The Alamo

The Alamo mission

    I went to South Texas for eight days. We spent most of that time birding. We flew into San Antonio and stayed there two nights. On the first full day we went to The Alamo.

   I need to explain a little about my childhood before I go on... Davy Crockett was my hero growing up. I truly mean my hero. I would ride my bike up and down the neighborhood with my coonskin cap and toy musket. Yes, I named my musket Old Betsy. When John Wayne died in the movie "The Alamo" I balled my eyes out. When Fess Parker went down swinging at The Alamo I cried even harder. My first 45 record was "The Ballad of Davy Crockett"

   So going to The Alamo would be a pilgrimage for me. Since I was a little kid, I learned a few things that we weren't taught in our history books. For instance, Mexico was had made slavery illegal in 1822 so the Mexicans did not like seeing the newly arrived white immigrants bringing their slaves with them to Texas. The Mexican government initially encouraged settlers but slavery was illegal in Mexico. 

 

Davy Crockett
King of the wild frontier

   Secondly, my hero Davy (by the way, he hated being called Davy and preferred David) went west because he had visions of becoming president one day and he had lost an election in Tennessee. He famously said after he lost "you all may go to hell, I'm going to Texas." " He bravely died at The Alamo so I can forgive him for wanting to advance his political career.

   Okay, a brief history lesson. Texans revolted under the rule of General Santa Ana. For months before the battle the Spanish Mission which had not been used for sometime was made into a fort. Col Travis and Jim Bowie had command. Travis of the regular soldiers and Bowie of the volunteers. On Feb 23, 1500 hundred Mexicans surrounded  The Alamo. The bombarded the 180 Texans day and night for almost two weeks. On the morning of  March 6 they attacked and killed all of the soldiers fighting. A few women, children, and Jim Bowie's slave were set free after the battle. 

  A few weeks later, Sam Houston avenged The Alamo and won independence for Texas at the Battle of San Jacinto. In this battle the Texans had eleven killed and forty wounded while the Mexican army had 650 killed, 200 wounded and 300 captured including Santa Ana. In return for his life, Santa Ana gave Texas its freedom.

Visiting the Alamo

    You can walk into The Alamo for free during regular hours. There are ways for them to take your money. You can rent a wand where you plug in numbers and you listen to a short history of that spot of the battle. You can take a guided tour. Also, there is a museum which is not free unless you buy the wand and a 3D experience. 

 

Col. Travis

    The famous view of the mission is not really where the battle took place. The fighting took place outside the mission along walls. The mission was considered the safest place and that is where the women and children hid until the battle was over.  Many of the walls were knocked down due to "progress" but a reproduction was put up on a couple of sides. 

  My hero was in charge of an area that was protected by a barricade of logs. This area was not breached by the Mexican army. The men that fought in this area died from Mexican soldiers that breached the wall in other places and rushed in.  

   Jim Bowie was sick and may have died before the battle even started. He gave his command up to Travis on the third day because he was too sick to fight. He was placed in a hospital bed. 

  We went into the museum and man I'm glad we did. We saw Davy Crockett's rifle and vest. The musician Phil Collins is actually obsessed with The Alamo. He had a huge collection of memorabilia and he donated to the museum. There is a diorama of the battle and he narrates the battle from beginning to end. I really learned a lot. Fess Parker's gun from the movie is also on display.

But wait, there's more! Santa Ana's ceremonial sword is on display along with his hat. Sam Houston's sword is also on display. I can not tell you how in awe I was to be inches from old Davy's gun. I mean, his DNA was probably still on it and I was looking right at it. Oh man!

Number 24 is David Crockett's gun

   
   All in all, we spent close to three hours at The Alamo before getting tacos and walking the Riverwalk. It was quite the experience and I'm sure I'll never forget it

 Below are more photos from The Alamo and museum

Statue of Jim Bowie

Jim Bowie portrait

Statue of Crockett

Santa Ana's field sword

Santa Ana's hat

Sam Houston

Houston's sword

A hand written letter from Davy Crockett to his brother

This is a wall that would have had fighting. I don't know if this is the original or 
if it is rebuilt. I put this photo up with the truck in it to give height. This wall is about six feet tall.
The brave Mexican soldiers scaled these walls using ladders. Almost certainly, the first soldier over the wall on the ladders would be killed. 

