Bird Week 10: Chincoteague

Well the long anticipated Bird Week 10 is here. We are in double digits so it is fitting that we do 2 birds photos every day!. There must be bells pealing celebrations in the hills and valleys still no need to send extra funds. All of these were taken early in December on a weekend jaunt with four photographers and it was a lot of fun. Most of the birds I hoped to see, I did not or they were at a great distance. So I shot more tiny birds and there are not many song birds smaller than the Yellow-rump Warbler also known as the Myrtle Warbler. It is ubiquitous this time of year and you can pretty well count on the fact that a small darting bird here in December will be another one of these. Their song is beautiful but they don’t sing too much in the winter. Still love to see them flocking around the trees and bushes and adding the color of their bright yellow feathers to the rather drab winter foliage.

Oh, and there will be a startling announcement at the end of the week.

A more subtile colored female

The brighter male warbler.

"To God Be The Glory Great Things He Has Done..."

This is a rare clear view of Denali. It is said by the rangers there that only 31% of the people coming to Denali NP see the mountain. We were clearly fortunate as we saw it three times in 9 days and this was the most clear. It is taken from 37 miles away and it dominates the view. Those other peaks are Rocky Mountain tall and much closer. We were here earlier and could not see anything and various people around us were also spectulating on if that glimpse or that one was Denali. Then the sky clears and there is no doubt. Your are overwhelmed.

This is from the blessing of the infant Jesus at the temple by Simeon:

“He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” Luke 2:32 NLT

Pleasant Surprise (2 photos)

As we re-entered Louisiana from near Shreveport on our fall trip our initial destination was the Creole historic area near the town of Natchitoches, LA. What a wonderful place the town turned out to be, just beautiful with a great history and architecture that predates New Orleans. In the town is a reconstructed French fort. It is unusual because it was rebuilt using the original plans for the fort that were found in some archives in France. So it is a very authentic reproduction. It turned out to be well worth the time to explore.The museum was well done, the fort and environs equally first rate. And, besides free parking, old folks like me were free. This town is a gem and one that I would love to re-visit and if ever required to live in Louisiana, this would be my spot. Although while I might learn to pronounce it correctly in a few months (NAW ka tish) it would be years before I learned to spell it! Learn more about Louisiana’s oldest city at https://www.natchitoches.com

This view of the fort is approaching from the VC.

Welcome to 2021: New Horizons - Same Landscape

The celebration of New Year is always a bit of a mystery to me. I know on January 2nd the same issues and problems that beset me in December are still with me and that truth quickly leads a lot of people to some sort of regret or despair. Circumstances do not change with the calendar. 

However you do need time to reflect at points in life and while March 18th or August 3rd does as well as December 31 - possibly better depending on your level of celebration, for most it is the beginning of a new calendar year where that retrospection is done. So I go along.  

I have an annual weight loss effort, not a big deal but the holiday eating adds a bit and that needs to come off, usually in a month or three. I also often pick out something I want to learn, last year I started carving. This year, a bit more knowledge about cooking or baking. Even though the Year of Learning Pie Making was sort of a disaster. I also enjoy - who knew - the carving so that will increase and I hope to gain some skill there. The painting of the carvings which I did not consider at first really needs to improve. 

My reading for pleasure is consistent over many years - about 55 books a year, however, I am going to add more history and back off a bit from so many mysteries. But not my favorite writers! And, as usual, re-read C. S. Lewis. I will need to find a new home for another 150 or so of my church centric library so if you are interested, text me.

Photographically, my goal is to always produce more consistent and more pleasing (to me) photos. To that end, while always hopeful of more travel, great light, and a huge moose to walk past, I am determined to get out twice each week specifically to take images. I am not thrilled with Raleigh from that stand point. Urban grittiness and suburban sameness are not something I would wish to do often, occasionally it is fine. I intended to shoot at the two gardens in Raleigh and the one at Duke last year and they closed in March and have stayed closed so that did not work out. There is a state park near us, while it is not an inspiring place for photography I am sure I can do better than I have in the past there. Otherwise driving 30 or 40 minutes is the norm so I hope to explore more of the smaller parks that dot the town and some additional portions of the greenway. Never-the-less shooting intentionally twice a week is the goal. I’ll let you know how long that lasts, especially with work starting again on January 4th.

