s Wildlife Encounters program by showing us how many kibbles she can eat.

Note: For some reason the volunteer kept calling her Robin. What? She was obviously mistaken. Look at that face! That’s an Olivia, if ever I saw one. Don’t you agree?

I had no idea that possums could be so adorable! I could have watched her munch on kibbles all day. Such a good employee!

Yuma

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Yuma, with his first kill of the day

Another highlight of the Wildlife Park in Homosassa Springs was the Florida panther. Prior to this, I had never seen a live one. The Wildlife Park has two resident panthers, both males rescued as infants. They can’t be kept in the same enclosure, so the park rotates them—one is on display in the main enclosure while the other is in R&R behind the scenes. On the day we were there, Yuma was up to bat.

When we arrived at the panther enclosure, we couldn’t find him. We asked a nearby volunteer who told us that the volunteers hadn’t been able to locate him all morning. The enclosure is not large. As we were chatting, we scanned the proximity. Suddenly a panther leaped out of the bushes in front of us and pounced on a turkey vulture that had just landed twenty feet away. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my first exposure to a Florida panther!

The volunteer I was talking to was shocked. In her twenty years at the Wildlife Park, she had never seen either panther attempt to catch any of the birds who are free to come and go in the roofless enclosure. (The park has a sprinkler system to discourage birds from landing in certain enclosures. It wasn’t engaged in the panther enclosure that morning, however.) Yuma carried the vulture into his super-secret hiding place in the bushes and proceeded to “play” with his kill for a bit. He didn’t seem to know what to do with it, never having had to kill to eat. Good to know the hunting instinct is still alive and well!

Yuma, in his super-secret hiding place, watching a turkey vulture

Marcus and I walked away to see some of the other exhibits, but wandered back to the panther enclosure after twenty minutes or so. We could see Yuma, still in the bushes, and still admiring his handiwork, when suddenly he leaped out and snagged another vulture, right out of mid-air this time! The poor, unsuspecting bird was about six feet from landing when Yuma snagged him.

Yikes! A second kill!

Given our track record for witnessing panther bird-strikes, we decided that perhaps, in the interest of preserving the local vulture population, we should stop visiting the exhibit! On to the Wildlife Encounter….

Lucifer

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Lucifer (Lu), a 58-year-old hippo

On our first day on the Nature Coast, we visited the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park about seven miles south of Crystal River. In addition to being a refuge for injured manatees, it is home to other animals as well—some eventually releasable, some permanent residents due to injuries or being orphaned as babies.

Lu eating his breakfast of alfalfa

The star attraction for us was Lucifer, a 58-year-old hippo—the oldest in North America. Hippos generally do not live beyond fifty, so this guy is doing well. He was born in captivity, at the San Diego Zoo, so he’s always been cared for. He had quite the appetite and seemed to be enjoying his breakfast of alfalfa when we arrived. Get a load of that ear hair!

Westward, Ho!

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It started with a lunch date in Lake Placid, Florida. A friend of Marcus’s from New Hampshire had bought a home in Bradenton, on the west coast of the state, and wondered if we would like to meet somewhere in between there and Stuart for lunch. Sure! What’s a two-hour drive amongst friends?

But then we started thinking: If we’re going to drive halfway across the state, why not drive the whole distance and make a mini-vacation of it? I scanned my brain: What have I had a hankering to see on the west coast? It took all of a few seconds to decide—manatees!

Winter is manatee season in Florida. When the water temps in the ocean and gulf are chilly, the manatees come into the rivers and lagoons where it’s warmer. Power plants, with their warm wastewater effluence, are a draw, but the main focal points in the state are the underwater springs, typically a cozy year-round 72°—a veritable hot tub for a manatee in winter.

No less than fifty underwater springs feed Kings Bay in Crystal River, on Florida’s gulf coast, making it the second largest first-magnitude spring system in the state, according to Wikipedia, and a popular winter home to hundreds of manatees. (Wakulla Springs is the largest first-magnitude system.) I’ve always wanted to visit to see a multitude of manatees in their natural winter habitat, and this, being February and a chillier-than-average winter, seemed like the ideal time.

