Hatteras Island is one of those places dramatic without the influence of man. This afternoon we parked our car near the historic and lovely spiral-striped lighthouse and walked a few miles up the beach to a narrow finger of land protruding into a violet ocean. Made only of sand, the point is there only at the will of the sea. Here the Gulf Stream pushes hard by the point and the returning Newfoundland Current (or eddy) meet. Waves break on both sides of the peninsula and along a line extending another quarter mile out to sea.

The morning after our lovely but somewhat strenuous journey to Amsterdam we tried to relax but had a somewhat difficult morning doing the laundry. Chuck’s sister had only just moved into the hotel apartment and had been told that there was a laundromat not far away on its street. It should have been a breeze, but we made a few mistakes. We forgot our phrasebook and map. We didn’t look up the word for laundromat. We did ask in the lobby, but the clerk did not know of one. She asked someone else and told us to go to the next street.

Some five years ago the Amsterdam Van Gogh Museum was being renovated and expanded, and about a third of its collection went on tour. We drove to Washington very early on a Saturday morning and arrived at the ticket line in front of the National Gallery at 6:00 a.m. There in the cold and dark, we joined a party, chatted, drank coffee, and read the Washington Post until the door opened and we could enter and get a pair of the limited tickets. We enjoyed the exhibit immensely and have talked since then of some day following the paintings to Amsterdam and seeing the entire collection.

We have returned from our Parisian experience and can report that the City is lovely even in January. The weather moderated upon our arrival and, while not balmy, was at least not frigid. Most days were cloudy and some rain dampened our visit, but a little adjustment of our plans allowed us to mostly avoid the rain drops. The rain scarcely dampens a day in the Louvre.

Our stay on South Mountain so far has reflected the occupancy of a new home, or one at least new for us. The little five-year old log house has its share of bumps and warts that need correcting to turn it into a proper home. So, we have had plenty to do. First we cleaned. Then we sanded and sealed. Chuck built stair rails and Anne bought good used furniture here and there. We also contacted old friends in York to let them know our status and meet. We began attending the Unitarian church in Gettysburg.

We are in transition, having just completed a series of walks totaling about 150 miles on the Appalachian Trail in Vermont and New Hampshire. We are now visiting family and are on route to settle in at our new house on South Mountain near Arendtsville, Pennnsylvania. We still hope to find a few more birds this year, and in fact Chuck saw a first-of-year yellow-throated vireo yesterday, but other activities, primarily moving into and making improvements to our little log house, will take much of our time over the next few of months.

Arrived we have at one of the great Mecca’s of American birding. Alas, we are more than a month late. The Kirtland’s warblers have already completed their breeding and are preparing to depart to Eluthera and Abaco Islands in the Bahamas. The males have stopped singing from perches in young jack pines, and the federal wildlife service has ended its tours that provide a chance to glimpse them. The bird’s unique habitat, many acre patches of five to fifteen foot tall jack pines, are created by federal and state agencies through regular clear cutting and planting of the pines.

We are once again in the Eastern Time Zone. Almost shocking, our circle around the forty-nine States is coming to a close. I can’t say that brings particular pleasure or disappointment. We are still entering new territory. Anne is not sure she had ever been in Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota nor Wisconsin. Neither of us has ever been in the “UP” - Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We have yet to cross the Mackinac Bridge. We will make that crossing the day after tomorrow. We will reach familiar territory upon reaching Pennsylvania next week.

We are east of the (tiny) Mississippi and in the Eastern Time Zone. After an extended visit to Montana we spent a few days on the prairie in North Dakota, and then drove quickly across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. We are now camped in Hiawatha National Forest near Lake Superior.

Our gamble paid off. We changed plans and detoured south to this campground at 6,000 feet elevation in the Flint Creek Range of the Rocky Mountains. The location is idyllic, a pine grove along a lakeshore. The weather has been much cooler, and the bird guide we joined helped us find four new life species including yes, the great gray owl. The only distraction here has been smoke from various forest fires that plague this mountain state in dry years.