Some Resolutions and projects

   As many of us do I am  am making resolutions for the new year. I came up with a few ideas but by far the most important to me is the top one. While most New Year's resolutions come and go, I have to tell you that I am very good about keeping resolutions. I once went a whole year without soda and another without any alcohol just as a resolution. I think part of the reason why I am usually successful is because I hate starting streaks over. It is easier to go another day without a diet coke than it is to reach a streak of 200 days. Also, the OCD in me HATES having things on my list that I can't check off. 

   By far the most important thing I want to do is spend less money on material things. I bought all the rods/reels that I need and can't justify buying anymore. So I truly shouldn't need to buy any this year. I have about twenty five outfits from a three weight fly rod to my twelve foot beefstick for shark fishing. Even if I bought a reel six months from now, it would still mean I spent far less on rods and reels than I did in 2025. 

   As for tackle, I don't need any more of that either. I have a closet full of boxes of spare gear. But for the sake of argument I decide I want to spoil myself or a sale is too good to pass up, my club points and random gift cards should cover the cost of most toys.

   For non fishing related hobbies, as long as what I have doesn't break, I shouldn't need much. My biggest expense last year was a new spotting scope (mine was low quality and twenty years old) and a new tripod (mine fell apart, it was also twenty years old). Hopefully my camera and lens makes it through the year. That would be wonderful.  

   As for the other resolutions, I still need to catch a Pike and see a Red Bellied Snake. I've never tried to catch a Redfin Pickerel and I'd like to go catch another Bowfin. Sleeping outside one day a month will only be hard in January. Hopefully we get a warmish night and I can sleep on the porch in-between these old fashioned New England cold nights

2026 Resolutions

Spend less money on material things

Try to catch Northern Pike, Bowfin, Redfin Pickerel

Try for Red Bellied Snake

Sleep outside once per month

Winter Projects

   I love doing winter projects. When I lived alone I would not start them until November 1 because I knew once I started and had them listed I'd want to do them (and check them off) as fast as possible. Since I've been with Laurie, I decided to wait till the New Year. There is enough holiday stuff to keep me busy during December. January is another matter. 

   Instead of buying flies or asking for them at Christmas, this year I bought the materiel to make my own. I've made some of my own flies before such as albie flies and wooly buggers so I'm not new to it. I had much of the fly tying materiel but needed to get some hooks and odds and ends. I plan on making my four flies I use the most.

   Shark rigs cost between $10-20 each depending on the size of the hook!!! That is of course insane. So I bought all of the pieces to make my own from the big hooks and swivels to the wire. I've made a couple so far and can make them for about $3/each. I did waste about forty dollars on hooks before I found circle hooks with the gap I like. Still even with the investment in hooks, if I make a couple rigs for myself and my two buddies that investment is paid for during our first cast.

   The other projects are pretty standard for me. I always make some carp rigs over the winter and paint some weights to blend into the mud. I make leaders for surf fishing so making a couple for bait fishing with a circle hook for Smooth Dogfish is quick and fun. I always change out rusty hooks and repaint wooden eggs and poppers, at least when I have years where I went to the ocean enough for salt to get on my lures. 

    

Winter Projects

   Make flies

      10 ants

      10 foam ants

      10 Hare's Ears

      10 Pheasant Tails

   Make five homemade shark rigs

   Paint some carp sinkers

   Repaint some of my dirty poppers white

   Make some knotless hair rigs

   Make some rigs with circle hooks for dogfish

   Make leaders for surf fishing

  Change out rusty hooks out of surf bag

Things I am thankful for

 

  It has become a Thanksgiving tradition of mine to do a blog post about things I am thankful for. Sometimes it is just a collection of memories from the previous eleven months. Other times I have written about cheating death and happiness of knowing a family member that has passed. This year I was celebrating my favorite Thanksgiving of all time in New Hampshire and really didn't have time to make a post. 

   Since I hate stopping traditions I figure better late than  never...

