Anniversary Cruise from Key West to West Palm April-May 2021

I don't know how to reorder these photos on this computer so what you see is what you get.

This was our first trip by plane since Sundance in Jan. 2020 due to Covid. 

Taking the pics from the top, after the photo of us, there is the Bay of Pigs invasion monument in Little Havana Miami from May 4; Drew's version of a cheeseburger from May 1 in Key West; our peacock bass from May 5; sooty tern rookery at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas from April 30; an alien that visited the SB in Key West on April 30; welcome to Little Havana in Miami on May 4; and our celebration of the anniversary itself on May 3. If one looks closely at my shirt you will see tarpon, bonefish, and permit, aka the flats Grand Slam, and wearing the shirt is about as close as I will ever get to it.

L&G and family were with us. G&T got in some golf at Ocean Reef and some fishing there too.

 

 

See my fishing journal for more on the fishing.

The long way to Maine July 14 -26, 2020

Richie, Rob, Rick H, Barry and I plus 4 of Richie’s California friends were supposed to be fishing week before last in Montana. On about June 30, as cases were trending up especially out west, I wrote the group and the outfitter that I had to cancel- I was going to be flying United and could see myself boarding a plane in Denver with a bunch of Yahoos from Texas or Arizona. United has been more lax than Delta on Covid stuff- its policy at the time was, if you check in and don’t like the looks of your flight, you can cancel and rebook. I was pretty sure the guy next to me on the plane would be wearing a MAGA face mask as his eyeshades for the early flight. Right after I cancelled Barry and the California guys did the same (one guy must have been typing his cancellation note at the exact same time I was). Rich, Rob and Rick went and had a great time but Rich just sent me an email saying if flying conditions were the same next year he wouldn’t go.

After fishing I was supposed to fly to Boston to meet C, and then we were going up to Maine to go to our niece's wedding and stay for a week for a family reunion on her side of the family. Well, Covid converted the wedding to a zoom affair and the reunion fell apart.

So C and I drove up a long way to Maine for a week to see her newly wed niece (another one by zoom) and one of her brothers.

The first stop was in the wrong direction, in Lexington where I got in a GREAT half day of fishing. 20 fish in 3.5 hours- all hard fighting 14 inch ish rainbows except one monster brown trout.2/3 on dry fly, wet wading in clear water. I only fell in once.

Next night at an inn near Hershey with a side stop at Boiling Springs Pa. Each room had a theme and ours was Africa. We had the whole place to ourselves due to Covid. The best breakfast of the trip!!

Next a night in Beacon NY with dinner with M and J, who were exiting their tick infested rental near the site of Woodstock.

Next a night visiting friends on the border between Maine and NH. The rules at this time were one needs a negative Covid test three days before entering the state. We got tested as we were supposed to. Two weeks to the day after we got tested, and 4 days after we got back home we got our results.

Then to Boothbay Harbor by way of Freeport and LLBean.

We had a great time. Our rental was very well appointed with a great covered porch. We watched Anne and Wesley's wedding via Zoom. I got some fishing in but mostly just lazed around reading. People believed in masks and you could not enter anything public without one on.

I had to search hard for public access fishing spots due to no local knowledge. I had one great hour or so of catching smallmouth bass and largemouth bass at Appalachee Pond near our rental. On another day I went farther afield and found the perfect place to wade in clear water where i could see fish jumping and rising. By the time I got my gear ready to go, a couple of cars with giggly teenagers and a unicorn float pulled up. End of fishing.

One night in a restaurant in Southport and a wonderful breakfast one day at Mama D's.

Connie has a 30 + day streak going of 6.3 miles per day walking. I joined her for about an 8 day streak of my own. On the last day I did my own run and had an unusual thing happen. I ran by one of those speed signs that tells you what you are doing in a speed restricted zone- you are going 45 in a 25 speed limit. Anyway the radar picked up my speed at 5 miles per hour. Not bad for an old man.

