Barred Owl at Mead Botanic Gardens

We went back to Mead Botanic Gardens with Chris and Jodi on Halloween morning in the hope of seeing a Barred Owl. We had luck.  

Also had a nice look at a pair of wood ducks.

Nature at Mead Botanic Gardens

This morning Chris, Mary and I went birding in Mead Botanic Gardens in Winter Park.  Super place.  We managed to see a 54 inch Yellow Rat Snake while also seeing 27 species of birds.  Great fun.

Manatees, Crystal River, Florida

We stopped to see Bill and Stephanie Rice. They have a horse ranch in Morriston, Florida.  They took us out on their boat near Crystal River Florida where we got to see some manatees swimming in fresh spring water.  

Dinner with the Ocala Hopkins

Mary and I had fun at dinner with Barbara Hopkins, her son (and our son's-in-law brother) Mike Hopkins, wife and mother Angela and children Meryl and Graham.  Super meal at a great Mexican place in Ocala.

Driving Home from Strom Thurmond Reservoir

The ride home from the lake with one tired boy and two tired dogs.  

Camping, Geocaching, and Taylor Swift

Danny, Parker and I found a super camp site on Strom Thurmond lake. It's right on the GA/SC border.

We did the "guy" thing while Anna Grace went with Allison, Mary and friends to the Taylor Swift concert at the Georgia Dome.

Strom Thrumond Reservior is 180 miles from Danny and Allison's house in Cumming, GA, but it's only 5 miles from the oldest geocache in South Carolina ;-)

Avalon Shopping after THE MARTIAN

We went to see The Martian (great movie) on Friday afternoon.  Lots of Halloween theme around.  This is Parker and Anna Grace Hopkins.

Granddaughter Anna Grace Hopkins on Horseback

Anna Grace has been taking horseback riding lessons since she was 6 years old.  Now 10, she's coming into her own,  This shot shows why she won several ribbons during summer competitions.  

Phantom Vision Drone

For retirement Mark and Magan gave me the ultimate GoPro accessory, a Phantom drone capable of carrying the GoPro.  So far I have not had the guts to add the camera, but spent some time with Parker and Anna Grace at Fowler Park near Cumming to test my skills.  This was the first time I had every flown it without assistance, so I was pretty stoked.

Big Creek Greenway

Forsythe County, Georgia has an amazing park system.  The Big Creek Greenway currently extends nearly 7 miles.  At least 4 of that is on boardwalk...the board feet of lumber. Mary and I explored it on the tandem.

Parker Hopkins, Lacrosse

We arrived Cumming, Georgia in time to see Grandson Parker Hopkins play a lacrosse game.  Parker is a member of the West Forsythe Wolverines.  They beat the Milton Bears handily.

Rome, Georgia is a quaint southern town. Lots of charm.

Richard attended a Geocaching "Mega" event in Rome, Georgia.  That's an event with over 500 people. This one had about 800 geocachers.  Richard got his nerd on.  We were surprised with the charm of Rome. It's an antebellum town with a lot of history.  It's very dog friendly,  On Friday night we were able to take Bean to a local restaurant and sit on a great spot on the roof top.  Here we are on the clock tower.  127 steps to the top.

Arrival in Georgia after nearly 1000 miles from Austin.

The back route we took from Austin was about 1000 miles to Cumming, Georgia.  It had the added benefit of narrow roads and low bridges to keep us on our toes.

One night on Natchez Trace

On the way from Austin to Georgia we stopped along the way on the Natchez Trace at a National Park Service campground we were the only  people. there.  Dark.  Quiet. Amazing

Oldest Geocache in Louisiana

I stopped along the way to find and log the oldest Geocache in Louisiana...along the Wild Azalea Trail.  This required a drive to the trail head in the Mini then a mountain bike ride (4 miles RT) to the geocache.

Jack Goes to School

Jack started nursery school at the Primrose School in Bee Cave, Texas.  We all remember those first days away from Mom and Dad.  It's a little rough for him right now

The Midway, Austin Texas ... food trucks and trailers.

Austin is a cool place. We stopped to eat at The Midway. It's all food trucks and trailers converted into kitchens.  The food was amazing.

Here's Mark, Magan, Mary, Jack and Reid

Mark and Reid Whitfield Taylor (2 months and 1 day)

Jack Quentin Taylor enjoying an Ice Shave.

Mary and Magan

Mark and his boys.

Mark and Magan's Property, Bee Cave, Texas

We had hoped to arrive in Austin, TX on the 8th of October, but got caught in a Biblical rain outside Abilene, 6 inches in an hour or so.  We spent the night at the RV Park on Dyess Air Force Base and made it to Austin on the 9th.

One stop was to see the land Mark and Magan bought in Bee Cave.  It's in the hill country to the West of Austin.  In the photo Mark is showing Mary the amazing lot.

Our first stop was Picture Canyon.  It's about as far to the southeast of Colorado as you can get.  We did  4-mile round trip hike going a little to the south and crossed the Oklahoma border.  The purpose of the trip was for Richard to do some birding.  He was able to see, for the first time in Colorado a very secretive bird, the Rufuos-crowned Sparrow,

It's an incredibly beautiful place known for plains Indians that live there in the 1600s and 1700s.  The canyon has a year-round spring-fed lake that also attracted homesteaders during the land rush of 1893.  We saw the remains of some old stone structures.  We also were able to locate some pictographs on the canyon walls.  Unfortunately they have all been vandalized by latecomers.

We learned a lot from our trip to Grand Junction.  Now ready to go.

You can see where we are right now AT THIS LINK...It takes a few seconds to load.

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Here's a little video of our through Colorado National Monument before the ride.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zehm7zzVcCg

Tour of the Moon

Today Mary and I rode the Tour of the Moon at the Colorado National Monument outside Grand Junction. We did the short, 41 mile, ride with just 4000 feet of elevation gain. We're kinda out of shape but managed to slog it out. CNM is one of the most beautiful places in the US. A famous bike racing loop a few scenes in the movie American Flyers were filmed there.

Here's a video of our drive through the Monument before we did the ride.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zehm7zzVcCg

On the way to Grand Junction

First trip is a test drive. We're headed to Grand Junction, about 300 miles from home to participate in the Tour of the Moon in the Colorado National Monument.