Birds of A Feather - Feathers of A Bird

Yes, I suppose in some ways we are " birds of a feather" gang; after all, if you have hung out with us for any length of time you are likely one who enjoys some of the same things we do. Well, if that's the case, we are really glad you could join us today because we're off in search of some our favorite creatures, those gladiators of the sky, "Raptors."



For those of you who have been with us on our various forays along the South Carolina coast you may recall our visit to the "Sewee Shell Ring" or the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge. As we traveled to those wonderful sites we were reminded that we were very close to the "Avian Conservation Center - Center For Birds Of Prey." Although time did not permit a visit during one of those earlier trips we vowed that we would go there as soon as we could. So, we set aside a day especially for a visit to the center and after breakfast headed South on Highway 17 toward Charleston. Along the way we passed the roads leading to some places we alluded to above - Winyah Bay Wildlife Preserve, Bull's Island, Cape Romain, McClellanville, Caper's Island and so many more. If you weren't along for those adventures we hope you will take the time to go back and look at some of the earlier postings to see just how incredibly beautiful and rewarding those visits were.
About twenty five miles North of Charleston lies the tiny fishing town of Awendaw. Interestingly, although it has remained small through the years, Awendaw was actually settled in 1696 by folks who left Massachusetts to avoid persecution during the Salem "Witch Trials." And - notwithstanding it's small size, the place is a veritable treasure trove of stuff to do. Although we don't have time to go into detail now, you really, really need to find out more about the Awendaw Bluegrass Festival, the Blue Crab Festival and Awendaw Green - THE place for bluegrass music - period. The wildlife opportunities alone make Awendaw one of our favorites, though, and after a wonderful "soul food" lunch at "Buckshot's Grill" on Highway 17, we turned onto Sewee Road and soon reached the entrance to the center.


As we have found before, the road into the center is a winding, unpaved lane that takes you through dense mixtures of pine, live oak, cedar, box elder, saw palmetto and many others. The center is housed on nearly sixty acres of coastal habitat that it shares with an incredible variety of creatures. In fact, as we were driving down the entrance we saw one of my favorites, a humongous wild turkey! It is a beautiful creature and seeing one in the wild, in full plumage, helps you understand why Benjamin Franklin wanted to make it our national bird.
We arrived at the center just in time for the beginning of the flight demonstrations


and, after getting our obligatory wrist bands, hustled over to the large outdoor demonstration site. There we were given a spectacular introduction to falcons, kites,


kestrels, gyres and hawks - all the while being watched from above by eagles, vultures and "non-resident" hawks. The staff and volunteers who conduct the tours, demonstrations and lectures are some of the most charming, attractive and engaging


young folks you will ever meet and they know their stuff!! Now a disclaimer .. I am not going to let my mouth (or fingers, as the case may be) get me in trouble by trying to do a presentation about these marvelous birds. I'll provide a little "color commentary" but for the "real story" I urge you to go to the website for the Center For Birds Of Prey." It is an outstanding site, complete with scientific info, videos and more. The demonstrations we saw were really amazing and showcased the spectacular flying and hunting skills of these warriors of the sky as well as the care


and training skills of their human partners. We then wandered over to "Owl Woods" for an introduction to the scores of owl species housed at the center. The incredibly beautiful "Eurasian Eagle-Owl" provided us with a demonstration of "stealth flight" the military can only wish for. While visiting the owls we also experienced a chance encounter with a very shy and skittish African Golden Eagle - a rare and delightful treat!! The center has a huge array of bird exhibits so, if you come, please give yourself at least 2 to 3 hours to see everything. We had a great time on this excursion and really hope you can make it to Awendaw if you are in the area. I promise you won't be sorry! We're going to close for now so we can get ready to visit another place with a funny name - Socastee! Come back and join us. See ya.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

March on the Grand Strand.

We're back on the road again, gang!!  While it may be a somewhat "local" trip for s, we're headed for beautiful Litchfield Beach - a place you
have visited with us many times before.  In the past we have had a fantastic time visiting Georgetown, Winyah Bay, Cape Romain, Brookgreen Gardens and so many other beautiful and inspiring places.