For trips, I really hope we can escape the virus restrictions and those dictates become less needed each day and that brings me to the biggest event of 2021, our 50th wedding anniversary. We have decided to celebrate it in Disney -ish fashion and have a year long adventure. In January we have Kellen’s high school graduation & Cindy’s birthday. In February we travel to Florida to actually have an event at Disney with some of our family. April brings a big trip as C and I fly to Los Angeles then tour parks in CA, NV, and AZ for a week ending back in LA where I will drive back to NC with Kellen while his dad, who drove west with him, will fly back to NC with Cindy. Watch for the C-2-C-2-C adventure on TLT. Our actual anniversary is in May. We also hope in the fall to tour the northern Mid-West, spend a bit of time in our home area near Pittsburgh, travel across New England and return to our favorite place, Acadia. 

I have some vague plans for Two Lane Touring web site but those will be pulled together by late January. 

Still there? Happy New Year to you.

Where do we go this year?

2020 Photo Review and More... (2 Photos)

It has been a year - interesting, challenging, different and difficult. January and February were months of work at Waypoint for me that continued across the first six months of 2020. Yet by March the work was changing and now I saw most people in little boxes on the computer. And all of that also effected photography. At first during the colder winter, I had not planned much shooting and by March I was uncertain what was wise and what was not. I did meet Dennis Mook (www.thewanderinglensman.com) for a day photographing near Roanoke Rapids and it was odd just being out. By June I was anxious to find a place to travel and we took the trailer to Lancaster, PA and stayed for several days at one campground for a home base and traveled around the area finding photo opportunities. Dennis and Kathy joined us for that outing. It was so nice and felt so safe we went back a month later with Tom Light. He stayed in a cottage at the same campground and we again had a super time. Finally in mid-September we embarked on a five week trip that I outlined Tuesday. Then in November we spent a few days in Massanutten with Tom and Dave & Jean Faith. What a nice time and we toured a bit of the Blue Ridge, Shenandoah and some of the small towns nearby. Finally a short trip to Chincoteague NWR with Dennis and three of his friends (all former police officers who were trainers and leaders) and me. I was honored to be asked and had a really good time with the four of them. 

Most of the photos I took were during those times of travel. My best ones were likely those at the Great Smoky Mountain National Park but I took a lot of others too. 

One of the things I gained this year was shooting photos more carefully. Taking a bit more time with composition is important but equally is thinking about the settings you are using in camera. In both of those I improved this year and I can see the changes in my images. Lots to still learn but grateful for growth. One thing that makes me happy is when I look at a scene and try and image the settings in camera, set them and find out it they were right is something I could not do a year or two ago at all, now it is a skill I am learning. 

My software used to process photos is also changing and that is less than a happy thing but I press on. 

My second learning task for 2020 was to try wood carving. Something else I knew nothing about. The project has turned out to be enjoyable and I have done 49 carvings this year (still have nearly all my fingers) and have forced about half of them on unsuspecting people. I plan to continue carving so look out. 

And, if you see this terrific young man anywhere today, wish him a happy eighteenth birthday. So very proud of him. Much more on Kellen later.

These are Christmas “sweaters’ I carved for Geof and family. The first three are themes that Cindy has been following for ornaments since they were small and later two are Disney -ish. Minnie and Dapper Dan’s Hat. Geof ran marathons with his friends dressed as the Dans.

2020 Two Lane Touring Site Recap (4 photos)

First, thanks to each of you who occasionally or regularly spent a bit of time on Two Lane Touring. I appreciate your time and will strive to make your stop here better in 2021. (Announcements for 2021 - this Friday!)

