Early Spring Along the Roanoke River

Along the Roanoke River in Salem on a chilly spring morning...

 

 

 

Canoeing in Explore Park

This past weekend we went searching for some brilliant fall foliage to photograph...wow, that's a tongue twister...but none was to be found. Instead, we wound up at Explore Park to see what was going on there. New to me was the visitor center, which was very nice, but I was disappointed that all the other buildings that I had visited with the children during numerous school trips, were shuttered. There's still 14 miles of hiking and biking trails for those who love the great outdoors, but they are of little interest to me.

As we were getting ready to head back out, we stumbled upon some folks carrying a canoe out of the woods so figured something was going on in the river down below. Yup, there was...

He made it!

Roanoke County is still deciding what to do with the park and is offering citizens a chance to let them know what they'd like to see up there. Until October 31 you can complete this survey to give your opinions. Since the only thing that would interest me is re-opening the historic Brugh's Tavern restaurant, I'm not going to bother, but if you're an outdoors enthusiast you might want to weigh in. Let me know if one of the options is to put a casino up there...

Seagulls in the Roanoke River

70 degrees in February? Now that I can live with! It was so beautiful in Roanoke yesterday I dragged my husband for a walk along the Roanoke River greenway in Salem. On the first leg of the walk we saw quite a few fishermen. None of them had caught anything but all of them said they had gotten nibbles.

On the second leg of the walk, across Lee Highway, I heard strange sounds that reminded me of Coney Island. It was the call of seagulls. Yes, seagulls in the river!

The first time I saw seagulls down here was about five years ago. There were about a dozen or so in a large puddle of water in the Lowe's parking lot on Main Street in Salem. I was quite shocked as I only knew seagulls to be near the sea, not in a puddle in a parking lot.

Apparently, some of the gulls found Spring Lake in Salem which is right across from the Lowe's. I also thought that was odd, but knowing how Brooklyn seagulls are...lazy, conniving, would rather eat a French fry than dive for fish...I wasn't surprised they were making a home there as the lake is right across the street from a Burger King. Geese and ducks already knew that's where they got a free meal so they took over the park, and made a mess of it with their droppings.

Yesterday, I was astonished at the number of gulls in the Roanoke river until I saw what was going on.

There were some people with a loaf of bread feeding the seagulls. There were so many of them that they pretty much took over the river, and in fact, were threatening any ducks that would go near the free food. When the family ran out of bread, the little ones took to throwing rocks at the birds instead. That will not deter a seagull. Knowing how Brooklyn seagulls are, rats of the sea with wings, I wouldn't be surprised if they take this river over.

The photos above were taken with my iPhone. I plan to go back with my camera some time, and although my husband says no, I bet the seagulls will still be in the Roanoke River.

Roanoke River in Salem

The weather has been beautiful and I've been taking advantage of it by biking along the Roanoke River in Salem. Here's a couple of shots, and once again, I'm struck by how different the same scene looks with a flick of the switch.

Heron in a Tree

I've never seen this before...along the Roanoke River in Salem...a heron in a tree...

The Roanoke River in Salem

It's a beautiful day in Roanoke...a good one to grab a fishing pole. Some recent shots along the Roanoke River in Salem...

Trains, Heron & Ducks

Thought I would share some photos from my maiden vintage bike voyage. This is the bridge I have to cross to get to the Greenway...



For those of you who don't know, Roanoke was built on rails. Yup, it's a real rail town, tracks and trains are everywhere. Having lived a good many years in the shadow of the elevated trains of Brooklyn rumbling, rumbling, rumbling 24/7, I find the sound of a lone whistle blowing far away in the distance somehow comforting to me. Notice I said far away! Strange enough, this rail town does not have any passenger rail service here. Go figure...





Rather than transverse the route I usually do when I walk, I opted to catch up with the Roanoke River across the road. I was thrilled to see an old friend, who I haven't seen in months, the blue heron, was hanging out there. Since the Roanoke River is more narrow here than across the road where I usually spy him, I was able to get even better shots of him.







I've seen many little ducks along my walks, but never these large ones before. They are ducks, right?



I'm assuming this was almost a duck too...