Happy October 1! I love October, and today we are having some nice cool weather, so I am a happy camper.
Thanks to all of you who have gone through these last few posts with me, all about our vacation week. I know sometimes you're just not in the mood to see other people's photos ad nauseum, so thanks for your kind comments. Today I'm sharing our last vacation day in the Poconos, and then the weekend after in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with my niece Amanda and her husband Pat.
Since we had been able to visit Promised Land State Park on Monday, we realized that we could make a differen trip on Tuesday after we checked out of the place where we were staying and go to the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. Originally, given what else we wanted to do, it would have been out of the way and maybe pushing it as far as our energy levels. But when it turned out that it could be the only Tuesday activity, we decided we needed go to for sure!
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary was the world's first sanctuary for birds of prey. It became an official sanctuary in 1938. It's a perfect place to see all kinds of raptors and also take an amazing hike along one of the trails leading to astonishing views. We (of course) took the easiest trail, since we'd never had a chance to visit before, and weren't sure what to expect.
So onward we marched. First we headed to the South Lookout:
They have biologists stationed at the lookouts to count birds and on an average day, they can easily count up to 1000 birds of prey! When we arrived, around 10:30 a.m., there had already been 400+ sightings.
The trails were challenging, since they were not always smooth ones. This was definitely not a trip for the faint of heart.
I really liked this rock/small boulder along the trail - you can't see it here, but the colors in it were a beautiful gradient.
This is a staircase of rocks up the mountain to the North Lookout - and it's worth mentioning that not only do you walk UP these stairs ... but you have to walk back DOWN them afterwards!
However, it is worth the effort, because:
We even found a friend!
While we were there, we saw several hawks, two turkey vultures, and two bald eagles! There were also other birds that were pointed out, but you needed binoculars to see them, and we didn't have a pair. But the whole experience was truly magnificent. I highly recommend a visit to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary! We'll definitely go back again sometime (with our binoculars!).
So after that, it was home to the kitties. They were very glad to see us and of course had several tales of horrible neglect and starvation from the cat sitter, in spite of many photos she sent to us that showed the contrary ...
We were home for Wednesday and Thursday, and then on Friday morning, headed to one of our most fave places, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. When we went last year with Amanda and Pat, Amanda found this really nice, really reasonable place only a few blocks from the ocean, and easily walkable to restaurants and shops. We loved it, so we stayed there again. Here is the view from our room - right down the street, you can see the ocean. 😊
Amanda and I had The Tim take a photo of us to send to our friend Lisa. Amanda calls this her "thank God I have a weekend away from my govt job during this horrible administration!" look.
Saturday morning, we went to breakfast at this Victorian hotel restaurant along the boardwalk. They have birds in the parlor, and we had a lovely chat with these two.
This is Moose.
This is Emro.
Both had a lot to tell us, and were happy to sit on our shoulders. They are really characters!
Sunday, we all had breakfast and headed to our respective homes and kitties, after a really fun weekend that was relaxing and the perfect way to end the summer and our week of mini-vacations.
Rehoboth Beach, early, on the very last full day of summer.