As expected viewers were down this year v last year. I think the combination of less travel and not going to Alaska for a 4 month trip were the main reasons. There certainly was a lot of interest in the Alaska journey. We had a decline of just under 7% in individuals and about twice that in pages viewed. But things were still pretty good for TLT this year. We had more than 5200 visits and 15,000 plus pages visited. And we increased regular viewers by nearly 40 to 96 who visited more than 30 times in a year. Most views come from the US where NC and VA count for the majority with nine other states over 100. We had guests on the site from all but two states, DE and KS. There were also visitors from 29 additional countries with Norway leading the way and Canada a close second.

in order to do the site we travel and in order to travel we use our trailer and vehicle to pull it. The Oliver slipped past 59,000 miles this year and has held up really well. A blown tire did damage to some fiberglass but it was expertly repaired and the damaged water heater replaced. Our 2007 Ford Explored Sport Trac was retired from service. It did a wonderful job and the 60,000 miles we added were not easy ones. We were impressed with the truck and it did a super job to Alaska and back. We sold it to a woman from Maryland who was searching for that exact type of truck. She was happy. We replaced it with a Toyota Sequoia with more towing capacity and lots of interior room. So far so good.

Sometimes you get 300 or 400 spaces to yourself on an overnight!

The new owner of a great truck.

The new Official Two Lane Touring Transportation Pod

In case you were worried, we eat well on the road. Very well.

2020 Park Recap

As with every paragraph that begins with anything about 2020 it is required by law (or Dr. Fauci) that it begin with a disclaimer: It was not a good year and nothing that was planned happened. In our case plans were disrupted but we have done well. Being in the home more, while we missed friends, travel and an occasional restaurant, was not really bad and in many ways pleasant. But we know that is not the norm for many people. 

Our travel plans and the parks we intended to visit and photograph were completely changed. 2020 was supposed to be the year we completed the upper mid-west parks (most of which did not even open) and visit Hawaii (most of which did not even open)- which would be our 50th state to visit and view the parks there. Those plans were canceled. However we did get a trip done in September and October.  Hauling your own bed, bath and kitchen (i am so tempted to write “beyond” here, oh, guess I did:) enabled us to be comfortable and safely travel. A big plus for a trailer in a difficult situation.

We started with a park near Atlanta, Kennesaw Mountain NBP where the visitor center was open and we walked a short hike and drove around the area. Then, after a stop in Birmingham for a wedding and the Birmingham Civil Rights NM we crossed Alabama to Mississippi and Vicksburg Battlefield. This was a revisit but first time photographing. Most of the roads were open, the VC was not nor the museum at the ironclad. Our next stop was the Natchez NHS. Neither of the two main buildings were open but the grounds of the mansion were. No VC and no exhibits. We did tour a private home, Rosealie, that was very nice and a neat history. The travel also included several miles on the Natchez Trace Parkway. We stayed near Jackson but did not know about the Medgar Ever’s home now the 423rd park. On to Louisiana and Poverty Point. Like most of the mounds in the NP system, it is not too visually exciting but the culture it represents is fascinating. From there we took a side jaunt to the Chennault Aviation Museum in Monroe. It was pretty well done for a small museum and we also watched volunteers across the street rebuilding historic aircraft. Then on to Arkansas Post. The NP site grounds were open and the state museum of the same name a few miles away had some exhibits and buildings open. Next stop was the Central High School in Little Rock. The civil rights VC/museum was open and well done, the school was not but walking the grounds was fine. We then spent two days at Hot Springs National Park. Only parts of the park were open yet the downtown was interesting and kept us occupied. The last stop in Arkansas was President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home NHS. It is the longest name of any park I recall and the least to offer. The house was closed. The VC open with eight or so banners with information on people important to him. That was it. The property is crowded by highways and streets and generally one of those that make you wonder how on earth it became a NP unit. 