We hope to keep pace with our previous visits but hopefully we can also


come up with a few new twists!!!
We'll be back soon to hit the road for more adventures so - get ready!!! See ya.

Road Rage ... Really???

OK ... Let's talk about how weird we human beings can be with our emotions!!!  Ever hear the term "road rage"?  I'm sure you have.  Basically, it's that emotional state we work ourselves into when we feel that someone has done something on the highway that we really, really don't like.  It could be a lot of different things - improper lane changes, going too fast, not yielding like we think they should ....  all kinds of stuff.  But, most often it is because they simply .... won't get out of our way!!!  They are going too slow in the "fast" lane; they don't get out of the way quickly enough when we are trying to pass, they don't turn quickly enough, they make us miss the "green" light .... all kinds of 'delaying' stuff.  

Well, I was thinking about that today.  I was going down the highway and reached a point where they were getting ready to do some construction.  All of a sudden there were all these cars getting in front of me, slowing me down!!!!  I felt my blood pressure start to climb and my temper begin to simmer.  How dare those people get in my way!!!!!  And all of a sudden I thought back to a day in Yellowstone National Park.  We were traveling north of Yellowstone Lake on Grand Loop Road, as I recall, heading through the Hayden Valley. We were just cruising along checking out the scenery when we noticed that cars ahead of us were beginning to slow and, then, stop!!  We peered around the vehicles ahead of us and pretty soon we saw the cause for the slow-down.  It was a monumental traffic jam - caused by Bison!!!  These huge, shaggy creatures had made the group decision to get on the other side of the road and so ... they went!!!  No crossing guard, no warning, no signal  ... they just went!!!  And you know what we did???  We stopped, we whipped out the cameras and ... we smiled like our faces were going to split!!!  It was a joyous occasion and one we felt privileged to be a part of.    A few days later we had another traffic jam caused by animals ... and people!!!  We were heading west on I-70 after having driven through Rocky Mountain National park and we had decided to stop In Georgetown, Colorado to get some gas and a bite to eat.  Right after leaving the highway we were brought to a screeching halt by the most unusual sight you have ever seen.  A bunch of guys and gals running a 5K foot race - with a twist.  Each participant was required to run with a donkey!!!!  They streamed across the road with little regard for our travel plans, hell bent on getting a new PR in their race and urging their "eqqus asinus" pals on to greater speed!!!  And you know what we did???  Smiled like there was no tomorrow, whipped out the cameras and clicked away!!  It was great!!  And then, a few days later, we were traveling through spectacularly beautiful Zion National Park, headed east on the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway after a wonderful visit to the park.  I was a bit mopey because I had felt sure that this was going to be my chance to get a good look at some Mountain Goats and we hadn't seen a one all day.  We were not far from the east entrance when we rounded a bend and came to a sudden halt.  There, crossing the road in front of us was a whole family of Mountain Goats.... sauntering along like they were the new owners of the highway!!!  And you know what we did?   Smiled, laughed, did high-fives and clicked away on the cameras once again.  Outstanding!!!!!  We couldn't believe how lucky we were.  It wasn't a long delay, probably no more than ten minutes at a dead stop, and we enjoyed every second of it.  Our trips in recent years have been like that.  Rushing along on the road - or even on a ship - when, out of nowhere, a big gang of local residents shows up and lets us know that this is their road too.  And that we had better just chill out and get used to it!!  And when the crowd is a bunch of porpoises they can jeer at you with such a joyous chatter that you simply can't help but bust out laughing.  Or, maybe, you're traveling down the remotest stretch of highway on the North American continent - the Alaska Highway - when a whole family of elk materializes out of the mist and claims the highway for their personal right-of-way and lets you know in no uncertain terms that ... "you're just gonna have to wait."  And the joy, and the wonder, and the laughter and the deep thankfulness return.  And we give thanks for being in the right place at the right time.  And, of course, the clicking of the cameras fires up too!!!!  Oh what memories experiences like that give us.  But - it isn't just on trips to far-off places where we have those episodes!  Right here in beautiful suburban Ridgeway we can be cruising down the road headed for town when a whole flock of Wild Turkeys claims the road as their own and takes their own sweet time heading from one side to the other.  And whether you are with a bunch of other folks or all alone in the car when it happens the response is pretty much guaranteed to be the same ....  smiles, deep-down thrills, laughter, and ... thanks for having been in the right place at the right time - again.

