I had to go to the grocery store so I asked Mom if she needed to as well. I also wanted to enjoy the nice day as well but what to do that is near home? She said that she needed to go to the store and she had no clue where to go. I looked for a couple minutes on my computer and came up with the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. We haven't been there in at least five years so why not?
I waited for Mom to get here so we could head to NWR. We took my Escape and drove to the refuge. I decided to avoid I-5 and used Martin all the way down. I made sure to have at least three dollars on me because you have to pay to park at the refuge. We put our water, wallets and keys into my back pack and I went over to the kiosk to put my three dollars into an envelope and then walked the receipt back to the Escape and stuck it in the window. The receipt had no instructions so that was the most logical thing I could think of.
The Nisqually Wildlife Refuge is the home of the Nisqually River Delta, Washington's larges undisturbed estuary. The confluence of the freshwater Nisqually River with the south Puget Sound has created a variety of unique environments, providing habitats for more than 300 different species of fish and wildlife. It is considered to be one of the premier bird watching location on the west coast with approximately 275 different migrating bird species. The wildlife refuge was established in 1974 for the protection of migratory birds. Three thousand acres of salt and freshwater marshes, grasslands, riparian and mixed forest habitats provide resting and nesting areas for migratory waterfowl, songbirds, raptors and wading birds. Simply put, it is truly an exceptional wildlife refuge.
I got onto the Adventure Lab app but haven't been into it in a very long time and I had forgotten my log in details so I had to call Ben. He found my stuff and told me what my password was. I got everything logged on and just in time since we were at the first waypoint. It took us to a sign overlooking some of the freshwater wetlands on the boardwalk and we had to read what it said and find the code word. Once we found it, we put it into the app and it told us we were correct and to move onto the second one. We got to see some turtles sunning themselves.
The second one took us a little further up the boardwalk and it was also on another sign. We had to answer a question about a type of bird in an area called the willow thickets. We took several photos and could not believe how many people were here walking around. That is what the sun will do in the Pacific Northwest, it brings people out like ants on an ant hill. We tried to keep our distance as best as we could, especially on the boardwalk, where it was narrow.
One of the waypoints was off by itself, so we decided to grab that one first before going to the last two we needed to finish the Adventure Cache. The third one took us over towards where the Nisqually River meets the ocean, Nisqually River Overlook. We had to read the sign and answer the question. Pretty simple. There were some other people nearby enjoying their day.
The next one, took us to the twin barns. We walked up the ramp to the viewpoint, Birds of Prey: Designed for Performance, found the information we needed off the sign, which was another bird answer and my app said we were right! We took a few pictures while we were here and walked to the last waypoint. This was going to be the furthest one away from the other waypoints.
I saw where it was going to take us to the boardwalk out towards the Sound. I knew we didn't have to walk the entire thing but just to the Observation Tower, to answer another question off of the signage provided. It has been a while since we've been out this way. There were a lot of people walking out to the boardwalk and we kept our distance. We saw a lot of different kinds of birds, ducks bobbing in and out of the water and not a lot of anything else since the tide was out. The last time we were out here the tide was in and we got to see more birds and animals enjoying the sunshine.
We got the the tower and found the sign we needed the information off of. I plugged it in and congratulated me on the completion of it. I must have done it right, lol. We stood on the platform and took in all the views. The weather was gorgeous today and everything was green. The trees had grown up a lot since we were here last and we could barely see the twin barns from this location. We took a few swigs of water, Mom wanted some Chapstick so I dug through my backpack and found her some. We walked back on the dirt road and hung out at the twin barns some more.
As we were getting ready to head back down the boardwalk to the Escape, I walked by two people that I recognized, but why do I know them? They also stopped because they recognized us. I was trying to figure out who they were when it donned on me, it was Rhonda and her husband, cachers from Bonney Lake. I haven't seen them without their masks in forever so it took me a while to gather who they were. We chatted for a few minutes and she told us that she walked by some sort of animal carrying a dead animal on the boardwalk near the freshwater wetlands. It moved too quick for them to see what it was but it sure made for an interesting walk. I told them I would look out for it. I told them to have fun completing the Adventure Cache. They told us to have a good rest of our day.
I told Mom that it's been a while since we've ran into other cachers. It was nice to see them. We were walking down the boardwalk trying to avoid people when we saw the animal carrying a dead animal. It surprised us. I did get a good look at it. It had to have been a Marten or something weasel-like and it was carrying a dead bird in its mouth. He was scurrying about trying to avoid people. We got back to the Escape and got on the freeway and went to the store.
We went back to my house, loaded Mom's stuff in her Expedition and she went home. I unloaded my groceries and put them away. I worked on my blog because I was determined to get caught up this year and my goal was to before September. I did some chores and then did whatever the rest of the day. I was happy it was the weekend and it was somewhat nice outside.
Next Adventure: Zach's PJ Masks Birthday Party - The Big 3-0
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