We were taking an aerial tramway ride back down from 10, 378 feet above sea level from the summit of Sandia Peak to Albuquerque, New Mexico over the Cibola National Forest when I spotted a hawk that appeared to be riding the cable up to the peak.
How ironic, I thought. I’d been birding at the peak, counting my species and entering them into eBird, using Merlin ID to help lead me to the trees where they sang their identifying birdcalls. I’m always on the lookout for larger birds. I’d seen a Road Runner under a picnic table seeking shade from the brutal heat in Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas the day before, and after peering into all the trees and in the air for signs of these majestic soaring birds of prey, here was one comically riding the cable up to the top as I descended.
That’s my mama, I chuckled. She comes to me on wings. A bird in the depths of a canyon one day, and a bird in the heights on a peak the next. Three vultures when I’d prayed for the reassurance of an eagle at her burial.
“Is that a bird riding the cable?” I heard someone ask the tram operator.
“Oh, yes. That’s our resident hawk. He likes to ride the cable,” she explained. “When wildlife below falls beneath the shadow of the tram car, it scares his prey out of hiding. They run, and he swoops down for a fast-food-lunch. Makes his hunting easier.”
He gives the drive-thru a whole new perspective from the avian angle.
He also demonstrates his experience and intelligence. Here’s a bird who has figured out how to let a shadow do his heavy lifting while he sits and waits.
I’m inspired to think of all the times I make things so much harder than they have to be, when perhaps some creative thinking and a little patience would serve me well.
Which may be exactly what Mama was showing me.
On the top of Sandia Peak in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Our buddy Nick celebrated his 66th birthday the week before we drove half of Route 66 from Chicago to Albuquerque. He asked me to send him a few photos of Route 66 signs and to “take notes” to share with him, since he plans to drive Route 66 sometime before he turns 67. I assured him I would take “copious notes” – – which turned into my ChroNICles just for Nick. In case you plan to travel Route 66, these may be of interest to you as well.
We embraced a slow form of travel by only traveling half of the route on this leg of the journey. We flew into Chicago, rented a Ford Explorer one way from Chicago to Albuquerque, and flew home from there. Every point in between was filled with wonder of our nation, so it’s fitting that on this Independence Day as we celebrate America, I can look back and share 12 slices of what I learned along the highways and byways of Route 66.
Take the road trip! There is no better way to celebrate our great nation and to experience the changing landscapes of America than by taking a drive. Ever since I was a child, I have loved going different places to broaden my horizons and explore a variety of cultural flavors! I’d visit a place – Paris, London, Berlin, Orlando, Asheville, Nashville – – thinking I’d seen France, England, Germany, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee. Boy, was I wrong! Worse: I hadn’t truly “seen” any of those cities, either – just a landmark or two at most. I realize now what John Steinbeck meant when he said, in Travels with Charley, that “We don’t take a trip. A trip takes us.” To see a slice of America by car, watching the changing landscapes from state to state, is the way to experience the diversity of our land and its people. We find it in the roadside diners, in the conversations with waitresses and other travelers.
Get in touch with your inner criminal graffiti artist self with the situation allows! Buy more than one can of spray paint from Wal-Mart in Amarillo, where they keep it locked behind the glass and will have to help you get your colors. Go for the yellow and black, and add the white and pink. Then drive on over to Cadillac Ranch and paint. But do not – I repeat, DO NOT – wear a hat. The wind is so fierce, it’ll lift you off the ground at times and take your hat with it.
Look for the things no one tells you about – There’s a place somewhere near Albuquerque that plays America The Beautiful if you drive along the teeth of the roadway. We missed that. When we start leg #2 in California and drive back to Albuquerque, we will find out where this is and drive on the teeth on the very end of our Route 66 adventure, coming sometime in the next year! We had deep discussions about the things we don’t see.