 On the way home, we were supposed to stop to break up the trip at a hotel in upstate NY. We decided to push on and when I called to cancel my hotel they said we were too late and I would forfeit $400 (weekend rate) for the night. Then C mentioned our Virginia license plates and they said they would cancel without penalty. The only good thing to come out of Covid so far.

When we left home, our air conditioner for one level was broken, we had sprung a water main leak, and the guys renovating our kitchen were supposed to start the demolition. We got back and the water and AC were fixed but no progress on the demo. At least we missed a week of 100+ degree temperatures here. It was only 88 tops in Maine.

Now it’s back to the heat, the demo, and not knowing where anything that was in the kitchen is.

On the trail of the Atlantic Sturgeon

A short addition to the Fishing Journal- 9/20/2014

My Dad got me interested in work being done at VCU by Matt Balazik on Atlantic Sturgeon. I contacted Matt, helped him out a little, and basically pestered him to take me out one time when he is netting and tagging the sturgeon.
This day was a beautiful late summer day, clear, 70s- low 80s, with a nice 10 mph breeze. We left from VCU's Rice Center in King Charles County Va on the James and proceeded upstream just past Hopewell and right at the entrance to the Presqu'ile cutoff. That's where Matt set his nets. His cute wife came along to help him with the boat driving and the record keeping.
Late September is getting to the end of the season and the males are waiting around in low salt water for ovulating females. This year we haven't had any rain so the fish have pushed far up river and even been seen where I shad fish at 14th Street in Richmond.
Before setting the net Matt put his hydrophone in the water to listen to fish which had been tagged earlier. We could hear lots, some more clearly than others. When the numbers would show on the screen, I was amazed that Matt knew the numbers and tag history by heart. We did not find any of my tagged and named fish from the last couple of years.
We caught and tagged 3 in a short day and worked in a little outreach with folks who were visiting the nature preserve.

These males were about 5 feet 6-10 inches long. With these 3 Matt has tagged about 470 fish in all and about 75 or so this year. An excellent day.

Another long weekend in the mountains in 3 parts

Part One- June 5-8, 2014

Connie and I went to Lexington to attend Bob and Barbara Priddy's daughter Kendall's wedding at their house on Brushy Hill on the 7th.

Reservations for wedding guests were saved at Col Alto, the local Hampton Inn. Connie and I learned from our Greenbrier weekend that Teddy and Ann Parker G's new venture, the Georges in Lexington, formerly the Alexander Withrow House, had 5 bedrooms open and we jumped over there at Teddy's invitation. We were supposed to be kind of guinea pigs and try things out.

The link, which I will have to come back to later to establish because the web site is not quite ready,  will take you to Gordon's beautiful photos of the Georges. We were on the third floor in room number 4 which is high enough off the street so there isn't any car noise and had great views of Old George and a bit of the Lee Chapel.

I had scheduled a meeting late Thursday afternoon with the current W&L students holding the Elisabeth S. Gottwald Scholarship at W&L, who both happened to working in the same psychology lab this summer. We met them at Elrod Commons and had a great chat about why W&L for these two northerners, about student life in general, and about their various activities. Lindsay is in the class of 2015, a psychology major, and a key player on the women's field hockey team. She found W&L from Maine thru her sister who went to VMI. Emily is in the class of 2016- these are the first two students to be awarded the scholarship. Emily is a neurosciences and music major and is in charge of the lab where they are working this summer. She was attracted to W&L because it would let her pursue both of her interests and do real research as a freshman. Both came across as wonderful girls and made me pleased that they hold the scholarship.



After that meeting, Connie and I went back to the Georges where we had made dinner reservations at Haywood's  (named after AP's Dad) restaurant and where the chef had told us he wanted to try some new things on us. It was a small plates dinner of about 6 or 7 courses and with all kinds of new tastes and combinations of things which I could never have conceived of. My two favorites were the shrimp taco and the pate (I would never order pate) made from pork and with home made mustard.
We were the only diners in the restaurant- there was a VMI alumni association board or something similar to that cocktail party going on at the same time.

