Located on 890 acres just outside of Austin, TX, the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a 3.4-mile motor racing circuit. It is the host of the Formula One United States Grand Prix, the Motorcycle Grand Prix of The Americas, the FIA World Endurance Championship, and the Tudor United SportsCar Championship. I photographed it during a day trip to Austin which started at 4 am in the morning and ended at midnight.

Jeanine prepared an Easter basket for Maya who was giddy as a four year old as she investigated the contents. We then were treated to Easter brunch by Alan Budris and his daughter Sarinnagh at AKA Bistro in Lincoln. A wonderful meal and even better company. Maya spent the better part of an hour driving my (her future) Audi around the neighborhood in preparation for Driver’s Education which she will be starting in June. I suspect she will be able to teach the class by the time it starts.

Although we still have a 3-foot-high pile of snow on our deck our lawn is now absent of it. Nala has been enjoying increasingly greater amounts of time outdoors and seems to be as ready for spring as the rest of us. All the local rivers are swollen and I must make a point of taking my kayak out one of these days to explore the expanded river basins.

After Kyle and I returned from Yosemite he left with Karina for San Diego where the two seem to be having a wonderful time. He forwarded this photo to Jeanine and she to me. In between excursions, Kyle went into the medical center where his strep throat was diagnosed and an antibiotic prescribed. He reported feeling better almost immediately and from the photo appears no worse for the wear.

Since Tuesday, we have been enjoying a visit from Kris Earle, Jeanine’s best friend from childhood. The three of us were in the mood for an outing and decided to head to Essex where we had lunch at Periwinkles Restaurant, famous for their New England clam chowder and seafood. Our next stop was the Peabody Essex Museum to see their newest exhibit, “Audacious: The Fine Art of Wood.” As both a woodworker and engineer, I was blown away by the collection. I found myself unable to comprehend how some of the pieces were fabricated. My appreciation for their aesthetic beauty was equally matched by an awareness of how difficult they were to create. We ended the day with a brief tour of historic Derby Wharf in Salem.

It was my turn in the carpool to drive Maya and three of her friends to crew practice at CRI. While the girls were working out, I took a nice 5 mile stroll along the Charles River. I kept looking for Maya on the water but later learned her crew was practicing indoors. Aside from pausing for the occasional photo I had plenty of time to formulate the perfect April Fools day prank. With the help of her team’s assistant coach, I hid behind the main counter of the facility when the girls came down from their workout. When Maya called to inquire about my ETA, I answered from my concealed position on the other side of the counter telling her I had gone to do photography in the Mount Auburn Cemetery and had become lost (Jeanine had taken the power cord from the Garmin and I had to rely on her friend Maddie for driving instructions to CRI so this was a very plausible scenario). I asked Maya to put Maddie on the phone to try and give me directions. Naturally I ensured this was a fruitless conversation and the phone was passed back to Maya. I told her that it would take me 40 minutes to get there with traffic. As she expressed her considerable exasperation, I stood up from behind the counter while still talking to her on the phone. It took her more than several seconds to realize it was me since her mental frame of reference placed me in my car very far away. As a bonus, I roped Jeanine into the prank when she texted to remind me of my pickup obligations (knowing I am prone to forget these sort of things). I played on her guilt for removing the Garmin power cord (reason I was lost) as well as her knowledge of my absent mindedness when emerged in photography. Her final text to me before calling all the other parents to inform them of my tardiness was, and I quote, “You suck at carpooling.” The joke was appreciated by all in the car but probably less so by their parents who had called to inform the girls of the non-existent delay.

Fort Mifflin, originally called Fort Island Battery and also known as Mud Island Fort, was commissioned in 1771 and sits on Mud Island on the Delaware River near Philadelphia International Airport. During the American Revolutionary War, the British Army bombarded and captured the fort as part of their conquest of Philadelphia in autumn 1777. The United States Army began to rebuild the fort in 1794 and continued to garrison and build on the site through the 19th century. It housed prisoners during the American Civil War. I flew over the fort on approach to PHL where I connected for my return flight to Boston bringing my ten-day vacation to a close.

Apart from the Visitor Center, Biscayne National Park’s 172,971 acres are only accessible by boat. On New Years Day, 1966, the schooner Mandalay ran aground on Long Reef within the park’s boundaries and that is the snorkeling destination I will explore today followed by a brief visit to the Island of Boca Chita. The following images represent my first attempts at underwater photography and were taken with a very inexpensive camera which is to say they are not up to my normal standards.

I don’t have a lot of experience snorkeling but it is hard for me to imagine a more enjoyable site. I was surrounded by huge numbers of fish of seemingly infinite variety and could have easily spent the entire day in the water except for that small matter of the setting sun. On the way back into port I was able to frame some para-sailers against the Rickenbacker Causeway and the Miami skyline for an interesting photo.

My bucket list includes visiting all 59 US National Parks and my trip to Florida was motivated by a desire to add two more, bringing my current total to 22. Florida in the spring is THE time for bird photography and the reason you have been treated to (or tortured by) so many avian portraits in recent days. My visit to Corkscrew Swamp today should be the last for bird photography for some time. I had good luck on the trail and stayed until the light got harsh before driving to Miami Beach.

I arrived early in Venice, FL this morning at a rookery that I discovered while researching this trip on the internet.  It proved to be every bit as magical as I had hoped.  Several nests contained fledglings and I watched for hours as parents tended to their new borns.

At noon I departed for Cape Coral, a preferred nesting destination for the Burrowing Owl. Although the burrows can be found all over the place, it is harder to find ones that are occupied, have a high mound and a photogenic backdrop. My searching paid off and I found this attractive pair who cooperated just long enough for me to take this picture. It is good birding etiquette to spend no more than a minute or two in proximity to nests so as not to disturb the occupants. With the shot I was looking for in the bag, I headed for Fort Myers Beach to enjoy the sunset and to have dinner.

Within the Everglades National Park is the tiny town of Flamingo.  All manner of birds and critters can be found near here with the notable exception of flamingos.  I spent the entire day within the boundaries of the park taking short hikes at every point of interest along the main road between the entrance and Flamingo.

I returned to Key West from Dry Tortuga by mid day and drove directly to the Everglades where I arrived in time to take advantage of evening light.  Here is just a small sampling of the wildlife I encountered.

I learned an important lesson last night about tent camping; it is no fun in hot places. To date, I have always camped in cold climates were staying warm is just a matter of having the right gear. Once you are naked, however, there is no getting cooler when night time temperatures are in the high 70s. Lack of a restful night’s sleep did little to diminish my enjoyment today as I flew by seaplane to the Dry Tortuga National Park located 68 miles west of Key West. The land based portion of the park is on seven tiny islands, the largest of which is home to Fort Jefferson.

Fort Jefferson is the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere and is composed of more than 16 million bricks. It was built to defend the Gulf Coast but never fully completed or used for that purpose.

Beyond the foot print of the fort, only birds are permitted. Most were too far away to photograph but I did manage a nice in-flight photo of this little fellow.

The flights to and from the national park were equally interesting. Flying below 500 feet it was easy to spot sea turtles, dolphins, ship wrecks and the amazing undersea sand dunes which are characteristic to this area of the Gulf of Mexico.

I made good use of the drive from Fort Lauderdale to Key West stopping frequently when I spotted an opportunity to photograph interesting wildlife. The four hour journey took twice as long but I was rewarded with a great collection of images. I arrived in time to set up my tent before sunset and enjoyed a nice dinner in town.