Stay on the path, but stray from the path, too. Build enough flexibility in your plan to be able to throw it all out and do something spontaneous. We had planned to go to Meramac Caverns, but after going up in the St. Louis Gateway Arch, we wanted to see it from the river, so we took a river cruise instead, then planned a different cavern the next day. We saw signs in Uranus, Missouri for the Uranus Fudge Factory, where they claim that “the best fudge comes from Uranus,” and the t-shirts were too inappropriate to pass up. We built in some iconic landmarks, some quirky stops, some experiences in nature, some retro diners and some ice-cream-for-dinner nights, some chain hotels and some back-in-the-day motels, a peak and a canyon. We wanted the sampler platter of America, and we savored every bite! We were early to bed and early to rise so we could take it all in and still have some energy to enjoy it all.
Keep your eyes peeled for the unexpected – – you just might see it! Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d see a Road Runner and remains of a Mohave Rattlesnake on the trip, but I did! I saw Prairie Dogs, too, and we watched them playing from our room overlooking their playground. The simplest moments turned out to be some of the most memorable ones.
Take the time to talk to the servers! If you’ve never eaten “the special” breakfast in Tulsa, Oklahoma at a hole in the wall cafe with a waitress who’s the Queen of Bling and has a red tattoo of a Q and the shape of diamond right next to her left ear on her cheek to prove it to anyone who doubts it even after seeing the bracelets that line her arm from elbow to wrist and then, when you ask if she’s from Tulsa, she coughs the raspy smoker’s cough and emphatically says, “HELL no, I’ve lived here for 40 years, but I’m from Wisconsin,” as if you’ve offended her, you might want to try it. She may have gotten a few double-takes from some traveling diners, but I realized I was in the midst of my kind of people when I sat down and heard the blatant honesty spew forth from her lips, telling us about a recent storm she’d endured. And talk to April at The Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas over a piece of pie and a cup of coffee. She’s a single mother in her young 20s but knows the whole history of her corner of the world and would climb one of those tall windmills for $56.00 an hour if she could repair them. This is how Steinbeck wrote Travels With Charley – from the lively conversations with his fellow Americans!
Pack light, but bring home some souvenirs and mail some postcards! Memories are the best souvenirs – – photos, journals, blogs, and t-shirts help bring us back to those moments. We have a rule: if it won’t fit in the carry-on and personal bag, it doesn’t come home with us. We pack a 3×3 for a week’s trip – 3 bottoms, 3 tops. That makes 9 outfits and leaves plenty of space for bringing back some new socks, t-shirts, bracelets, and other small things that will fit in our bags.I even found room for a Texas Longhorn and a Highland Bull! I found a turqoise and mother of pearl bracelet in Old Town Albuquerque in a store called Warpath with a red door that reminded me so much of my mother I had to have it. It keeps her on my mind and keeps the memories of the trip close at hand, too.
Wear a great pair of shoes and carry the best water tumbler you can find. My inner hippie couldn’t drive Route 66 without my trusty Birkenstocks, but for getting out on the peaks and in the canyons, I relied on my On Clouds. Even though it’s a road trip, there’s a lot of walking and stair climbing in parts. The water tumbler: I filled it with icy water at every single restaurant and hotel along the way (except one, where it smelled a little funky), and it cut down on the amount of bottled water I had to buy and kept me cool and hydrated.
My new bulls, and a wine cork noted with the date, people, and place of savoring.
Make a countdown list of the things you need to do so you can leave at peace and embrace slow travel (without stressing) at its finest. The most challenging thing for me to remember is holding the mail, but the USPS makes it easy to arrange online, so even if I remember at the airport, I can still make it happen!
Leave something behind – a time capsule, a signature on a sign, some graffiti. We left a styrofoam cooler, inviting someone else to use it and give it a new life, then share it with us if they felt moved.
