12 July 2011

Well, we are still waiting for our little blessing...it seems to be unimaginably hard to do so.  We're now 2 hours from home, constantly whining about how much we miss our babies, er puppies..er....dogs.  This morning we got around by 10 or 11 and finally decided to take a drive through the suburbs and end up at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.

Boy, was it hot out.  The car claimed it was 99, the weather said about 95.  It was definitely warm and humid.  We hiked out onto the refuge, between something like a river, and something that I'd call an open marshland.  The river seemed to be heavily polluted.  The marshland area had a boardwalk running through the middle of it with a bald guy sitting out in the sun reading a book.  I was worried his head might get sunburned.  The boardwalk also sported posters of waterfowl.  The posters included pictures, dimensions, and average weight.  The Bald Eagle was definitely on the list, piquing my (Daddy's) interest to the max.

We walked back the way we came down the boardwalk and continued until we reached a double-level "observation tower" which was really nothing but two concrete slabs thrown on top of one another.  There was also an opportune port-a-potty nearby.  We sat there for a bit watching the main wildlife that was available: some kind of white crane.  I talked to Neil for a bit as well.

At this point we were feeling a bit dehydrated, had run out of water, and were ready to go back, so we did.  On our way back across the boardwalk, we saw some deer several hundred yards away picking at some greens near the foot of the marshland.

When we got to the visitor center, I immediately noticed the stuffed amateur eagle perched on a peg attached to the ceiling.  I proceeded to ask the staff about eagles on the refuge.  To my delight, there was a nest only a couple hundred yards further down the very path we had taken!  We instantly decided that we will indeed visit John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge one day again soon.

On the way back to the condo, I tried to bypass the Dairy Queen that was "on the way," but Vickie wasn't having any of that.  So when we stopped for DQ, I walked down to CVS to get a louffa.  Let's just say that highway robbery for a louffa is north of $2, and I ended up paying north of $2..........

Then, after a 20 minute drive through 8 miles of Philly area suburbs, we were back.  And ready to wait to see what tomorrow will bring.  We know it will bring a trip to CHOP early in the morning, so that should be fun!  We'll need to carefully plan the navigation between here and there.....