Photo taken northwest of Boulder, Colorado.
A herd of Colorado Elk about 30 miles from Denver
This photo was taken this week by Soapy Smith Duck’s mom. We thought it was beautiful.
Herd of Elk with Fog and Blue Colorado Sky
Happy Ground Hog Day 2017
Today we are hoping for early morning clouds in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. This is the day we learn when spring will arrive. According to an old Pennsylvania German tradition, from the 18 and 19 centuries, a ground hog will predict spring’s arrival. If the ground hog, Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, early this morning when he emerges from his burrow, we will have 6 more weeks of winter.
Happy Ground Day.
However, if Punxsutawney Phil does not see his shadow this morning, we should an early spring. We are hoping for clouds in Pennsylvania this morning.
Castillo San Cristobal, San Juan, Puerto Rico with the Colorado Traveling Ducks
We are loving our time in Puerto Rico. Last time we showed you Castillo San Felipe del Morro, the Spanish defense from sea attacks. Now we will show you Castillo San Cristobal, the Spanish defense from land attacks. This was the biggest European fortification in the Americas.
Castillo San Cristobal
Canons were once housed here, to defend the Spanish claim to Puerto Rico.
Canon was inside
Let’s walk up this incline and enter the fortress.
Let’s go up
Looking to the sea, this fortress offered an advantageous view of the sea and the land.
View of Atlantic. Love the colors of the water
As we enter Castillo San Cristobal, we notice we will be climbing more inclines.
Entering the fortress
This Castillo has three levels. We are on level 1, sitting on the window of the Troops Quarters.
Troops Quarters
Remember that ships sailing from Europe, 4,000 miles to the east, sailed down the coast of Africa where they used the winds and currents to reach Puerto Rico, and then on to the rest of the New World. We are now on the top level, and it is windy here.
View and three flags
These three flags flew over Puerto Rico. The bottom is the Burgundy Cross. This was the Spanish military flag that flew here during most of the Spanish colonial period. It was adopted in 1506 by Philip the Handsome, King of Castile, to honor his mother, Mary Duchess of Burgundy. The middle is the flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. And the top flag is that of the United States of America. Here is the bell.
Bell
We love the old bells. From here, you would be able to see any approaching threat, by sea or land.
View to the east
We like this panorama of the coast between the two Castillos.
Panorama with markings on building roofs
This is a favorite photo from Bucket’s dad. Looking toward Castillo San Felipe del Morro, again we admire the strategic location of these fortresses.
View to the west and Castillo San Felipe del Morro
We, the Colorado Traveling Ducks, and humans enjoyed exploring and learning about our history and the Spanish defenses to protect Puerto Rico. We think you would enjoy wandering through this part of Old San Juan, also.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico with Colorado Traveling Ducks
This is our first full day in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Our cab took us to Old San Juan, the original walled city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Christopher Columbus arrived in San Juan in 1493 on his second voyage to the New World. For Spain, he claimed all the riches of what is now called Puerto Rico. This included gold, silver, gems, and spices, in addition to the first deep water port between Europe and the New World. Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States and Old San Juan Historic Site is under the protection of the U.S. National Park Service. There are two old fortresses, built by the Spanish, here. The Castillo San Felipe del Morro was to defend against attacks from the sea. The Castillo San Cristobal, about a 30 minute walk away, was built to defend against attacks from land. We, the Colorado Traveling Ducks, will show you Castillo San Felipe del Morro today.
Here is the sign. Where is Castillo San Felipe del Morro?
We can see the lighthouse in the background, and realize we have a long walk ahead of us. This cemetery was conveniently located on the coast near the Castillo.
Cemetery by the sea
The city, like many old cities, was protected by a wall.
Looking through the wall
Today we have a peaceful view through that wall. The grass here was incredibly soft in places.
Keep walking ducks
This was once a golf course, but we still must keep walking. We think this building, built partially underground is interesting.
We like this building
Let’s go inside Castillo San Felipe del Morro.