One last comment about the Georges- the staff was super friendly and helpful. Thomas Burke is the manager, Tina is helping them get started. Our waiter is a student at Southern Virginia U, formerly known as Southern Sem, and is having his second child on the 4th of July, so Connie knitted him a baby blue baby hat. Later I ran into the chef on the street and asked him how he was doing. His response- "living the dream".
The next day (Friday) I went fishing on Buffalo Creek with my super fishing guide John Roberts (see Part Two) while Connie made a road trip up toward Raphine and then Brownsburg to visit a knitting store.

Dinner that night was at the Southern Inn- very good, and very casual, but a step down.

Saturday was a work day (getting ready for teaching English to the Russkis in Siberia) for Connie so she went to the library in Bridgewater while I went to the Project Healing Waters fishing event for wounded warriors at the 3 contiguous properties on Mossy Creek (mine, Stump's, and Bob Fitch's). This was my second year attending and it is very heartwarming. Beyond that, this little effort has raised about $750,000 for Healing Waters and veterans in 7 years!!

Saturday evening was the wedding. It was a perfect night and a perfect setting.

The wedding took place on the east side of the house and then the west side was set up for the buffet and there was a band stand where The Hot Nuts, or some group which licensed the famous name were playing. It was a clear night and there was a long hill up to a beautiful view of the valley, VMI and W&L. Connie and I caught up with several old friends. There were wedding dogs, multiple wedding photographers, and even a drone circling overhead taking pictures. Bob and Barbara were very happy.

On the next morning there was a getaway breakfast at Evans Dining Hall at W&L complete with W&L trident waffles. Kay and Richard Clary and several others were the hosts.

Part Two- Fishing Journal Buffalo Creek, Friday June 6

There had been rain earlier in the week and John was a little worried about muddy water but it cleared as the day went on. John and I had our usual equipment problems as we got started- slipped knots, broken  leaders, lost flies. I think I missed 20 fish, and, in a variant of Dennis' accusation that I missed the bonefish because of a "trout strike", John accused me of using a "bass strike". we tried 5 or 6 different spots on his stretch of the creek, including a couple of very deep holes, some ledges and some still water with success at every one. In sum, I probably caught 20 fish between 11 and 4 pm, all up from 14 inches, the biggest a good 22 inches, using nymphs and streamers. 

I got a couple of bites on a dry fly but no catches. In addition I caught a few smallmouth bass, sunfish and a rock bass.

Part Three- Wild and wonderful West Virginia, June 8-10

John and Deborah invited us to come with them after the getaway brunch to the condo in Glade Springs, WV. Glade is about 70 miles further west from White Sulphur, so about 255 miles from Richmond. It's a long haul but well worth it. Glade has three golf courses (John and Deborah's condo is on one of them), is owned by Jim Justice, owner of the Greenbrier too, sits on a big gorge of Glade Creek, and has an 80 acre lake in addition to many ponds as water hazards.

The first day we just lazed around and had some great burgers from the grill for dinner.

Connie and I took a long walk around the property the next morning and then DJ and I went paddle boarding and kayaking on the big lake.

More lazing around for the rest of the day capped by a serious corn hole game in which the Gs came from way, way behind to win- probably the pinnacle of my lifetime athletic achievement. For the evening's entertainment John and I got on the internet and googled old bands like Jay and the Techniques and watched what You Tube had to offer. James Brown and Little Stevie Wonder looked good and Joe Cocker is still stoned.

In the morning Connie and I took a longer walk in the opposite direction and then hit the road for home.

All in all, a varied but very much enjoyable, very long weekend.

Spirit of the Desert Tour with Tauck Sept. 2012

For just the pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/103487700054521552182/TauckSpiritOfTheDesertSept2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOGRlIbT6sbXwQE&feat=directlink 


But for the narrative, first, the trip before the trip-

Connie left on Sept. 9th for San Fran to visit Jill, Graham, Ravenna, and Theron. I followed her to SF on Friday, the 14th.