Eating Lupper (supper off the lunch menu) at The Big Texan in Amarillo
Take a group – you’ll share fabulous company and financial costs, but whatever you do…..don’t talk politics. It can ruin a trip. Enjoy the moments without splitting hairs over differences. We met a couple from New York, who dove straight into their political stance as we all sat outside at The Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico. When they realized all of us were not in agreement with them, my husband broke in: “What you’re looking at right here in the four of us is a wide part of the political spectrum. From the moderate to the conservative, we have a wide gap.” They were amazed, and asked, “How do you do this, traveling together?” My husband was quick: “We talk about other things besides the POTUS. We talk about the places, the food…. we respect each other’s opinions, and we keep it that way.” He wasn’t afraid to speak the truth we could all agree on….and when we returned from dinner, the couple was sitting elsewhere.
Research, read, and explore ahead of time so you’ll appreciate all the things you’ll see. Get the Roadtrippers Plus app for planning the journey, and print a hard copy of your planned-but-flexible itinerary to take, along with a hard copy of a travel book and a map in case you don’t have good cell service.
Happy Birthday, and enjoy the Route 66 Experience, Nick! There’s nothing quite like it!
We made our way to Tucumcari, New Mexico yesterday along Route 66 and stayed at the Blue Swallow Motel, said to be the most iconic motel along the entire route. It’s a neon dream on the National Register of Historic Places, and is one of the only remaining true motorcourts in the United States today. Guests park their cars in the little garages next to the rooms. Each garage has a theme – ours is the movie Cars. The rooms are decorated with vintage lamps and furniture, right down to the chenille bedspreads, shower fixtures, bathroom tiles, and the working rotary telephone.
The current owners moved here from Chicago after losing their jobs during Covid 19. They sold everything, cashed out their retirement, and rolled the dice on a whole new life. It paid off! They live right here on the premises in the same flat where the original owners lived, right down to the furniture, and run the place themselves. Originally, The Blue Swallow was a wedding gift for a bride on her wedding night, and these first owners ran it for decades before they died.
There are 14 rooms at this hotel, and you have to book well in advance to get a reservation. During the season, they sell out each night. We understand a lot more about the charm of a simpler life after spending one night here.
Our Texas neighbors’ Porsche at The Blue Swallow
We walked around the side of the motel to the little courtyard where the colorful metal chairs awaited us and were joined by a couple from New York. He is a retired school superintendent, and she is a school guidance counselor one year away from retirement. We sat in the shade of the trees sharing all our favorite places we have traveled and our views of the world. We represented the gamut of the political spectrum, respected each other’s opinions, and enjoyed our time together so much ~ if there were more places just like this one, we might realize world peace. Or at least be more neighborly in a politically-charged world! This couple is selling everything they own in the coming year and will begin renting short-term units and traveling around the country to experience life in different places. What a dream! I’m excited for them!
Today, we will travel to our last stop on Route 66 on this trip – – Albuquerque, New Mexico. We’ll look for a fabulous piece of turquoise jewelry for my sister in law and visit the Sandia Peak Tramway in the Cibola National Forest.
I’ll post pictures later in the day!
We invited someone to take our cooler on a journey and share an email describing its life beyond our time with it. We left it by the ice machine in our Albuquerque hotel.
I’m not a fan of day-of-the-week pill organizers when going through airport security. These handy containers are fine for storing vitamins and medicines when I’m camping or at home, but in the absence of their labeled bottles, I fear suspicion by airport officials, which may lead to my detainment and a missed flight. I worry that I’ll be the one whose vitamins get taken to the lab for analysis while other passengers glare at a girl…..standing there with a suitcase…..just trying to keep mood swings at bay and find some energy in B12 and B6…. like I’m some kind of criminal drug dealer.
I was texting with my friend Glenda, a fellow traveler in my writing group, who reminded me that along Route 66, we’ll be passing CVS Pharmacies and stores where we can buy first aid items and medicines if we encounter the need for them, unlike what we would be able to do if we were on a cruise or out of the country. She suggested a few of the basics – some antibiotic Band-Aids and Tylenol and any prescriptions we normally take. I agree with her. Since we will only be taking carry-on luggage, every square inch of our luggage space is prime real estate.