Back in Louisiana we arrived at the Cane River Creole NHP and what an intriguing place. We visited two old and nearly intact plantations, explored the town of Natchitoches - which was beautiful and just excellent -good food, nice people, great time there. That completed the NPS units in Louisiana for us. We still visited Baton Rouge, stayed a night at John “Bo Duke” Schneider’s movie set and toured Mobile and nearby state parks. Traveling to Montgomery we were able to visit parts of the Freedom Riders NM, then north a bit to Horseshoe Bend NB, Little River Canyon NPRES and, completing Alabama, Russell Cave near the Tennessee line. Of the four only the VC at Russell Cave was open. The drive around LRC was fine but the state park nearby was quite interesting with a nice campground. Stamps were few - available either outside on a table, in the VC if open or just not there at all. 

Finally we spent two weeks in the Great Smoky Mountain NP: five days on the south side, one week on the north side and two days on the eastern end. A big bonus of the trip was that we visited with several friends and that was special.

So for the numbers, 13 new parks bringing our year end total to 279 of 423.

Splash of Yellow

Ely's Coming...

…no idea what Three Dog Night’s music has to do with this photo except the mill is known as Ely’s mill. You can see it today on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail in the GSMNP. And it is a wonderful hour plus trip if you get to the Smokys it is a must do drive. The mill was build by Andrew Jefferson Ely in 1925. A. J. Ely, known as "Old Man Ely," was a Yale law school graduate, a practicing Tennessee lawyer and a printer. One web site says if he liked you he would talk for hours if he didn’t “he would take the afternoon off to tell you why.” We were here on a perfect morning for color this past fall. The mill is across the road from the house posted Saturday.

Bend (and one of my favorite GSMNP photos)

The twists and turns of the mountain streams along with the dense mountain laurel thickets that often crowd the banks make traveling off trail tough. A friend and I (Steve, Hi!) were hiking one December more than a few years ago when an unknown party suggested that we could cut across a small valley and reconnect with the trail and save some time because it was about ten degrees and we were losing light. The plan went fine until we neared the stream and it took at least an hour to work our way through the laurel on each side of the stream and find a place to cross. And it got colder and darker before we ever got back to the car. Or at least that is what I remember of that bright December day in the GSMNP,

“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.” Psalm 37:23,24 NLT

Set in Gold

This simple cabin is in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It is on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail that you access just out of Gatlingburg. God’s ornamentation exceeds all expectations.

Twelve Days .12

Joyous Christmas

This is a composite (my first ever effort in that area) of a small pottery nativity made in Peru and the “Christmas Star” that was visible on 12/21 near Raleigh. I love the fact that each culture uses appropriate imagery for their culture because, as the angel proclaimed, “Don’t be afraid!” he said “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Luke 2 10-12 NLT

So to all people may blessings and joy be yours today in Jesus who is the Christ

Twelve Days .11

“The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing”

Twelve Days .10

This is Bill’s Seafood in Chincoteague, Virginia on the Eastern Shore and the town is famous for the Chincoteague Ponys and the swim that takes place every July. But for photographers and especially those that wish to photograph birds, it is a wonderland. This year in early December the count was a bit low but the week after the numbers increased significantly. I was there at the invitation of Dennis Mook who goes each year with three of his friends. I was honored to be invited but their judgement seems a bit lacking as they appeared to invite me to the next outing as well. I had a super time. Bill’s is a fine place to enjoy local seafood andI highly recoomend it if you visit. As well as a shout out to the Island Creamery, one of the top ten ice creams (Marsh Mud is amazing) in the country, IMHO.

And Santa in a sleigh with his cocktail in hand being pulled by the actual Jumbo Shrimp, is clearly a unique decoration. My vote for the most intriguing of 2020.

