The first big trip of the fall is underway with a route that will traverse 17 states from Florida to Colorado.  With a day to spend in Port Orange, FL, we made a stop at the Smyrna Dunes Park.  Happily, we picked up three new species to raise the year-to-date total to 429.  

Snowy Plovers, about the size of newborn chickens...

The aptly named, Common Tern...

And, Red Knots sporting their not so red fall plumage.

We also found some Black Skimmers that were eager to pose for close range photos.

Next up is a quick stop in Charlotte to visit the dentist and then on to Cincinnati to celebrate my mom's 93rd birthday.  From there, we immediately head west to Boulder, CO to perform babysitting duty with Henry and Owen for a few days.   As I have noted before, there are no days off when you are retired.

We made a quick dash to Charlotte last week and loaded the entire household on a 26' U-Haul truck.  Then made the 900 mile drive back to Key West.  It was only 90 degrees when we unloaded in Key West... much cooler than 94 degrees when we loaded the truck in Charlotte.  

We held up for one day just north of Miami to allow last week's rain storm to pass the keys.  So, what do you do with a free day?  Well, you go birding and shelling.

We found species #426 for the year and another life bird, a Brown Noddy, at Sebastian Inlet. 

After a terrific lunch at Captain Charlies, we hit the beach at John D. MacArthur park near West Palm Beach in search of bittersweets (below) and scotch bonnets.  

While shelling, we observed one newly-hatched green sea turtle making its way down the beach to the surf... always a great sight to see.

The water was a beautiful milky blue through the keys as a result of the storm including this view from the famous 7-mile bridge.  As you can see from the picture, most drivers did a great job of staying out of my way.

All-in-all, the move was as easy as could be.  Whomever was responsible for the planning, logistics and execution is someone who knows how to get things done.

Henry quickly reattached himself upon our arrival to his best most-favorite walking buddy... Grandpa.

A couple of days later, Henry gave Boca Chica beach a thorough investigation, looking for sea beans, hamburger beans and shells.  We ordered new shoes for Henry the next day.