I’m using a quart-size Ziploc bag for our travel first aid kit. Here is my list of items I plan to take:
Tylenol
Band Aids infused with Antibiotic Ointment
Prescription medications
Zyrtec
Bonine
Prilosec
Aquaphor ointment
Tums
What suggestions do you have for other items I should consider taking? I welcome all of your best first aid travel hacks!
Stanley Quencher 30 oz. in Rose Quartz – handle is too low to fit in my RAV-4 cup holderStanley Quencher tumbler 40 oz. in Fog
For the past few days, I’ve been reviewing tumblers for staying hydrated while traveling in the heat. Later this month, we’ll drive a little over half of Route 66, beginning in Chicago and ending in Albuquerque – and it’s blazing hot out west in June. As one who experiences heat sensitivity and is especially prone to dehydration, I need a tumbler that can keep ice frozen overnight and hold enough water to last me for several hours until the next refill. I’ve completed my reviews of the 40 ounce Hydro Flask and the 30 ounce Stanley Ice Flow. Today, I’m reviewing the Stanley Quencher H2.0 tumblers in the 40 ounce and 30 ounce sizes.
Each of these tumblers comes with a 3-position lid that allows the user to twist the middle bar so that it 1) seals itself shut, 2) opens to a small slot for drinking hot beverages, or 3) twists to the straw insert slot for drinking cold beverages. Each tumbler has a side handle that, when held in the user’s right hand, has the logo facing the user and straw emerging from the tumbler just above the Stanley logo if twisting begins at the 9:00 position. They’re ultra-versatile, and the lid twists on like a silicone-lined dream, sliding softly into a seemingly watertight fit on the rim of the mug. (This is where the Stanley Iceflow lid could use improvements to become more like its Quencher siblings in terms of the ease of the lid twisting).
And as if you didn’t already know, these tumblers can be accessorized. Go to any little league sports games where the mommies are gathered and you’ll see all the options – there are hand covers, pouch packs, and straps for shoulder carrying. If I could wear the same clothes every day for a week, I could go to Europe for a week with just a Stanley pouch pack as my luggage. These tumblers are practically more dressable than a new baby girl.
It’s easy to fill these tumblers with ice since there is no bottleneck at the top. The Stanley 40 ounce tumbler fits comfortably in the RAV-4 cup holder.No drink, really, ever fits in the RAV-4 front cup holder, except the Stanley Ice Flow 30 ounce tumbler (Toyota needs to redesign that one)
So here are the pros and cons of these tumblers.
Pros
40 ounce tumbler fits comfortably in my RAV-4 cup holder.
40 ounce tumbler holds enough water to get me from breakfast to lunch.
The color choices on both are a rainbow of possibilities.
No bottleneck makes both sizes easy to fill with ice.
The 3-position lid means these can also be used for hot drinks.
They both have good straw flow once you find the sweet spot just above the bottom of the cup.
They can be accessorized to carry phone, keys, cash, cards. Maybe even a small t-shirt.
They both come in a matte textured finish that feels leathery and looks gorgeous – I held mine that have this finish on the body and there is less slipping and better gripping if the cup gets wet.
Cons
If you want the logo to face outward to proclaim to others that you’re part of the Stanley craze, you have to hold the tumbler in your left hand and experiment to find the clockface starting twist position for the straw to be where you want it to be. Stanley could improve this by either imprinting the logo on both sides or making a handle that twists like the lid bar.
They both leak when held upside down in the seemingly watertight position. I have more than one of each of these Quencher model sizes, and they all leak.
The handle is a blessing and a curse. It makes the cup bulky and prevents the 30 ounce from fitting in either cup holder.
They are heavy – the water amount obviously adds to the weight difference between the 30 ounce and the 40 ounce, but the empty vessel, in each case, is weighty.
They don’t fit in the side pocket of a backpack because of the handle, so for those who strive to travel lightly and fit things in compact spaces, these cups are not sleek.