I am thankful Laurie's broken ankle healed and we have had one full year with neither of us being injured or in pain

I am thankful for the summer Saturday's I had off from work. In a series of weekends we saw a lifer Soft Shelled Turtle, John Adam's birthplace, and Fort Trumbull in CT

I am thankful I am not doing a big year trying to see as many birds or vertebrates as I can in 2025. It was fun last year but two years in a row would be mentally exhausting

Thankful for old friends that I've fished with for twenty years (Dave), friends that I've birded with the past decade (my text group and others), and new friends at work (Adam)

I am thankful for May. My weekdays off from work I fished or went to NH. My Saturday's off I socialized with birder friends.

I am thankful for Wareham. Onset summer concerts and the picnic area at the Railroad Bridge made for a great summer

Thankful my two month long Mother Nature slump is over. I had brutal bad luck but at some point statistics say things had to change. In the past month I have seen two lifer birds, had a twenty striper day, caught a decent striper another day, and had the rain wash away enough snow in NH to safely  hike The Flume Gorge

I am thankful I am done chasing Pacific Loon and Cave Swallows

Selfishly, I am thankful for my employee discount but also matching 401K

I am thankful I caught a shark but also to experience it with James and Adam

Boathouse Row!

Smallmouth Bass and Sharks!

I am thankful I got the Scopoli's Shearwater so if I choose not to go on anymore pelagics I don't have to!

Thankful for Sue dropping everything when I can get down South County to bird

Thankful for the little Milk Snake that wouldn't stop biting me, the opossum I randomly saw, the Bean Goose, and all the nature I come across.

Thankful that you read this and that writing about my adventures inspires some of you to go on your own

Happy Holidays!

A specific Pacific Loon

 

   As I have mentioned multiple times, Pacific Loon has been one of my biggest nemesis birds of my life. I said to Sue Palmer today, it is a lifer  in not just that it would be the first one I've seen in my life but also, I've spent much of my life chasing this bird ( I may not have used the word bird but rather two words that start with the letters MF).

   Pacific Loons obviously live in the Pacific. One or two occasionally makes it to Rhode Island every year. I have either always been a day late, a minute late, or I've had to work and the loon will stick around all day. This has been going on for the better part of a decade for me. It is by far "the easiest" bird I had never seen in Rhode Island. As I said, one or two will show up a year. 

   I have chased Pacific Loon four times since early November. There was one at East Beach for a week but not the two times I was there (along with Dave M one of those days). Two weeks ago I dipped on one that had been hanging at Watch Hill Light with Sue (that she originally found)

  Today was my first day off since I last tried for the loon that wasn't Thanksgiving. So I made the ninety minute drive again. The bird has never left and I hoped it would be within viewing distance this time. 

   

Even more cropped image but you can see the tell 
tale chin strap of a juvenile
Pacific Loon

   Sue spotted the bird fairly close to shore right away and I thought I had finally seen it. I forgot my memory card in the car so I took photos with Sue's camera. However, as a true nemesis I was looking at the wrong loon. So what I thought was initial success was another couple minutes of frustration. 

   Finally! I got on the right bird. I went to my car and got a memory card and took photos of it for ten minutes. Wow! that was a tough half decade (minimum) chase. 

   After I got my fill of photos Sue and I walked around and saw a Red Throated Loon wash up to shore completely exhausted. After some deliberation and a phone call I caught it and drove it to the Wildlife rehab place on my way home. It was extremely sad and I don't think the little guy will make it but I did what I could.

   So what started out as a huge win certainly ended with a dark cloud watching this poor little Red Throated Loon suffering at the end of the trip. 

The RT Loon before we realized how bad of a shape
it was in

Ecotarium

 

Below is a post that I never published. I don't know why. We had gone in the summer so outdoor stuff may not be the same suring winter hours. 

   I've done pretty much everything within driving distance for a daytrip in Southern New England. When my son was young, when sports and fishing didn't get in the way, I took him to every zoo, historical site, and nature preserve I knew of. By the time he was ten we had done Battleship Cove, Roger Williams Zoo, and the Freedom Trail enough times that we were a little bored. I brought him to museums and aquariums, but one place that always eluded me was the Ecotarium in Worcester.

    The Ecotarium, formerly known as the New England Science Center, is a part museum of science part zoo. There aren't many animals and most of them are local. At the Eco (I can not keep writing Ecotarium over and over, so from now on it's Eco) there are Wood Turtles, Box Turtles, Owls, Eagle, and River Otters. There are a few others. 

