WEST COASTERS IN THE DEEP SOUTH

Some of my west coast family came to visit for a week, so there was much sightseeing, shopping, eating, and drinking to be done! We had a great time!

At the Coca-Cola Museum in Vicksburg, where the soda was first bottled.

A strong thunderstorm came through the next morning and knocked half a tree down across our driveway. Never fear, Neighbor Jay rescued us with his ATV!

Once free, we went down to Natchez to do some touristy things. After the visitor center, we stopped at the Grand Village of the Natchez.

Then we toured Longwood Plantation (worth the money).

And we came back to Vicksburg northbound on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

After a day of shopping on Sunday, we spent the night drinking wine and gossiping. Grandma's finger-pointing proved to be contagious...

I met the gang for lunch at Walnut Hills, an amazing round-table buffet with good ol' fashioned southern cooking. The guys tried to rock off a few calories out on the porch afterwards...

After Jay's now famous fried catfish meal, we walked around the yard and Grandma helped me pick some blueberries.

We loved having my parents, Grandma, Uncle Daryl and Aunt Margie in town. We hope they come again soon, and bring the kids along!

TOOL CONCERT

We made our first trip home to Jacksonville together, driving. It was a long 10.5 hours, but well worth it for the amazing concert, the good times had with some of our best buds, and getting to see Jean!

To start the weekend off right, we went to see the new baby.

Here is Jamie with his proud mama.

My turn to hold him! Check out all that hair!! He's so cute!

Looks like Cole loves being a big brother...

On to Ryan's house, where the boys caught up over poker and beer.

Stacey stopped by to say HI, home for the summer from FSU.

That night we went to the TOOL concert (not Jackson of course, though he probably would have liked the lasers... just not the loud music). Here's the whole gang!

Before leaving town we had to get some El Potro, and Jay got another chance to hold the baby. He looks like a natural!

On the way home to Mississippi, we stayed a night with cousin Jason, Amy, and baby Finn (we just couldn't get enough of babies on this trip!) Oh my goodness was Finn adorable, his big happy smile just melts your heart!

KERR WMA

Yeah! I got to head back to my old stomping grounds (central Texas that is) and catch two of my most favorite birds, the Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo! I love my new job!

This was a really great trip! I got to take our contract student along (it was her first week of work and she loved it!), and catch up with my bird-catching partner-in-crime, graduate advisor, and another Lebergian labmate.

Here is Kelly teaching Myra how to hold a Black-capped Vireo.

After Kelly and Paul left, and after the work day (you can only catch birds until early afternoon most days in Texas, due to the heat and high winds), the rest of us went over to Lost Maples State Park. Texas has a lot of beautiful parks to offer, and this one is no exception. This was my second trip to Lost Maples (Kelly and I went back in 2005 when we were working at Kerr WMA). We saw a few Golden-cheeks (and heard many more) while hiking, sat around the pond hoping to see a new Kingfisher, and hiked up to the top for a full view of the park (and a cool breeze)!

Yes! This time around I got to hold an Ash-throated Flycatcher! (We tried and tried to catch one back in 2005, without success)

Here I am in 2006 with a Golden-cheek we caught by accident while trying to catch a Black-cap. We were nowhere near acceptable Golden-cheek habitat, but this guy was really aggressive! He responded to the Black-cap song (we weren't even playing the Screech Owl)!

Definitely one of the most beautiful birds in Texas. I let the Screech Owl song play a bit longer than usual to catch this guy so Myra could see him up close.

A big storm was rolling in as we hiked up Enchanted Rock (another gorgeous state park), which made for some pretty photos, but a somewhat scary hike back down.

Here we are striking a pose at the top... Myra, me, Christina (Giri's field assistant for the 2006 season), and Giri. We wanted to wait for sunset to head back, but the rain started falling. We ended up hitting the safety of the Gazebo about 10 minutes too late... we were drenched. As we looked back up the rock, we noticed a RIVER flowing through the crevice we had just descended through... flash floods are scary!

FIRST VICKSBURG VISITORS

Jean and Grandmother came to visit this weekend, becoming our first visitors! It also happened to be Mother's Day weekend, so the timing was perfect!

We had lots of fun doing "touristy" things... We're still new to the area, so we needed to see these things!

Here are Jay and Grandmother as the visitor center, overlooking the new and old Mississippi River Bridges.

This is my artsy photo from the USS Cairo at the Vicksburg National Battlefield.

And her is Jean just outside the USS Cairo.

Looking over the side deck towards the neighbor's pond.

Down in the Sunken Trace on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

We took a river tour on the Sweet Olive just before sunset. This scene is where the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers meet. The tour was neat... we got to get out on the water, see the casino boats from a different angle, and go under the bridges, but it was overpriced in my opinion.

This is the best casino in town, the Ameristar. All gambling in Vicksburg takes place "out on the Mississippi", even though the casinos have been dry docked since the hurricanes in 2005 (for safety reasons). You can see the casino boat with the hotel up on the hill beyond. Niether Jay or I gamble, but we do like the Friday night seafood buffet at the Heritage Buffet (expensive, but worth it if you like steak, crablegs, and dozens of amazing deserts)!

Next to the boat docks is meter of all the major floods affecting Vicksburg, courtesy of the US Army Corps of Engineers of course!