Of course, we made these plans in January, when the weather was much cooler. It’s warmer now, but the temperatures are still dropping into the 60s overnight. We have seen a few in the early morning. Stay tuned for more wildlife adventures….

Under construction

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We are home and planning our next adventure because the compass never stops spinning. Check out my Future Adventures tab to see some of the possibilities! I’d love your feedback and ideas.

Home again

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public forum in Seward

As you may have guessed by the gap in my posts, we are home. We left Portland two days ago—six days after we originally intended. Tropical Storm Irma (pka Hurricane Irma) was well north of Atlanta, our waypoint, and Hurricane José was still running around in circles in the Atlantic trying to decide what to do. Both Atlanta and West Palm Beach airports were fully operational, and we encountered no obstacles, thank goodness.

We arrived in West Palm Beach just 20 minutes after Marcus’s mom arrived from her hurricane haven in Connecticut. We took her home, made sure everything was working properly, and drove 45 minutes north to Stuart. We got to Publix a half hour before closing, picked up some essentials, and got home around 10:00. Except for a small roof leak that left a stain on my office ceiling (that looks, oddly, like the face of an angry badger), all is well.

Many people have asked what our next adventure will be. I’m not sure what’s in store for 2018. A year ago I had no idea we’d be going to Alaska this year. We’ve been talking about a three-to-four month trip to Australia and New Zealand. I’d love to spend a summer in Inverness, Scotland. But right now I can’t think about being away from home for that long. It feels too good to be here. I will miss the excitement of exploring new territory, but right now the familiar is welcome.

Thanks for coming along on this adventure with me. I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride and maybe even learned something about our 49th state.

Until the compass spins again, Cindy

Out of the frying pan, into the fire

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photo: Mark Graves, The Oregonian/OregonLive 9/05/17

When we decided to wait out Hurricane Irma in Portland, Oregon, we didn’t realize that we were headed into a different type of disaster—wildfire. The Columbia River Gorge east of Portland, from Troutdale to Cascade Locks, is burning. The fire was started by a teenager shooting off fireworks.

My family was there during a reunion just two months ago, enjoying what is arguably one of the most beautiful places in Oregon.

Such a shame and so preventable. We heard the kid was warned by people nearby that the dry conditions could result in a fire, yet he chose to ignore their warnings. (It’s been a very dry summer. The grass in Portland is like straw.)

We saw the smoke as far away as Seattle airport. Fortunately visibility was good enough at PDX for our flight from Seattle to land. The airport is adjacent to the Columbia River.

My old buddy, Smokey, shed a tear over this one. (An old childhood friend)

Winter is on its way

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Talkeetna Mountains, August 31, 2017

There was a dusting of snow on the Talkeetna Mountains between Denali and Talkeetna, south of the park, that wasn’t here just five days ago when we made our train ride north. Now we are southbound, on our return to Anchorage, to begin our journey home.

Winter is coming and it’s time for these two travelers to head where it’s warm. Hard to believe that it’s still summer in the Lower 48. Looking forward to some warm weather in Portland, Oregon.

Talkeetna Mountains, September 4, 2017

Clouds?

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lenticular cloud

Not to be outdone by the wildlife and mountains, the clouds have their day. These lenticular clouds were everywhere today.

Lenticular, or lens-shaped clouds, are formed by air moving over the surface of the Earth that encounters obstructions, like, say, mountains—big mountains. The air swirls around the obstacle and, under the right conditions of moisture, temperature, and dew point, can form these crazy saucer shapes that some people mistake for UFOs.

Mountain’s Majesty

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We came to see the wildlife, the kind that moves, but we never anticipated the wild beauty of these mountains. Trees, rock, snow, glaciers—it’s awe-inspiring! And if you time it just right, you might even catch a reflection off of a calm lake on a clear day.