Entrance to Castillo San Felipe del Morro
Bucket claimed this chair and seems to be enjoying a short rest.
Chair fit for a king. King Bucket?
This space, once the living quarters for the commander of El Morro, but later, a place of punishment.
In jail. Looking through bars to the sea
Zeb and Soapy enjoy the view, through the bars, of the sea. Bucket found another prison cell.
Bucket and Chip–don’t go inside that prison cell.
Don’t go inside there, Bucket and Chip. We found this canon, now inside a room.
Canon. No longer in use
But it was not always inside this room. This path takes us to the former home of the canon.
Where the canons used to be
The canon was pointed through this lookout.
Canon pointed out this space
We ducks wanted to sit on the ledge, but the humans said it was too windy for us. But we love to watch the water. Castillo San Felipe del Morro has six levels and we found the bell on the 6th level.
Bell
This lighthouse looks pretty new, doesn’t it?
Fourth and newest lighthouse
It is the fourth lighthouse built here. This one is 51 feet above the 6th level of El Morro. The lamp is 182 feet above sea level and this lighthouse and lamp still serve ships every night. This lighthouse was built in 1908. Originally made of bricks, it was restored in the 1990s. We ducks are impressed by this castle. But we are also impressed and a little frightened by the wind here. We like the sea, but we don’t want to be blown into it and lost forever. The humans kept us safe. More about Old San Juan next time.
National Blueberry Pancake Day 2017
Today, January 28 is National Blueberry Pancake Day. Maybe mom will take us to breakfast. We know a couple restaurants that serve great blueberry pancakes. If she will take us, maybe we will meet some of you there also. Enjoy blueberry pancakes today, and many other days.
Oh, we want some blueberry pancakes today
The Colorado Traveling Ducks Leave the Carnival Fascination
We are back in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Things are different this morning. We are getting off our cruise ship, with our suitcases. Many of our fellow passengers are heading for their homes, but we are staying a few days here in San Juan. Hurrah! Before we disembark, we want to show you some of our ship again. There are so many places to relax and watch the beautiful Caribbean.
Always room to relax, with a Caribbean view
The pool area was so much fun.
Good times at the pool
What great water slides on our ship.
Water slides for everybody
The dining room, available for all three daily meals, was so welcoming.
Sensation Dining Room
Of course, meeting our new friend, Chip was fun.
Colorado Traveling Ducks met Chip, Doubletree Hotel’s chocolate chip cookie.
Lounging on the top deck was great.
Another favorite place
One of our favorite things was the towel animals. This rhino was our last towel.
Our last towel friend
We ducks and humans really enjoyed all the towel art.
Our towel friends
Yes, we were able to keep many them in our room. Our ship, Fascination, was our temporary home.
Our ship. Like an old friend now
While the sunset last night, signaled the end of our cruise, we still have a few more days of vacation.
Sun setting on our cruise
Stay with us as we enjoy some of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Happy Australia Day 2017
Today, January 26 is Australia Day. Today marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British Ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales, and the raising of the Flag of Great Britain at Sydney Cove. We wish all of you, especially our Australian friends a Happy Australia Day.
Zeb and Eider by the Sydney Opera House
We love Sydney, Australia.
St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands with the Colorado Traveling Ducks
St. Croix is the last port for our cruise. All the humans and ducks took a Scenic St. Croix tour. We like to be together. Leaving the port and through the tropical rain forest our first stop was this Baobab Tree.
Baobab Tree
The Baobab tree is often called “the tree of life”. Can you believe the history of this tree?
Baobab Tree Burned alive here???
Fruit from the Baobab tree falls to the ground. This feels like velvet.
Fruit of Baobab tree
We ducks did not want to sit on the ground. We don’t know these red bugs, and there were a lot of them. Friendly? Biting bugs? We don’t know. Our next stop was Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve. St. Croix is an island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, so this preserve is part of the National Park Service of the United States. This was the first landing site by Christopher Columbus, in 1493 in the US Territorial waters. The view from the Visitor’s Center was beautiful but it was very windy.