 

 There are a lot of hands on activities much of it directed toward kids. The most fun thing I found was a wind tunnel. You get in and close the door and wind hits you up to seventy eight miles per hour. The wind tunnel is in an area about Mt Washington's climate. There are exhibits explaining how difficult it is for vegetation at that altitude. 

  There's a lot of other interesting stuff to learn about. There is a collection of shells you could find in New England. There is a section about Africa with stuffed wild animals. Outside, there are life sized dinosaurs. Also outside is a place where you can learn about bubbles. You can make huge bubbles and bubbles of many shapes. I thought that was fun.

  There is a train that goes around the property but it was closed for maintenance the day we went. For kids, there is a playground along a tiny stream where we saw a bullfrog. On the trail past the playground were a Mountain Lion and in another large cage, Ravens. The Puma's were awake. The Ravens were bouncing around eating and watching us. 

A meteorite that you can touch

   The Eco also has a planetarium and I am a sucker for a planetarium program. We went to the 2 o'clock which was about the size of the universe. There are different programs throughout the day. Unfortunately, since much of the Eco is dedicated to kids, there were a lot of kids in the program, and some of them were obnoxious. Still, the program itself was interesting. There is an additional fee of seven dollars to go into the planetarium program.

The price for an adult was $19. I have to admit it was worth it. I enjoyed the animals the best of course. I have never seen a Wood Turtle. So it was nice to see what I am looking for. We spent fifteen minutes watching the Otters. I did read a lot of the literature on the walls and learned a lot. If you have kids, there is a lot of activities to do. I actually ran into my sister-in-law and my niece and they were having a great time. Ironically, they had never been there before either. 

https://ecotarium.org/

Mineral Display

Entrance to the exhibit about Africa

A short program about Eastern Box Turtles

The Flume in Franconia Notch

  One of the attractions in New Hampshire is a canyon in Franconia Notch named The Flume Gorge.  Like Storyland. Santa's Village, and all of the other attractions there is a fee to enter. It costs $18 for an adult. I have wanted to go to The Flume Gorge for years. I went as a kid but I don't remember my experience. However, I find it very difficult to pay $18 to see nature when I've seen hundreds of miles of trails and been on top of over sixty peaks for free.

   Last year when Laurie and I went up to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving we stopped at The Flue Gorge parking lot. It turns out, you can walk the trails after the season ends for free and at your own risk. The Parks Dept does dismantle some of the boardwalk through the heart of the gorge for the winter. The reason, I suspect, is two fold. The first is so people can't actually get to walk the hundred yards through the most impressive scenery without paying. The other reason is more considerate. With all of the moisture from the waterfalls and the river, it is very wet. Below freezing temps the canyon walls, and the boardwalk ice up. I'm sure many people would try to walk on the icy boardwalk and get injured and need rescue if they were allowed to be stupid.

   We went back up for Thanksgiving again this year. We stayed at a Quality Inn just a mile from The Flume Gorge parking lot. We had a great time. We spent Tuesday night making food to eat for Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving. Highlighted by the best apple pie Laurie has made. The motel has a pool and a hot tub and we took advantage. 

   The weather was far better than expected. Last week the long range forecast was for snow all three days from Wed to our ride home early Friday morning ( I had to be at work at noon for  Black Friday). When we left Mass on Wed morning it was drizzling but a balmy sixty degrees. By the time we got into the mountains it was only forty but that is plenty warm for late November. We puttered around Lincoln for a bit and went to look at The Flume parking lot. There was enough snow and packed slippery snow/ice that I could tell the walk might be unsafe. As much as I wanted to walk through the woods I decided it prudent not to. 

   While we were sleeping on Wednesday night it rained a lot. When we woke up Thanksgiving, it was partly to mostly sunny. We expected it to be raining all day. So after breakfast and a little television, I talked  Laurie into going back to try the walk. 

   I could tell the rain washed away most of the snow so we tried to walk the trail. If things got dicey we would just turn around. Happily, our two mile walk was safe and we finished the circuit. A quarter mile from the car is a huge boulder and a trail junction. Right will bring you to the gorge quickly. Straight takes the long way through some interesting scenery. We chose to go straight to the gorge. The logic being if we couldn't do the whole loop due to ice, hopefully we could at least see it. 