My trip to S F was easy except for a lot of lost time due to my trouble navigating the airport and BART. I checked us into the hotel in the middle of Berkeley and near the U. Then I went over to Jill's to meet Theron. He is a very cute, very big baby who looks just like Ravenna did at the same age. Ravenna is very well behaved around Theron and calls him "Baby Boy".

C and I took Ravenna on BART back to the Shattuck Plaza Hotel to take Connie's overnight bag (she is getting a 2 night break in the hotel but then back to the guest room at Jill's- Ravenna has moved into the old guest room where we stayed before). Apparently Ravenna likes the bus better than BART but enjoyed the rides anyway.

C made riboletto for dinner and then we got a real SF treat on the way back to Shattuck on BART- we got to ride for about ten minutes near a ranting guy who spoke in rap talk including a lot of the usual unacceptable words and an associate who agreed with everything the ranter had to say.

In the morning C and took an hour plus walk around campus. We were disappointed we could not get into the stadium, enjoyed the college atmosphere, noted the Tulane like variety of architecture, and stopped at the International House (which has a sign saying it is situated in a seismically active zone).

In the afternoon we visited Jill and family (the Ron's first outing to a restaurant) and were joined by Beth and then saw a stream of friends at Jill's- Graham's best man Jeff and wife and one year old, one of Graham's friends from work and two of his children and then even a candidate for a daytime baby sitting job for Theron. Dinner was very spicy chile (Jill thinks there was a typo in the recipe).

Now for my trials on the 16th attempting to get to Reno and then to the Arc- I took a cab to the airport which only took 25 minutes (compared to about an hour on BART which was not running because of the early hour). After a few misdirections outside security I got to the gate. As I walked up they announced a long list of cancellations due to fog and a closed runway, but my flight began with 71 and all the cancelled ones began with 66. I had a nice breakfast and some coffee and was reading a book when they went thru the list again. This time I paid more attention and noticed my flight had two numbers including one that was cancelled. I spoke to the airline lady and she could put me stand by on a flight in 3 hours and definitely on one in 6 hours. I did the math counting the wait, the 3 hour drive from Reno to the Arc, and the 5 hour drive thru (hantavirus infested) Yosemite and decided to drive it. The one good thing is that I learned I still am a Hertz Gold member.

I got to the Arc in time to meet Rich Guess, catch 2 tiny fish, and have dinner with JDG at Nevado's.

Monday, Sept. 17- on the Owens River at the Arc Richie and I got up and started fishing at the bottom of the property at about 9:30. I quickly lost John's nymph rig and moved on to dry flies- PMX, Parachute Adams, and Elk Hair Caddis. Fairly quickly there must have been a catch because I started catching fish, albeit very small ones. I did catch one club sized fish right near the bank on a bend with an Adams and another almost club size with a streamer in one of the deep pools.

After lunch we continued upstream and I was using my Tenkara rod. I caught another nearly club fish on it (how to handle a big fish on the Tenkara is a question) and I lost one even bigger along the edge when he chomped the line. All in all we both had a 20+ fish day, with the size average in the 8-10 inch range.

Richie left at the crack of dawn the next morning so I was on my own. It started off very slowly but at about 10:30 someone threw a switch and I could not avoid catching fish- same flies plus a Caddis emerger. It slowed down after lunch but I caught a nice one out of a pool by drifting a crayfish. The Tenkara was lots of fun. At the end of the day I moved up to the picnic table area to try hoppers. I caught one and then went back to the Adams. I ended the day with at least 40 fish caught of all sizes but a slightly higher average than the day before. I also broke the tip section of my Tenkara rod when I was putting it away.

Wednesday, Sept. 19- early drive to Reno to meet Connie in Phoenix and on to Grand Junction Colorado and the 90 minute drive to Redcliffs Lodge near Moab. Friendly, chatty Christina drove us and told us about the landscape and more.

