Whale Watching

When I (SD) was young, I wanted to be a marine biologist. Now that I'm old, I still want to be a marine biologist. So I jumped at the chance to go with my brother whale watching on Capt. John’s whale boat out of Plymouth, MA.

After some lovely views of the Bay, we head out to sea and sighted our first whale shortly. Since that whale was spending of the time diving, we quickly moved on.

Our next whale encounter allowed us to see a behavior which our biologist guide said was only seen in about 10% of trips, “lobtailing”. The whale was continuously picking up its tail fin well out of the water and then slapping it down hard against the water. Current thinking is that this signals that the whale is upset about something and represents a temper tantrum.

While watching this very interesting behavior, we were joined by an ocean sunfish, one of the more bizarre looking of the large fish species. In essence, the sunfish swims on its side, and therefore appears as a massive flat disk swimming at the top of the water. He swam a straight course, more or less oblivious to either us or the huge whale nearby. During this time, our whale surfaced directly next to the boat and below our position on the upper deck. Had we been on the lower deck we might have been able to reach out and touch it!

We finally moved off, when we got a call from another whale boat that they were watching a group of four whales. We chased them down and found ourselves in the midst not of four whales but 15-20 whales! These whales were bubble feeding, an amazing behavior where they blow a circular stream of bubbles that trap small fish and krill in a bubble curtain and then swim up through the curtain with their mouth open to swallow all the trapped fish. So we got excellent views not only of the whales’ backs and tails, but also of their faces and mouths as well. The whales surrounded us, so there was always something exciting to watch. Most fun was watching a mother and calf feeding together, occasionally joined by other whales. This was simply an amazing afternoon and the best $40 I ever spend.

Five Billy Goat Gruffs

Some time in PA gave SD a chance to catch up with some old friends.


A billy goat in its natural environment



The littlest billy goat gruff. Cute little fellow with the biggest smile that hides a devasting cancer within.



This superstar princess is a miracle, both of modern medicine and of the human spirit. Born with a rare autoimmune disorder that left her own immune system destroying her gut and lungs, she has always had a radiantly cheerful personality that gave her the strength to survive the many surgeries and treatments and that has inspired hundreds, perhaps thousands, of admirers and supporters. Last year, a bone marrow transplant gave her working regulatory T cells that could keep her immune system in check. Now she is growing like a weed, eating lots and lots, and still shines with her innate charisma and charm.


They grow up so fast. From baby to tween in a twinkling of an eye. I did get her to look up once or twice from the computer.

Stone Door

The Savage Gulf state natural area around Stone Door provides a number of great camping, backpacking, hiking, and photography options. JPD and SD took advantage of some of them on a trip with the local Scout troop. The onset of cool weather and the off and on rainstorms made for quite a nice fall weather effect. Nothing like being cozy in your sleeping bag during a chilling rain.

Stone Door
Looking back towards Laurel Falls area.

Laurel Falls
Through the Stone Door.

TE on the rim.
Boardtree Falls

Upper Greeter Falls

Lower Greeter Falls






Notes to self and other interested in camping and hiking:

Camped Friday night at the group 3 campsite for the Stone Door ranger station. Stone Door Ranger Station would make an excellent family campsite as there is easy walk-in to sites, full service restrooms if desired, and water. Then hiked to the nearby Laurel Falls (0.3 mile roundtrip) , and then to the Stone Door (0.9 mile, but part of direct route to Greeter falls). Because we had a number of small boys in our group, chose to do the Big Creek Rim trail rather than the Big Creek Gulf trail. Big Creek Gulf would be really interesting and requiring wading, etc.. Turned out that we would not have been able to get to Ranger Creek falls on the Gulf trail anyway because the rains had flooded out the trail there. Crossed through Alum Gap campsite (3.2 mile from Stone Door, would make a good second day camp) and went on past Boardtree Falls and then upper and lower Greeter Falls (~6.0 mile total). All three of these falls are spectacular. Since one of the youth leaders had driven from Stone Door over to parking lot near Greeter Falls, we all shuttled back to the ranger station. The vicinity of parking lot also means Greeter Falls is an easy family hike for those not afraid of heights.

A sad day for my home town

In a previous post, I talked about my home town's marching band.

Last night, one of the bus carrying the band crashed and a teacher was killed. This teacher was trying to regain control over the bus after the driver blacked out.

Here is the local news coverage.

JPD and AM got back late last night from a band trip and then to hear this news, really cuts to the heart.

Boston's Freedom Trail

Old Park Street Church-view from Boston Commons

Shaw-54th Massachusetts Regiment Monument-First Colored Regiment-Fought in Civil War battle for Fort Wagner, South Carolina, made famous by movie "Glory".

Daniel Webster Statue on the grounds of Massachusetts State House. One of my favorite stories growing up was "The Devil and Daniel Webster."

Horace Mann-father of public education. If only his influence were felt in the South.


The following grave markers are all in the Old Granary graveyard.

Grave site of those killed at Boston Massacre, the opening act of what became the American Revolution.



Samuel Adams. Father of the American Revolution. The firebrand patriot who spearheaded most of the agitation in Boston against imperial domination.


James Otis-The second leading firebrand of the Revolution.

John Hancock. As president of the Continental Congress, his would be the signature on the Declaration of Independence that the King George could read without his glasses.

Grave of Mary Goose, incorrectly thought of as the true Mother Goose. It would be the woman her husband married after her death that was the actual Mother Goose, whose singing of verses remembered from childhood to her grandchildren would be recorded and printed by her son-in-law to great success.
Dawes, who along with Paul Revere and Samuel Prescott made midnight rides to call the militia to arms to protect their hidden arms caches and prevent the capture of Hancock and Adams. Only Revere was captured by the British, when all three of them together ran into the British patrol, so he had to return to Boston on foot while the others escaped and rode on. But Dawes seemed to loose out in fame, because Longfellow like the rhyming possibilities of Revere apparently more than Dawes or Prescott. (As Prescott is a distance relative, I may be biased here.)


Paul Revere-The man remembered for the midnight ride. And really nice silverware.


Memorial to the Irish immigrants escaping the potato famine.

Old South Meeting House, where town meeting to large for Faneuil Hall were held. The protestors left from her to dump East India Company tea into harbor.




Old State House.

The marker in the street near the Old State House indicating where the men were killed during the Boston Massacre.

Faneuil Hall-The site of many town meetings and assemblies that eventually led to organized revolution. As was true then, still a great urban space. Wish we had more space like it in Tennessee.



The statue of Paul Revere sculpted by my ancestor Cyrus Dallin.


The Old North Church were two lanterns hung briefly to signal that British troops were moving by sea against the Concord supply sites.


An ironic billboard next to Fenway Park.