February Update- Road Trip

 I've been on the road for much of February so I didn't have too much time to work on the layout. 

I started the month with a road trip to Nags Head and Wanchese, NC.

There I took a one day boat trip to look for pelagic birds, i.e. birds that live predominantly at sea. We journeyed about 20 miles off shore in choppy weather on a 60-ft long charter boat. The weather was too rough for good photography, but we did see quite a few birds. I got a decent photo of a puffin and a dovekie.

I also stopped by the Wright Brothers National Monument. I toured the museum. I did not realize how much research and development the Wright Brothers did . They had their own wind tunnel and developed their own engine. The whole effort was much more involved than I knew. 

Replica Wright Flyer on display

Puffin about 20 miles off shore.

Florida scrub jay

I left NC and drove to my brother's house in Melbourne, FL. I spent a week there with him doing some bid watching and getting ready for JAXCON, 2025. A highlight was finding several rare and endangered Florida Scrub Jays near my niece's house near Rockledge, FL. I spent a morning at Merritt Island Wildlife Preserve. Then I met some old friends, Clark Folwer and his wife Debbie Heystek,  in Titusville  for lunch.

Lifeboat from Maersk Alabama at Navy UDT-Seal Museum

On Thursday we took a drive to the  National Navy UDT-Seal Museum in Fort Pierce.  The museum is small but has a good collection of artifacts especially small arms and scuba gear used by the UDT-Seals from WW2 to current. Outside they have a collection of small boats from various eras. I was especially intrigued by the lifeboat from the Maersk Alabama that the Seals rescued from Somlai pirates.  

We attended JAXCON for one day. The show was well attended with over 600 models on display. I entered several models and picked up two gold, 5 silver and a bronze medal. There were several models that I liked. Unfortunately, there were not enough people to act as judges. I was very busy as I judged half of the armor models and almost all the figures (except for the ones I entered).  I later learned that several models did not get judged, which was disappointing for the people that missed out. When I judge I like to provide feedback to the entires. 

This Mustang was awarded best in show at JAXCON 2025

Light house at Ponce Inlet

I left JAXCON and met Alicia at her mom's condo in Daytona Beach. Alicia's childhood  friend, Debbie, and her husband, Dave, were staying with Anne. We visited Ponce Inlet for some wildlife viewing. We saw a manta ray, several dolphins, and many birds. 

Incredibly cute Borrowing Owl

On Monday we dropped Alicia's mom off at Melbourne airport and then spent an another day with Rob and Terry. We played some golf and did a little birdwatching at Viera Wildlife Preserve. On Tuesday we drove to Homestead, Fl with stops to see Alicia's friend Denise in West Palm Beach, a quick birding stop at Valley View State Park where we spotted several burrowing owls, and finally a visit with my college friend, Eric Carr, in Fort Lauderdale.  It is amazing how the area has become one giant megapolis from West Palm Beach to Homestead. 

We spent the next morning touring the Everglades National Park. We saw a good number of birds, though not as many as I expected, but lots of alligators and fish. The waters of the everglades are just teaming with fish. Seems like everywhere you look you see fish. It was like looking in an aquarium. 

They have a whole wing of the REV Institute  museum dedicated to Porsche

Next stop was Naples, Fl to visit Alicia's brother and sister-in-law. They bought a nice condo in Naples. The following day we toured the REV Institute museum in Naples. It is an excellent museum filled with rare and historic cars. If you like cars, it is well worth a stop.

We continued north to Clearwater, Florida to visit our friends Joe and Carol Post. The next morning Carol took us to Sand Key Park to do some bird watching. It was very windy and cloudy, but I did get an interesting photo of a laughing gull with a small catfish. 

We headed back to Daytona with a stop at Lake Apopka to do the famous wildlife drive. The weather was cool and very cloudy. We saw over a thousand birds and even spotted some lifers. 

Purple Gallinule

We played one more round of golf. Then headed home to Virginia. In all I was gone for 18 days. It was a great trip.  As far as bird watching, I got a lot of photos, and picked up 8 lifers in Florida and 11 in North Carolina.  Alas, we didn't visit any model railroads.