So, what does all of that have to do with anything?  Well, it's this ...  why is it that we can be delayed - often for much greater times than a simple traffic jam - by others of God's creatures and we are able to feel privileged to be a part of the experience.  But if the creature happens to be another human ....  well ... no way!!!  I'm not going to put up with another mere person getting in my way.  Why, pretty soon you'll start thinking you're as good as I am!!!!  Hmmmmm.....   Ironic, huh?  We are supposed to be the "cream of the crop" when it comes to species.  Well, don't you think it's worth taking a deep breath, smiling a little - inside and out - and enjoying the association with our fellow creatures and not getting so bent out of shape?  After all, if we learn to see the beauty in others - maybe, just maybe, we'll begin to recognize that special glow in ourselves.  Think about it.   See ya.

All God's Creatures ...

Trouble and Cody

Morgan & Fish - Boston

Hey gang ...  we're still in a holding pattern for our next trip but I can guarantee you ... we're really getting antsy to go!!!!!  In the meantime, here in greater metropolitan Ridgeway, S. C., winter has settled in for real.  We've even had a bit of freezing rain - but so far it hasn't stuck around long enough to cause any problems ... thank goodness.  But, with the inclement weather it makes you think a bit more about our surroundings.  I look out the window and see the horses in the pasture down the way and I see the deer peeking around the trees trying to figure out if the coast is clear so they can come out and munch on some grass in the front yard.  The cat is hunkered down in her bed on top of Linda's car in the garage and the neighborhood dogs are sticking close to home rather than visiting with us to see if they can beg a

Linda and Ende'

Ende' - Cabo San Lucas

snack or two.  And all of a sudden you realize that the beings with whom we share this planet are truly extraordinary creatures.  It causes us to think back on the wildly diverse animals we have visited on our journeys in recent years.  The picture on the right - showing our great nephew Morgan juxtaposed with a strange fish in the Boston Aquarium symbolizes our relationship with these unique spirits.  They inhabit our world - and we inhabit theirs - but, for the most part, our paths only cross in the briefest instances. Do we fully understand how they see us - or how we see them for that matter?  We are so incredibly blessed to have the great good fortune to share our planet with these majestic beings.  We can only hope that they understand the reverence we - at least some of us - have for their families.   After all.... they do t

Beautiful Anemones - Boston

hings we can only dimly comprehend, they form shapes we are astonished by, they exhibit colors that are almost unbelievable to us!!!  They enable us to begin getting a tiny glimmer of the astonishing complexity and beauty of our universe and an infinitesimal early understanding of the interplay of all these exquisite life forms.   So - here's the deal, folks.  In the overall scheme of life on our planet, these beings - our biological relatives - bring as much to the plate as we do.  They help filter the air and water, they help rearrange the surface of the planet, they break down those pesky features that would cause us problems if left intact.  They fertilize the landscape and serve as a cleaning crew for nature's living spaces.  They fill the air with color and beauty, they stir the dust of the ground with their shaggy bodies and they remind us that love can take more forms than we could ever imagine.   And it makes us ask questions of wonder.  How in the world did that happen?  How on earth did a creature that looks like that come about?  Do those things look at me with the same amazement with which I see them?  Yes, it's all a profound mystery.  But, we wind up coming close to the answer if we work at it.  This planet and all the miracles that abound on it's hallowed surfaces are manifestations of a universal force that we can barely imagine.  But it is there!!  I'm not doing a recruiting job for a religious organization gang but, hey, how can you look at all this and not start thinking ...... "... well, some thought went into that!!!"  You look at the delicacy of some of these entities and the overwhelming power and strength of others and you marvel at the exceptional balance that has been established on our planet.  But here is the main point ... are we responsible enough to be stewards of all that has been

