Falcons and Fits

I've had a great day so far. Jeff and I got up and had breakfast at one of the very best breakfast places in town, The Waveland Cafe. This is a pretty small local place right off University Ave, where you have to wait in line for a table. The place is busy from open to close. I've never been able to just walk in and get a table during breakfast hours. It used to be pretty smoky but since the smoking ban (Yay!!) went into effect, there are tons of places that we can now go back to.  I had their half breakfast special which is still a ton of food. They have the best hash browns anywhere. They top them with cheese and mix them with ham, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, and jalapenos. Trust me they are amazing. 

But the main reason we went out this morning was to look at the Peregrine falcons out at the state capitol. The capitol hosts one breeding pair every year and their little ones are fledging. We wanted to go out there to take a peek at the fastest birds in the world and see some first flights. We got plenty of views of the birds both adults and little ones. There was a brief rain but mostly it was a pretty day to be at the capitol. The birds seemed to pose for us and the views of the adult on one of the capitol spires were breathtaking. 

Here is our capitol for those who have never seen it. Love the gold leaf. Ignore the scaffolding.

A family of four stopped by to take a look at the birds although they had only brought a camera with. I let the kids and mom use my binoculars while Jeff and the father took pictures. At one point one of the adults was sitting right above the baby calling to it. There is not a huge difference in size between the adults and the babies which I was shocked about. You'll need to click on the picture below to see more closely. The bird at the top is the adult, the baby is below. 

After birdwatching Jeff and I broke down and went out car shopping. Now I hate car shopping but we were pretty upfront with the salesmen so somehow that made it easier. We won't be buying for a while but wanted some test drives just to narrow the field. We cut four models down to two. That makes it a little easier when we really get ready to buy. There are two more left to test drive. Jeff and I really like the Pontiac Vibe and the Honda Fit. We'll see what happens with the Toyota Matrix and the Nissan Versa. It will be a tough choice I'm sure.