Tomorrow, I’ll share my overall winner decision and the reasons why I am choosing it as my preferred Route 66 Traveling cup.
Yesterday I started my reviews of water tumblers to determine the best one to take along Route 66 as we travel later this month. Not only do I need a tumbler that keeps ice frozen overnight, but I also need it to be free from leaks, fit in a cup holder well, and be comfortably portable between the car and the places we stop. I need it to hold a lot of water, too.
That’s what concerns my husband as he chuckles to himself every time I take a new tumbler out to test.
Great, he quipped. We’ll be having to make a lot of pit stops, I see.
Call them what you want, but we’ve already mapped out frequent stops, I reminded him.
My sister in law and I have scheduled stops along the way in the Roadtrippers Plus app. We’re driving only a few hours each day, stopping to see the attractions and landmarks at the waypoints we have chosen. There won’t have to be many stops for the sole purpose of using the restroom ~ I’ll be taking advantage of the facilities where we’ve already marked the map.
Today’s review is for the Stanley Ice Flow 30 oz. Flip Straw Tumbler. When I first filled this tumbler with water and ice and held it upside down, it leaked.
I removed the top, cleaned up the water, and tried again. It turns out that the lid does not screw on as easily as the Quencher series cups. When I took the time to be sure that it was fastened tightly and held it upside down again, it did not leak. So here are the pros and cons of the Stanley Ice Flow.
Pros
It does not leak when the lid is fastened correctly.
I like the variety of colors. Pool Swirl appeals to my love of the ’70s.
The straw has smooth suction flow.
The straw is comfortable with its rounded edges (doesn’t hurt lips).
It fits in both of my RAV-4 cup holders in the console.
The mouth makes putting ice in easy (no bottleneck).
It’s comfortably held in the hand (body and handle, both).
The straw pops up and down – no need to remove it completely on the go.
Ice stayed frozen overnight.
It fits beautifully in the side pocket of my Travelon backpack.
Starting position for twisting the lid for the straw location doesn’t matter (on the Quencher, if you want the straw in a certain position, you have to experiment starting twist positions).
Cons
It takes some checking to be sure the lid is fastened correctly and tightened.
The twisting of the lid to get it off is not as smooth as the Quencher series.
It does not have a 3-stop lid position, so this is mostly for cold drinks.
It’s less bulky than the Quencher with the handle.
I ran out of water more quickly with the 30 ounce size, which is less than my normal size.
Fits comfortably in the RAV-4 front cup holder.Fits comfortably in the RAV-4 middle console cup holder.Ice stays frozen overnight.
Tomorrow, I’ll review both Quencher models – the 30 ounce and the 40 ounce.
My husband thinks I’m over the top to be planning which cup to take for the best hydration on our trip. He chuckled one of his I’m going to keep my mouth shut, but my wife is crazy laughs when he saw a row of cups lined up on the kitchen counter.
“Look, I know you think I’ve lost my mind, but if I get dehydrated, I’ll make you lose yours,” I told him.
That got his attention, bringing back memories of the day I was at Six Flags Over Georgia with my daughter, her boyfriend, and my stepson. I got so dehydrated and overheated riding roller coasters that I went to the public bathroom and flung myself down on the floor in the stall to be able to put my cheek to the cool concrete. I was delirious and could not think straight, knowing only that I was fading fast and had to get my cheek temperature down pronto – and I needed a Coca Cola with ice. While my daughter got in line and waited for the Coke, I waited in the stall, rotating my cheeks, not caring one iota about all the germs. I was trying to survive the brutal Georgia heat – – face down on a public bathroom floor, doing what I had to do to prevent a red-light ride to the hospital.
I called my husband to come get me, since we only had one car at the park. We’d paid full ticket prices that summer, and since we’d planned to stay until the park closed, I didn’t want to take the kids away from the fun when they could drive home later.