Gentle Leviathan

placed in front of us?  No, I'm not trying to espouse some political line about "green energy" or something but I'm pointing out that we have a real truth staring us in the face.  This is an interconnected planet.  Every creature and plant on it's face depends on all the others - as difficult as it might be to see the connection sometimes.  In my particular religious faith we are told to ".... love our neighbors as ourselves."  How does that relate to these creatures.  Well - we are reminded that these inhabitants of earth depend on us and we depend on them.  How can we not love and respect them?   So, I guess that is our assignment as we continue to wait for our next trip.  How can we use our relationship with the remarkable creatures and plants on our planet to make life on earth worthwhile?  I think we can do that.  Let's all be thinking of ways we can use our experiences to improve the quality of life for all those on our earth.  We'll be back soon so, until then, take care.  See ya.
Rick V. 

Forward and Backward

It is the month of waiting and watching, gang.  The month when we look forward  and backward.  An ironic month.  The second month of winter for us folks here in the Northern hemisphere but the second month of summer for folks down Australia way.  The coldest month for us in the U.S. and the hottest month for the folks in New Zealand!!  Named after the ancient god Janus, "the keeper of the gate - or doorway", January is appropriately named since it represents the portal to the future but it also is the point from which we view the past year.

For those of us right here in beautiful metropolitan Ridgeway it is certainly a paradoxical month.  Just a few days ago it was seventy nine degrees and this morning it dropped to twenty eight!!!  Whoa, what a change!!!

January is a month I associate with one of the first "modern era" books by a Russian author I read during the "cold war", Boris Pasternak's "Dr. Zhivago."  Folks today have a hard time understanding just how radical it was for us to be able to read a book like that in the late fifties or early sixties.  And then - when we moved to Columbia, S. C. in 1966 - the movie version of the book was just beginning it's tour of the country.  We went to see it in June of 1967, one of the hottest months we had experienced since leaving the U. S. Navy.  We were new to the city and went to see the movie with our next door neighbors, the Powells, at the old Palmetto Theater (I think) on Main Street.  It was incredibly hot in Columbia that June and when we entered the theater, the frigid chill generated by the air conditioner was welcomed.  Well, if you have ever seen the movie you probably remember the part where Dr. Zhivago (Omar Sharif) deserted from the army and trudged through the snow for what seemed like weeks!  By the time he got where he was going I was virtually frostbitten - sitting right there in the movie theater in Columbia S. C. - with the temperature somewhere around 100 degrees!  Just recalling that incident brings back so many memories!  The book was such a dramatic "in your face" gesture to the Soviet Union. Unbelievable at the time!  And the Nobel Prize in literature it earned was almost incomprehensible by most average folks because of the psychotic politics we were living through.

Anyway - rushing back to the present - we are here in the middle of what is a very interesting month.  Interestingly, when the ancient folks developed their calendar they simply left out the winter months and it wasn't until the 600s that someone decided that they needed to chip in another two calendar months (January and February) to straighten things out.  But the bottom line is .. here we are.  It's cold, dark and a time when pensive reflection by a crackling fire is a lot more fun than trudging around through snow.  Linda has been out of town on an "artist's retreat" and Sherwood has been hip-deep in her responsibilities at St. Michael's and I've been at loose ends.  So - while we have this time for reflection why don't we think about all those ways we are going to make 2013 the best year yet in our short time hanging out on the planet.  We are beginning to work on our plans for the next adventure so hang in there with us and we'll be ready to go soon!!!  See ya.

Mea Culpa ... or ...You've got some 'splaining to do Lucy!!

