Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Exploring Near Olympia, WA (Sunday, June 29th, 2020)

We've been working hard on balancing being helpful but giving the kids time to be a family with no interruptions.   So some days we are completely on our own just enjoying beautiful Washington.  Today we started out at Zittel Marina on Johnson Point.  It is a private marina, but they seemed to have no problem with us just looking around.  They have a small shop with fishing and boating supplies, in addition to all of the maintenance areas.  The store was open, even during Covid.







From Zittel Marina, we drove further west to the small town of Boston Harbor.  It was a really cute harbor town with a seaside restaurant that was open for business with outdoor "take-out" type food.  Parking in this town was definitely at a premium.  We tried for about 15 minutes to find a spot, and eventually got one on the roadside.




Our final stop today was at the Woodard Bay trail.  The parking lot for this trail requires the discover Pass.  It is a beautiful, easy hike with a round trip loop if you want.



As we walked along, we could hear the continuous chant of what sounded like thousands of birds.  We weren't sure where it was coming from, but we were hoping to find out.


Apparently these trees are the home of two different nesting birds, the great blue herons and the cormorants.  The heron nesting season was already over, but the cormorants were very busy raising their young.  This is what all of the ruckus was about.




Everywhere we looked, there were nesting cormorants.  


The trail ended at the sound, in an area where the Native Americans once lived, before it became a lumbering waterway.


Old piers and pylons where they used to load the lumber onto barges.  Now they inhabited only by the harbor seals that live in this area.




The remains of a railway pier is now inhabited by several species of bats.


From a viewing point on the other side of the park, we could again see the cormorant nests from a different angle.  It's crazy how many nests are in a single community.



On our way back to the car, we took the salamander trail that winds by a small pond created during the logging days, and then up through the forest.



There are so many big slugs in Washington.  I've taken a liking to them!







We both find Washington to be so enchanting.  If it wasn't for the long, wet, cold winters it would be the perfect place to live!

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