The view at Redcliffs

Thursday, Sept. 20- this was our day of leisure before meeting the Tauck tour in the evening. We went for a walk for about an hour and a half and then lazed around the hotel. One of the surprises about Redcliffs is that there is a Moab/ Monument Valley Movie Museum in the lodge. It all started in Moab in 1949 with Rio Grande and John Ford and John Wayne. Other films shot there include parts of Thelma and Louise, some other known ones and lots that didn't make it. Compare this picture from the movie museum to the view above from our room:

And then I have to add this one just to show off:

Friday, Sept 21- The Tauck Dawn Patrol, as recommended by Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, caused us to get up at 5 am today. We had a bus ride in the dark into Arches National Park so we could catch the changing light at the Windows arches. We also saw Turret Arch, Balancing Rock, Delicate Arch, Ham Rock, and Park Avenue. The director, Cindy Walker, is quite knowledgeable and has a good voice for early am bus rides. New terms include crypto- biotic crust and desert varnish. After lunch back at Redcliffs, we had a 3 mile very gentle raft trip. No wildlife but lots of big sky and red rocks.

Saturday, Sept. 22- Group photo looking into the sun this morning, then Connie went with the group to Castle Rock (after which the vineyard here is named) and the Lasal Canyon. I went for a hike on the red rock horse trails across the road from the lodge. The uphill grade got my heart pounding hard (we are at about 4000 feet this only added a few hundred more) but it led to great views of the lodge property, the cliffs, and the Colorado River valley. Downhill was easier but still a good strain on the legs.

Castle Rock is 2000 feet above ground level here, with 3 or 4 acres on top, and is the location of those car on the top of a butte ads.

When Connie and the rest got back, we were very fortunate to have a lecture by William Yazee, who is a full blooded Navajo Indian and is retiring from the Park Service in a few months. He spoke about Navajo religion, language, history of the people in oral tradition and from anthropologists, reservation life and government, dress, marriage and other customs (they celebrate a baby's first laugh), and the WWII code talkers.

We went into the town of Moab for lunch (can't write about that experience but ask if you want) and then to Canyonlands NP. There we went thru Island in the Sky to Mesa Arch (see Connie on top of Mesa Arch) and then to Grand Viewpoint. No use describing- just look at the picture. We had a picnic dinner in Utah state park called Dead Horse Point, from which you can see the area where Thelma and Louise's car went over.

Actually the high point of the day was that we got to ride most of the day in the bus with Karl Tangren who is 81 (today) and has been a  wrangler, cowboy, restaurant owner, movie double and uranium miner around here since 1949 (when John Ford came to shoot Rio Grande here). He regaled us all with stories for about 6 hours on and off the bus.

Sunday, Sept. 23- Sadly, We leave Moab for flight seeing over to Bryce Canyon in single engine Cessnas. This area has been just amazing in the scale and scope of the geology, and the lodge has been great. Also for the rest of the trip it is one or two night stands in the lodges which means a lot of time packing and unpacking.

     The Capitol Reef, which seemed insurmountable

to the pioneers coming west (I don't know why it changed font).

The weather was cloudy with some showers visible in the distance- actually this was the first day we have even seen a cloud. We flew over a mesa of slick rock, the Green River drainage, more of Canyonlands, then the Henry Mountains and Capitol Reef, and then into Bryce. It was our first glimpse of hoodoos which look a lot like drip castles. When we got to the Lodge we could walk right up to the canyon rim and see the hoodoos a lot closer. Dinner at the Lodge.

Monday, Sept. 24- we got up at about 7 and went for a hike along the rim and down into the amphitheater a way to see the hoodoos a little closer. Then after breakfast more hiking along the rim at Bryce Point and Inspiration Point. Connie saw a Stellers Jay on the ground and I saw one in the air.