When we’d first married, my husband drove a race car many weekends. Along with his brother and father, they competed in racing events as a team ~ Johnson Motorsports, or JMS Racing as they were known. We’d hang out at the race track all weekend, and by the time we were loading up to leave, someone would often warn me that my cheeks were red. Each of them knew to watch for that tell-tale sign, knowing that I’m heat-sensitive and dehydrate faster than a dog in the desert. On more than one occasion, I’ve had to get in the truck and keep my face in the air conditioning while the rest of the crew finished loading up.
So hydration is serious business for me. My skin tightens and I feel my heartbeat as if it were split in two, furiously waving checkered flags under each eye socket.
Over the next week, I’ll be reviewing an assortment of cups to determine the best one to take along Route 66. Mine needs to not only hold a lot of water, but also to be able to keep ice frozen overnight. Since 2022, I’ve been taking my 40-ounce Hydro Flask with the pop-up straw to work every day. I fill it with ice in the morning, add filtered water, and drink from it until lunchtime. After lunch, I fill it again and drink that before replenishing the ice and filling it a third time when I leave. This way, I have the pure, filtered water to last me through the evening until the following morning.
Tomorrow, I’ll begin my reviews with the Hydro Flask 40-ounce cup.
One of my daughters is celebrating a special journey today, and it reminds me of the journey she took along Route 66 last year. She sent me pictures all along the way, and I’m sharing some of these today as I celebrate her. She truly enjoyed spray painting the cars at Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, and so we’ll create a similar scene and share the picture with her. when we drive half of Route 66 later this month. As I prepare, I’m taking the time to learn about these iconic landmarks prior to the trip so that I can more fully appreciate them when I see them.
She says of her trip, “It was one of the happiest weeks ever. I loved this trip. You can hear how windy Texas is in the Cadillac Ranch videos, and Oklahoma is the same. It’ll damn near knock you over.”
Second Amendment Cowboy
You can hear the Texas wind. Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, TXCadillac RanchMy daughter at Cadillac Ranch, sporting her artwork in pink
You can hear the wind of Texas here in this video of the buried spray-painted CadillacsWe’ll see this sign! We will travel into New Mexico as far as Albuquerque. We’ll come back later in the year to see this sign. We’re taking our trip at a slower pace and only traveling half of the Route 66 roads from Chicago to Albuquerque.
Cheers to all the journeys we celebrate – both inward and outward. Life is full of amazing adventures, and I’m always fascinated by her energy, her humor, and her unique perspectives as she shares her travels with us!
Roadtrippers App – the best trip planning tool I have found
This month marks vacation month once my 210-day contract ends for this school year, a few short weeks from when my next one is set to begin. We’ll fly out on June 24 from our home an hour south of Atlanta, Georgia to Chicago, Illinois to drive a little more than half of the east-to-west direction of Route 66, ending in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I’ve had a long-time dream of traveling the roadways to see a cross-section of The Mother Road just as Steinbeck and others with relentless resfeber have been enjoying in truck campers named Rocinante and other less-famous vehicles since it came into being.
I’ve downloaded Roadtrippers to map our journey, and I’ll be blogging and photographing it every step of the way. This month, every day (except June 17-21 when I write with Open Write) will be devoted to the planning process and the way we decided on this travel plan as our vacation for this year. The last week of the month will be the actual journey from Chicago to New Mexico following Route 66.
My first step in vacation planning: downloading Roadtrippers, experimenting with it, and deciding to upgrade to Roadtrippers Plus. I have created an account, and I’m ready to begin planning. The app will map my distance each day and actually calculate my mileage and projected gasoline costs based on the rental car for the miles per gallon and the cost of gasoline. I can’t recommend this app highly enough after using it for several “test drive” road trips with the free version. I have even shared the very beginning of the itinerary with those who’ll be traveling with me through the share feature in the app.