   After a long downhill, our first interesting feature was a red covered bridge. 

Then we had another short uphill and came to this huge flat granite slide in the river

We followed the river for a bit and came to the entrance of The Flume Gorge. As I said, the trail through was closed so we couldn't walk all the way through. I hopped the closed for the season sign to get a little closer. I made it to where the boardwalk was taken out. Experienced ice climbers are allowed to climb the canyon walls beyond the sign with the proper equipment.  We were far enough in that we could see the natural beauty.

Since we couldn't walk through, we had to walk the Rim Trail on top of the gorge. This lead us to a little rain shelter called "Top of the Gorge". This is where the boardwalk would have came out. As with the other side, you can walk down to the canyon but it is blocked and more boardwalk pieces are missing. The good news is, the boardwalk does go down to a beautiful waterfall. We stood right next to it for fifteen minutes. Thanks to the rain the night before, it was gushing.

After leaving the gorge. the trail goes downhill for a long way and we were glad we went in the direction we did. I'd much rather get the climbing over while I'm still fresh. I though the rest of the walk would be fairly boring woods hiking but there was still plenty to see. This cave is at Top of the Gorge. I should have put something in it for perspective because it is about fifteen feet from top to bottom

After the long downhill we came to another spectacular area. There is a river with a sheer cliff that rises eighty feet above the water. The river makes a huge pool below. It is obvious the water is really deep. All I could think about was how many wild brook trout must be in the pool that no one can access. Again, the photo does it no justice. The trees on top are at least eighty feet above the river.

Above the pool is another covered bridge we had to cross to get back to the car.

A view from the covered bridge

A view from a bench. Mt Liberty in the foreground, Mt Flume in the back. I've been on top of Liberty three times and Mt Flume once.

The sun broke through just enough to light up the summit of Mt Liberty for a minute.

I was surprised that there is a species of fern that is still green despite winter weather.

We saw many trees that look like they are growing right out of rocks along the way.

Our starting and ending point

If I could use one word to describe the scenery, I'd say it was gorge-ous. Get it?

Skate America

   

Madison Chock and Evan Bates

   As you can see from my last post Laurie and I went to Lake Placid to watch a skating competition. The event known as Skate America is part of the Grand Prix series. There are six events throughout the world (USA, Canada, Finland, France, Japan, China). The best athletes get two assignments while skaters with zero chance to win get one assignment. The top six point getters go to the Grand Prix final. These events give athletes a chance to get some international experience. It also gives them somethings to work on if they get scored low for a particular skill or jump.

   I often get asked why I go to figure skating with Laurie. Well, she does watch football with me. Also, it is her favorite sport and she knows all of the competitor's from around the world. I watch enough skating with her to have my favorites, also so I enjoy any good sporting event.

 

Pairs medalists
L-R, Georgia, Japan, Canada

   But for the point of this post, lets look at the Skate America competition through Laurie's eyes...She is a super fan. Remember those kids in school that knew that stat of every player's baseball or football card? Laurie knows who can do what jumps, who is best at different spins, and what each skater's routine looks like. She will rewatch routines almost every night from events as far back as the 1976 Olympics to live events we watched/ recorded over the past weekend.

    For all of it's faults, social media does have its advantages. Laurie can follow her favorite athletes on Instagram and Twitter.  When they post training videos, podcasts, or even video of their dog, you get a better sense of who they are and you root for those people that much more to do well. 

   Because of the easier travel, the Skate America competition had some very good athletes from the USA and Canada including women's champion Alyssa Lui. However, the pairs world champion's from Japan were there as was the team that will probably finish second in the Olympics. 

 

French dance team Loicia and Theo 
remembering their trip to Lake Placid

     Okay, now that I have set the stage on why you can see why Laurie would be so excited to go....Thursday was a practice day open to the public. As part of our ticket package we could go. Practice started at 10 am but we missed some of it due to a three hundred mile drive starting at 6 am. When we got to the Herb Brooks Arena there was barely a hundred people watching practice. I knew this would be the most laid back day with the least rules. So I brought in my 300 mm camera lens and took photos of the athletes. Most of my photos suck but I got some half decent ones. Most of the athletes were not in full comp uniforms and went through run throughs during their allotted time. 

