When we arrived, the place was hoppin'! Dad got frustrated and decided he wanted to leave instead of being patient and finding a parking place. I told them that every place we go to will have a lot of people...it's the weekend and it's a nice day. We took the long way around only to go back to Martin Way and Marvin again. We pulled into that complex to get some Subway sandwiches. I'm glad we got there when we did because a bunch of people with kids walked in.
We took our sandwiches and headed to Nisqually. The Refuge was created in 1974 to provide habitat and nesting areas for waterfowl and other migratory birds. It includes a protected estuary, salt marshes and open mudflats, freshwater marshes, open grassland, and riparian woodland and brush. I haven't been to the Refuge since I went with Bev for an earthcache about 3 years ago. Mom and dad couldn't recall the last time they came here but it was definitely before the boardwalk. We found a parking spot quickly, paid our $3 donation to the box and decided which trail we wanted to take out to the twin barns.
Just as we got onto the trail, I noticed a rustling in the tall grass...what was it? It was a possum!! I didn't think we would see a possum today. The people behind us were pretty excited to see it and I just laughed at them. We walked along the Twin Barns Loop Trail and saw a lot of Canadian geese, many different species of birds and even a frog poking up out of the pond. We found a place to sit and eat our sandwiches.
We walked towards the twin barns to use the restroom before we headed out to the boardwalk. We then took the Nisqually Estuary Trail and saw a snake, a ton of Canadian geese and little fuzzy babies. I talked to Ben for a while since he was in the van for an hour. We talked about trying to find a place to live once he got his career firefighting job.
We reached the boardwalk and I've never been to the end of it. It was quite the trek out there. We saw herons, seagulls, crows, an otter eating fish, other various birds and sea creatures along the way. We talked about a bunch of stuff and watched dad's lead to the end of the boardwalk get further as mom and I stopped to take pictures.
When we got to the end, I wondered how far we actually walked. It was only a mile! Seemed so much further than that. We admired the view of the delta and read the signs that were posted for a few minutes. Then we walked back.
When we got back I figured that we probably walked almost 5 miles altogether and my feet were definitely feeling it. We got back in the car and headed home. I did some laundry and got ready for the upcoming work week.
Next Adventure: Picking Up A Few Caches in Tumwater
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