This scene is also just across from the docks. Here are Jay, Grandmother, and Jean posing in front of the Vicksburg river-side welcome sign.

MOVING TO MISSISSIPPI

New job, new house, new state... in that order. No new time zone this time though... been in LA, done CST!

Here we are with the keys to the new place!

HORSETAIL FALLS

July 22, 2006 (4 miles)
We went up to South Lake Tahoe with David and Taryn for the weekend and stayed with Taryn's grandparents (Bill and Jean) at their cabin with an awesome view of the lake. David and Taryn had this goal of hiking up Horsetail Falls, so we made a pact to get to the top! We took the scenic route... On the way up I saw a new bird, my last for this summer adventure, a Green-tailed Towhee. The hike was difficult, but the lakes at the top were worth it (the water was cold, but it was fun to swim around anyway). It was kinda scary on the way down (we had to do a little rock-climbing), but Taryn made it with flying colors (there was only one really bad part for her). By the time we got back to the parking lot, we were feeling pretty good, except for our sunburns (there aren't many trees on this hike). To celebrate our victory, we went to the Tahoe Brewery for dinner and beers, then headed back to the cabin for White Russians and some Dance Dance Revolution Extreme!

Jay scouts an "alternate" route up the waterfall

Horsetail Falls (just outside of South Lake Tahoe)

View from the top (lots of little lakes to swim in!)

David and Taryn take the plunge (brrr!)

Victory pose! (mission accomplished)

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

July 16, 2006 (7.5 miles)
Hello Yosemite! Coming from Sequoia/Kings Canyon, we entered Yosemite through the south entrance (a first for me). We could not believe how slow the traffic was! It took 30 minutes just to get through the toll booth! Since we hadn't been before, we decided to go up the road to Glacier Point. We found a camping spot (in a very crowded campground), then hiked out to McGurk Meadow. It was an easy hike with lots of wildflowers. Next, we hiked the loop out to Taft Point and the Fissures, then around to Sentinel Dome. I saw another new bird, the Cassin's Finch. We felt like we were on top of the world! It was so different to look down into the valley (from directly above) and it gave a whole new perspective on El Capitan. As the sunset hour grew close, we drove out to Glacier Point where we attended a ranger talk. It was one of the best I've heard. The ranger named all the peaks we could see and gave a little background info on each. Did you know that Half Dome isn't really half? It's actually 80%. Then he told us a story about how almost every other tourist that visits the park asks a ranger "When did Half Dome break apart?" He told us that one day, he was feeling particularly punchy (as Jay would say) and jumped over his desk, raced outside, and exclaimed "Oh my gosh, when did THAT happen?!?" He he... rangers are funny!

Strolling through McGurk Meadow

View into the valley from the fissures (Yosemite Falls in the background)

Jay at the fissures (El Capitan in the background at right)

Sentinel Dome

In front of Half Dome, Vernal Fall, and Neveda Fall (left to right)

July 18, 2006 (15 miles)
Today we embarked on our first overnight hike since the PCT debacle... We started the morning at Tuolumne Meadows and hiked the John Muir Trail (JMT) to just before the intersection with the Half Dome Trail. The hike started with a LOT of uphill (reaching a high point of 9700ft on trail) across lots of different types of terrain. There were amazing views (particularly the one that combined Catherdral Peak, Cathedral Lakes, and the Echo Peaks), lots of mosquitoes (in every meadow and stream crossing), a scary hail storm (we hid out for about a half hour under the rain fly, and when we came out, it looked like Half Dome was one fire - of course it wasn't - though there was a fire across the valley from where we were), and a mysterious animal (I didn't get to see it, but Jay said it looked like a badger, or maybe a wolverine...) Half way through the hike we started going downhill. It was about the steepest downhill section I've ever done and I really felt for the hikers coming up (they looked pooped!) Oh yeah, and I saw another new bird, a Lincoln's Sparrow.

Starting south on the John Muir Trail from Tuolumne Meadows

Cathedral Lake

Cathedral Peak and Echo Peaks

Half Dome after the storm

July 19, 2006 (11 miles)
We woke up early and hiked Half Dome Trail to the summit. We were the second group to select gloves from the pile at the saddle and climb the cables to the top. WOW! The view was absolutely amazing! Totally worth the difficult, scary climb. I was too nervous to walk out to the edge, so I belly-crawled and managed to look straight down into the valley. I could see Mirror Lake... and a couple of climbers coming up the face! Good thing we didn't wait too long to come down, we had to side-step one group on the cables, and by the time we left the saddle there was stop-and-go traffic down to the base. One there, we packed up the tent and grabbed our packs, then continued down the JMT to Neveda Fall, where we stopped for lunch. Afterwards, we switched over to the Mist Trail, which was busier than Half Dome (almost like the lines at Disneyland), then made the final descent back on the JMT into the valley at Happy Isle.

Only 2 more miles to the summit!

Heading up the cables

Looking down into the valley (the 'Diving Board' at left, climbers on the face beneath)

Jay heads down before the crowd

View up the cables from the saddle (See all those little spots on the cables? That's the traffic...)

Further down the JMT we looked back to see a different view of Half Dome (the backside)

Looking straight down Neveda Fall

Feeling proud underneath Neveda Fall (only 2 more miles to go to complete the hike into the valley)

Jay poses at the end of the Mist Trail (Vernal Fall is in the background)