Into the Wild(life refuge...)

This weekend Joy and I celebrated veterans and America by visiting 3 wildlife refuges. 1) Back Bay W.R. of southern Virginia had a great stretch of beach that was home to huge pods of dolphins, which were clearly showing off for us. They were surfing the waves and hunting fish as if they owned the place. Which of course, they do.

2) Chincoteague Wildlife Refuge on the Delmarva. Recently 'renovated' by Hurricane Sandy, the road to the beach was closed to cars, but still walkable. This was the site of kite flying and sand castle building. Confession: all my sand castles look like Dome of the Rock because it's the most stable sand structure I can build. Afterward we went looking for birds and found ruddy ducks, great egrets, snowy egrets, blue teals, and great blue herons. The egrets were especially good at catching fish. Joy and I also did a scavenger hunt in the local Chincoteague Museum.

3) Blackwater Wildlife Refuge also on the Delmarva. Great bike trail and home of bald eagles (and other birds of course like banded hawks and your assortment of wading birds and gulls). We saw 3 bald eagles today. It was really beautiful estuary in the middle of pastoral fields. Turns out the refuge is right next to where Harriet Tubman was born, worked as a slave, and then escaped into freedom, only to risk it all over and over again as a conductor on the Underground Railroad right through the Delmarva. Someday I want to be a "nurse, scout, and spy."

Lastly, Joy and I stopped in marvelous Cambridge where the High Spot Gastropub had changed my mind on oysters. I have now come to the conclusion (along with Joy), that oysters do not totally suck. Especially when fried, covered in buffulo sauce and dipped in blue cheese. And then chased with chicken and waffles lovingly doused with jalepeno enhanced maple syrup.

And now fun facts: 1) Horseshoe crabs have 10 eyes, but still can't see very well. Females can get to be over 3 feet across! Females have "scissor" legs and males have "boxing" legs. We had a very enlightening presentation at the Delmarva Discovery Center. 2) 25% of Chincoteague has Mediterrean features because a little boy from a Spanish shipwreck washed up on shore hundreds of years ago; he was named James Alone (because he was the sole survivor). 3) Again - because it's important - oysters do not totally suck.