View from Visitor’s Center
We ducks could not sit here alone. Salt River Bay is home to some of the largest mangrove forest and sea grass beds, providing one of the most unique wildlife habitats, in the Virgin Islands. We feel safe with our humans and our friend Chip, the Doubletree Cookie.
Salt River Bay
We love to look at the water.
Salt River Bay
The next and final stop on our tour is Christiansted. The King Christian Hotel is old and well known.
King Christian Hotel in Christiansted, St Croix
We like these streets and buildings. In the early days of St. Croix, sugar cane was grown across the island. This is an old sugar mill.
Old sugar mill building
Looks like a great social place now. We shopped at the Purple Papaya gift shop. We thought you might be curious about the name, Purple Papaya.
Purple Papaya
Walking down another street, we were fascinated by all the vines growing from and around these trees.
So many vines in the trees
Our tour took us back to the cruise area.
Shopping area for cruise passengers
Our shopping area is decorated for Christmas. We watched these dancers by the gazebo.
Dancing performance
The ladies are wearing very fancy hats. Walking along the Caribbean, we had to stop by the canons.
Old canons on Caribbean coast
A few more steps and we would be on this beach.
From cruise ship you can walk to this beach
Rocky first and then soft, warm Caribbean sand. Now it is time for us to return to our ship. We always must be careful to watch the time and not miss the ship. We really liked St Croix and none of us had previously visited this island. We hope to come back soon.
Floating Tiki Hut in Sint Maarten with the Colorado Traveling Ducks
Today we swim, snorkel, and shop in Sint Maarten. First we take a water taxi to Philipsburg, the capital of St. Maarten.
To the Water taxi
After transferring to another boat, we all arrive at the floating Tiki Hut.
Floating Tiki Hut
Isn’t this beautiful? That pool has water from the Caribbean and we saw tropical fish there, eating bread. Bucket’s dad is already in the water.
Bucket’s Dad
It looks fun, but again, no snorkeling mask in our size. Some humans are enjoying stand up paddle boarding.
Stand up Paddle Boarding
Oh this exciting. We, the Colorado Traveling Ducks, are swimming with Bucket’s parents.
We are swimming in the Caribbean Sea
They are having a little problem keeping us together. This is so much fun. We are bouncing along on top of the waves. Back on the Tiki Hut, we ducks needed to rest and lounge in the sun.
Ducks resting
Swimming can be tiring, but it sure was fun! Look what we saw.
Fish
We could see the fish under water. We looked through Bucket’s parents snorkel mask! Bucket’s parents are on the floating platform, waiting for another snack.
Bucket’s parents
We already ate lunch here, but they are hungry again. Taking ducks swimming causes hunger. It is time to leave the floating Tiki Hut, so we take the first boat back to Philipsburg. Then another water taxi to the ship. This is our cruise passenger shopping area.
Shopping area
Beautiful tropical flowers also. These steps are very inviting.
Let’s wander
Let’s explore. We like these crafts that are for sale.
Crafts for sale
Following our moms on a shopping trip is exhausting. So, snacks and beverages anyone?
Snacks anyone?
Have a seat humans. There is just a little time before we board the ship, so hurry.
National Squirrel Appreciation Day 2017
We love squirrels! Who knew there was a National Squirrel Appreciation Day? We did not. According to National Day Calendar, Squirrel Appreciation Day is observed annually on January 21. The creator of this holiday, Christy Hargrove, is a wildlife rehabilitator in North Carolina, and is affiliated with the Western North Carolina Nature Center. According to Christy, “celebration of the event itself is up to the individual, or group. Anything from putting out extra food for the squirrels to learning something new about the species.” Here in Colorado, mom and the Colorado Traveling Ducks, put bread on our patio when the ground is covered with snow. This squirrel is on his feeder in my front yard.
A squirrel on his feeder in my yard.
But I, Zeb the Duck, love watching the squirrels, and birds, come to the patio and eat bread.
Colorado Traveling Ducks 