Linda's Mandavilla

Hmmmmmm.... it's about this technical stuff gang!!!  I hope I haven't succeeded in totally confusing you guys with the pics on the various posts recently.  I've mentioned before that I'm not the most "technically savvy" guy on the block - and - I've

Palmetto Palm - Hilton Head

also noted that we are using several different methods to initiate our posts to the blog.  Wellllll... that means that I've got to be somewhat "flexible" with the methods I use when posting.  And that, my friends, is way  easier said than done. 
Here's the problem .... I didn't even know about things like "Picasa" or "Best Album" when we started the blog.  And, the peculiarities of those sites were totally foreign to me!!!  Consequently, as we started putting photos on the posts

Canada's Glacier National Park

Johnathan L. Seagull

we quickly realized that they were going to be controlled by the whims of the sites that were storing the pictures for us.  And - since I didn't take the time to learn about the finer points of those sites - I wound up putting photos in some rather weird places!!!!  The result was that the ongoing "slide shows" we had put on the blog wound up including a bunch of photos that didn't have anything to do with the title of the slideshow!!!  And when we tried to move the photos into folders that were more correctly named, they disappeared from the posts!!!!  It happened with videos too! 
The methods we used included some "YouTube" videos and some that are straight from the computer.    (We also wound up exceeding the capacity of our space on the sites rather quickly!!  But, we're learning.)   Now ... Our posts go back for several years and we have tried to set things up so that you could easily scroll backward through the various trips if you choose to do so.  But

Sunset At Sherwood's Condo - Litchfield Beach

- we realize that there is a bunch of narrative out there too.  So, if you want to look at thephotos and you don't want to mess with going back through the various posts (although I encourage you to do so) try going to "picasaweb.google.com" and searching for the SCTravelersX3 photos. 

Believe me folks, I really don't fully understand how everything is stored out there so you're on your own when you get there.  But, when you do, I think you will find an absolute treasure trove of beautiful photos.  The folks who put stuff out there on Picasa are awesome!!!!

 So - as I was thinking about all this - and reviewing the photos I have successfully screwed up

Litchfield Beach

from time to time - I found a number of pictures that I don't think we've shared with you.  I'm going to sprinkle some in this post so you can get a look at them and we'll try to go back and re-visit them from time to time.  Anyway - just wanted you to know about our "techno-challenges."  It won't be long before we're ready to go again - so - stand by!!!!  See ya.

2012 Says Goodbye !!!!!

Happy New Year, Gang!!!!  We made it through another one!!!  Like other years we've been through this one had many, many good things but, unfortunately, it also had more than it's share of bad things.  I'm not going to do like the media do and go through a whole litany of the "best and worst" of 2012 and I, for one, will be glad to get this one behind us.  There is one thing I'd like to do however.  No, I'm not going to be pushing you for New Year's Resolutions or anything like that.  I figure we can each deal with that on our own if we need to.  What I want to do is ask you a question and then a favor.  The question is this: "...did you do as much as you could have to be just a bit kinder, more considerate and caring toward others?"  And the request is - "..... if you did, keep it up!!! If you didn't, how about seeing if we can't all do a bit better."  Remember, it won't take a quantum leap to make the world a lot better place (although that too would be nice) but rather, small, positive increments can make a difference that we never even dreamed of.  I really want us to work on it.  I mean, on every continent on the planet our so-called "leaders" showed us the meaning of narcissism, arrogance, irresponsibility and downright disregard for human life in many instances.  Why can't we try to set an example for THEM to follow and let them know that we expect them to deliver.

But, as we close out this tired old year I think it is important to note some things I really think are important.  Despite the bad things we saw happening this year, as we looked around there were many more good things.  I know the SCTravelersX3 had some great experiences looking at this beautiful planet of ours and we met some outstanding new friends along the way.  We choose to continue to believe that the inherent good in us outweighs "man's inhumanity to man" that is so often discussed.  Take time to talk to yourself this year.  Learn that important lesson that YOU are valuable and that YOU have an impact each day YOU are on this planet.  If that impact is positive, then you have contributed to peace and harmony in the world.  Keep that in mind!!

Bottom line .... I really appreciate the time you have spent with us and I think together we can make a positive difference if we work at it.   To close out this post, I've just gotta include one of our nephew's (+Dylan Andrew) pictures.  He is one of the coolest folks you'll ever meet and has one of the best photographic eyes around.  He entitled it "Snowmobiling" and it sets the right tone for new, fresh, wonderful experiences for the new year.  I'm not sure what 2013 holds in store for us but I think it will be exciting and we've got lots of traveling to do!!!  So, get ready and we'll be back for you soon!!!  See ya!