Two of my goals this year are spending more time in nature and taking my camera along more to be intentional about observations as I work to improve my photography. Sunday at Hamburg State Park turned out to be a gorgeous day, and I wanted to take my camera back to the mill we’d toured the previous day to look around the dam outside and see what all was in the area of the bridge and the creek. We drove the short distance from our campsite to go exploring, but we decided to leave the dogs in their soft-sided kennel in the car with the windows cracked since the temperatures were cool. In areas like these, you never know what might be lurking under a log or near the water, so we left them in the truck to nap as we kept an eye on them from the bottom of the ramp near the water.
There are birdhouses all around Hamburg State Park, and as I checked information on my eBird account and Merlin app, I discovered that this was a birding hotspot. Just a few seconds of sound recording proved that there were many different species singing from the tops of the trees. Swallows, bluebirds, a variety of warblers, blue-gray gnatcatchers, and cardinals topped the lists in a few spots, along with vireos and wrens. I saw an Eastern Kingbird, too.
But swooping down first on one side of the dam and then the other was a Great Egret with a wide wingspan, its legs looking as skinny as those wire marshmallow roasters we hold over the fire, trailing in flight behind him.
I dashed across the road to get a glimpse from the bridge, clicking away all the while, as he led me straight to his friend – – a Great Blue Heron. They waded in the water on their thin backward-scissoring legs, scanning for birds, their necks craning up, down, and sideways with an odd humor, much like a dog that cocks his head back and forth when he strains to understand. Watching these birds was a highlight of my entire weekend!
I heard my husband calling my name, trying to get my attention from afar and be quiet all at the same time. He was standing frozen still, telling me to have my camera ready. I headed in his direction as he urged me to come quickly but approach slowly.
There. Do you see on that tree stump?
He pointed at the base of the stump just across the water, a few feet away.
I was looking for a bird.
I wasn’t expecting a snake.
But there it was, a venomous Cottonmouth, as big around as a giant summer sausage with its Zorro mask and owl eye patterns down its sides, looking a lot like an ellipsis inside parentheses to an English teacher. It had been approaching the top of the tree stump and turned around to seek shelter in the hole at the base when it saw my husband. It stopped briefly to flick its forked tongue at us for interrupting its plans, took us in for just a moment eye to eye, then continued on its way to shelter beneath the ground.
I felt blessed to have seen this snake in the wild (happy, of course, that it was on the other side of the water), and even more glad we’d left the dogs in the car. I was also counting my blessings that I could positively identify the snake. You see, a year ago, I joined two Georgia snake groups that are monitored by expert herpetologists who identify any snake posted on the page with a quick turnaround time. I’ve learned how to tell commonly mistaken species apart and gained an appreciation for the extensive role of snakes in our ecosystem. The groups are What Kind of Snake is This? Georgia and Georgia Snake Identification and Education, both on Facebook. As soon as I posted the photo and location, the response from the expert confirmed what I had learned from repeated similar sightings posted by others.
Venomous Cottonmouth, Agkistrodon piscivorus. Keep a safe distance to watch this one!
I’m grateful today for fascinating moments like these. I’m abundantly grateful for the men and women who fought bravely defending this nation and its places that I love and who ultimately gave their lives for the peace I enjoy today in these state parks full of quirky, underappreciated, and often misunderstood wildlife. I’m praying for the families whose hearts are heavy with remembering the joy their fallen loved ones brought, missing all the memories they sacrificed so that I could enjoy making these memories today. For us, this day is not about a day off from work grilling hot dogs in merriment, but one of taking time to realize that the rights and freedoms we have today have come only because those before us fought for them – and died for them.
And that is how we are keeping Memorial Day a sacred time of remembering and appreciating.
Hamburg Mill DamBarn SwallowDay LiliesEastern BluebirdGreat EgretGreat Blue Heron and Great EgretGreat Blue Heron and Great EgretMy husband, standing across the creek from the CottonmouthVenomous CottonmouthVenomous Cottonmouth showing its forked tongueA lovely sunset
Common Threads 