Twelve Days .9

These are the oppoeite ends of the street in Raleigh, Fayetteville St., that runs from the State Capitol to what used to have a cool name until it became the Duke Energy Center. This stretch of road is used for the farmer’s market in the summer, concerts and street vender, food trucks and, vaious protests authorized and otherwise with an occasional riot tossed in. This night it is quiet, a misty night heavy with moisture and subtile silence. The tree the only nod to the holiday on the grounds of the State House, the more magificant tree by the old Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. I love how the light bends up the stairs in front of each column.

The seasons most unique decoration is tomorrow!

Twelve Days .8 (only four photos, thank goodness)

Some of the odder decorations I have seen recently, or at least those I remembered to take a photo of them. A salute to the unique.

The old “oil can” reindeer? Or is it a moose? Anyway we all recall the night Oil Can Reindeer saved Christmas by lubricating the sleigh.

Not only can RVers decorate but you can decorate with an RV. And this one is nearly life size if you own an Oliver Elite, like, ahem, we do.

Some people are afraid of snowmen, but Lefty here is all bark and no bite. That was sappy. It will get worse if I go on. Leave your “ringer” names in the comments.

This arrived from one of the places we have some savings. Makes you wonder about our judgement.

Twelve Days .7

You will occasionally read about the need to keep the focus of Christmas on Jesus. Those notes are a good thing after three days of Hallmark movies. It is not a bad thing to add all the family, peace, presents and cookies to the mix but it is, as today’s photo emphasizes, necessary to remember the actual events that sparked the season of Christmas and the real person at the center of them all.

“All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: ‘Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’’” Matthew 1: 22,23 NLT

Twelve Days .6 (two photos)

One place to see the unusual is the “Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration.” I am sure that includes lots of gingerbread structures, regular lights and candy canes but it also includes a set of trees with Disney movie themes and then there is the campground, Fort Wilderness. There Disney doesn’t have to do a thing because the regular December campers decorate, well, to excess is an understatement. People are here every year for a month and go all out on the light displays.

There is an RV in this picture, somewhere! This is one camp site at Fort Wilderness.

The Ms Poppins tree - quick iPhone shot.

Twelve Days .5

This just made me simile. But there is more to the story. A group of penguins on land is called a waddle. Cute. A group of young penguins on land is a creche. And the more famous of the usage of that word, right, the display of the nativity, or a creche. So, clearly these are young penguins - see the spectacled keeper towering over them, and they are on land at Christmas. How perfect.

Twelve Days .4 (two photos)

McAdenville, near Charlotte bills itself as Christmas Town - and they live up to the nickname. Scores of homes are fully decorated, town trees are trimmed and brightly garbed in colorful lights and in normal years -2020 does not count as one of those, the small lake is a reflecting pool of Christmas Trees that is the focal point of celebrations. We got there well ahead of the 5:30 start time, parked and walked to a bakery where we had a slice of cake (shared!) for dinner. Then about 5:15 we started on a nearly four mile walk. House after house glowed with santas and snowmen and every imaginable type of light. What was especially neat were the kids. They were thrilled. One little guy kept running to the next house and yelling about something he would see. It was a joyful night. Lots of kids seemed to delight in wishing you a “merry Christmas” and mons and dads were delighting in their fun. Quite a nice night.

Twelve Days .3

This is clearly not the spectacular photos you pay to see here. (But nice Bokeh) I am coming home late tonight and this was one of two back-ups that I prepared incase of emergency. What is unique about Santa you may ask. Well, this one is unique as it is the only one in the world. That must qualify, right? This fellow with his bag of toys about to descend the chimney is one I carved a last month. In my on-going quest to learn Flat Plane Carving, he is number 37 for the year. Hoping to get to 52 but it is not looking good. I am completing 44 this week, still, 8 more in two weeks is a stretch. More to the point, I am learning, a bit. What I am really learning is how much I don’t know and that is a good thing for the process of any skill. For example, I get lots of “fuzzies” and I make too many shallow cuts on edges and I still don’t know how to cut a smooth line across grain and, actually what I don’t know would exceed the legal limit of this page. But thanks for looking and tomorrow, back to the spectacular. Maybe:)