The group hit the road in the bus after lunch to go to Zion. Again there was striking geology and views but different from all the prior places. After being at 8300 feet at Bryce Point, at Zion (place of sanctuary to the Mormon settlers in the 1870s) we are at 5500 feet truly in a canyon, with trees, and a small river after so much dry country, looking up at huge rock walls. We saw mountain sheep on the cliffs and wild turkeys in front of the lodge. 2 lectures- one on the Utah Park Company which ran the parks early in the 20 century until 1973, and then another on the condor restoration program- both excellent.

                                The Narrows

Right now I am going to check some strange noises outside my window.

Tuesday, Sept. 25- second in Zion. We got up at first light and went for a hike, or actually a combination of 3 or 4 hikes. We went to Lower Emerald Pool, then Middle, then Upper, then the Kayienta Trail and then the Grotto trail back to the Lodge. All in all it might have been 2.5 or 3 miles, but we saw it all- hanging gardens, dripping rocks, misty waterfalls, pools, cactus, and good views of the Virgin River.

Next up was an open air tram ride to the upper canyon where our guide identified a lot of the mountains, including one called Angels Landing which is where the condors roost, the organ, the pulpit, the throne among others.

A little later we came back to the end of the Upper Canyon by tram and hiked in to the Narrows. As we went upstream the riverbed took up more and more of the opening in the rocks until we were in a slot canyon. One can go further up for miles but one needs to ford the river so we went back.

As I was catching up on emails a buck, a doe, and 2 fawn mule deer walked right by me on the porch.

                          

2 lectures today too, one on the railroad as sponsor of the parks and the other on what animals see and sense.

Off to the North Rim tomorrow.

Wednesday, Sept. 26- this was a travel day by bus from Zion to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and the lodge there. Upon leaving Zion we went thru a number of Mormon communities and even some supposedly populated by fundamentalist LDS people (the ones who still believe in polygamy). We stopped at a place called Pipe Springs which is located within the Paiute reservation. It was built like a fort over a spring, has really thick stone walls, and had a history as a tithing farm for the Mormons- the old rural Mormons would pay their tithe in cows.

Then we went on to Kaibab National Forest and the Jacob Lake Inn for lunch where I bought a really interesting Navajo rug woven by Kathleen Nelson.

A couple of more photo opportunity stops including Imperial Point where got our first view of the canyon and then we came to the lodge. We are now at 8300 feet compared to perhaps 4400 feet at Zion. Today we drove thru desert scrub then meadows then forests with a mix of evergreen and quaking aspens.

Thursday, Sept. 27- Grand Canyon Lodge at the North Rim. Last night we had a special lecture by former park ranger who is retired and used to manage Zion. He was very sincere and devoted park employee who loved his work and loved the parks.

This was a free day and so, after taking some sunrise pictures, Connie and I walked the Transept Trail out to the campground and then the Bridle Trail back to the Lodge. While on the trail out Connie called Deborah (cell service in the true middle of nowhere), and I talked to her for a moment while we were going up a hill and could really feel the altitude.

What can be said about the Grand Canyon? One of the quotes often used by the various guides is that the visitor often leaves with a "troubled sense of immensity". That about says it- it is huge, awe inspiring, silent, and magnificent.

In the afternoon Connie went for a burro ride on Homer down into the canyon and I relaxed and went for another hike. On the way back in one parking lot I counted license plates and came up with 30 different states.

Friday, Sept. 28- Flight seeing day in 14 seat Otters over the canyon and then into Boulder, Nev. When we got to Las Vegas Connie and I walked down the east side of the strip as far as the Palazzo. We liked the Venetian but mostly Vegas is like going to the State Fair. I had another "troubled sense of immensity" with the addition of cheesiness.

At night we had the farewell dinner and from the volume of noise in the room you would have thought it was a 5 year class reunion.

Saturday, Sept. 29- home via Mnpls. I am glad we changed the flight home to today because the President is coming to Vegas tomorrow.

One more note- not many new birds- Western BlueBird, Mountain Bluebird and Steller's Jay only.