Hiking

Abram is on spring break this week; that means he can devote his time to research and writing rather than preparing for classes, grading, and teaching. Yesterday was just too beautiful to waste on bookish things, and Abram has made good headway on his CAMWS paper and has submitted his Waltharius translation and commentary with a new publisher. So we headed out to Susquehannock State Park, about 20 minutes south of Lancaster to enjoy the (almost) spring.
Near the Susquehannock River, we saw lots of buzzards and learned to identify eagles, buzzards, and osprey by the shapes they make during flight. Buzzards make a V shape. Osprey make an M shape. Bald eagles are almost flat. Their all BIG amazing birds.
Owen enoyed sticking his hands in a creek we passes by.
We hiked a few miles through lots of chestnut oaks, rhododendrons, and mountain laurel (the Pennsylvania state flower). They, of course were not blooming yet. We also spotted a couple of redbud trees just about to bloom - spring!