  A French skater named Kevin Amos is very inconsistent but when we is "on" he is great. When he is bad he completely bombs. He had a great practice and after landing a series of jumps as he skated by me I yelled over the boards "that was great Kevin". He turned around and smiled.

Kevin Amos

 Friday was the Pairs and Men's short program. It didn't start until 7 pm so we hung around Lake Placid during the day. Of all the athletes in the whole event I most wanted to see, the ones I looked forward to the most were the Japanese pairs. They are far and away the best team. They are about the only world class skaters we have never seen live.  When we got there we had what you'd consider "end zone seats". Our seats were at a far corner twelve rows up. I was squished and could not enjoy myself. Luckily the arena was about 1/4 full so we moved around and found better seats. The Japanese team had the lead after the short. During the Men's a Japanese man that is not one of their best had the skate of his life and had the lead ahead of the favorite Mikhail Shaidrov from Kazakhstan

   Saturday was the busiest day of the comp. The finals for the Men's and Pairs was one session and another session was the Rhythm Dance and the Women's short. Knowing we were not going to sit in our assigned seats, we went way up to the bleachers and sat in "the nosebleeds". We watched the first group of pairs from there. I was scouting for open seats the whole time.  The arena was still only half full with most of the people sitting across from the judges in the middle (fifty yard line in football stadium terms)

 

We ended up watching from these
seats the last two days. That is the
NBC broadcast booth

We ended up getting seats near the NBC broadcast crew. We were about twenty feet away from former Olympians Tara Lipinski (gold medalist), Johnny Weir, and longtime sports commentator Terry Gannon. Behind us was the international feed announced by Ted Barton

  Both events in the first session were terrible. The Japanese team won gold but made the same mistake they made Friday. The second and third place teams (from Georgia and Germany) imploded and only medaled because of the leads they built up on Friday. None the less, we were happy with our new seats and hoped to get them during the second session. 

    We had to leave the arena between sessions so they could check tickets again. The Rhythm Dance went well and as expected USA's Chock and Bates were in first. In the ladies, a Japanese girl named Rinka Watanabe was ahead of Alysa Liu because she landed a clean triple axle. 

   We ha to pack up Sunday before we left the motel and killed some time before the 2 pm start. We got the same seats as Saturday and the arena had less people. I suspect because Lake Placid is so hard to get to that many had to use Sunday as a travel day. So we moved around at leisure again. Alysa ended up winning the Ladies because Rinka slipped on a combo. Chock and Bates easily won the dance comp. 

   Now as I said, put yourself in Laurie's shoes. As a superfan here is what it was like for her. On day one we watched practice from the front row. We were feet from her favorite athletes. As I said, Kevin turned around when I said "good job". 

   

Terry, Tara, Johnny

 Friday through Sunday, the arena was only 1/4 at most if you took away the two sections across from the judges. Everywhere you walked you'd walk by either an athlete competing, a coach (who usually were ex-skaters). We walked by announcers and podcasters. On the practice day, I got a photo with the Japanese pairs team though I was blinking when the photo was snapped (damn it!). Overall, we counted twenty athletes/broadcasters/coaches we either talked to, said hi to, got a photo of or with (not including while they were on the ice but when we asked if we could take their photo). 

 

Ted Barton and Jackie Wong

 When the French dance teams were done, they sat in our row to cheer on the French ladies, We were right next to them. We ended up taking a photo of them as we were leaving but somehow my phone did not save the picture (damn it!)

   I actually had a conversation with NBC broadcaster Johnny Weir in the bathroom while we were both washing our hands. He was a nice guy. Despite being extremely flamboyant he was surprisingly down to earth. Laurie took photos of her favorite podcaster and the broadcaster for the world feed. 

   Now imagine if this were a a football game an your most rabid football fan friend were there. Imagine going to the game and sitting anywhere you wanted. Players are warming up in the concourse. Players and coaches are sitting in the stands right next to you watching the game. Players are more than happy to taka photo with you. Imagine walking into the bathroom an having a conversation with Al Michaels or Tony Romo like I did with Johnny. Do you believe in miracles? because none of that would never happen at a football game but Laurie got to live it at Skate America. 

Japanese pairs team and blinky
(damn it!)