Craft Island 4-2-12

Wow!  I didn't realize how long it had been since I updated my blog!  Well a couple weekends ago, Dave and I took Cedar and Junior the dogs back out to the wildlife area near Craft Island and actually got to the top of it for a nice picnic lunch.  On the way there, we passed these huge flocks of snow geese landing and then taking off again.  Beautiful!

This time it was Junior that jumped into the irrigation ditch instead of Cedar.  Heh heh.  The mud isn't nearly as impressive on a tall dog though.  : )

The grasses here are all cut through with little canals you have to go along or cross.  It's very muddy.

Once at the top we enjoyed a beautiful view of the surrounding landscape, wading herons and gulls, and the little island itself which was quite pretty on this sunshiny day.

It was after this excursion we actually discovered the island was called Craft Island, and that the logs that are all piled up there are because it is an estuary of the Skagit River.  I wouldn't want to be there during flood warning times! 

Lime Kiln Trail 3-25-12

Cedar and I made a quick trip to the Lime Kiln trail on Sunday last weekend and enjoyed a warm day.  Some little slithery friends of ours were up and about... a sure sign of spring!
First we saw one.

Then another.

Then a whole bunch more!

Another sure sign of spring are the skunk cabbage blooms.

The Stilliguamish River was lovely and green as usual.  Lower than I thought it would be, but that left a nice rocky beach to have lunch on.

The trail was just as fun as usual.

There was a new landslide on it though! 

And we enjoyed looking at the rusty artifacts as well as the Lime Kiln itself.

Conway-La Conner Area 3-24-12

On my Mom’s birthday, she, Justus, Dave and I went out to the area of LaConner.  We were going to a wildlife area that Dave had been to before.  It was way out in the country, and when we stopped the car, Cedar mistook an irrigation ditch for solid ground and plunged in.  He was so filthy and so stinky.  He spent a lot of the rest of our time there rubbing around in the grasses trying to get cleaner. 

It was a lovely warm day and we enjoyed traversing muddy canals, the muddy trail and the waterlogged marsh grasses. 

There were a lot of birds and we enjoyed watching eagles circle, and even an owl fly out along the edge of the water.   A large flock of snow geese flew over as well.

After we hiked around for awhile and worked up an appetite, we went into LaConner and enjoyed some lunch and some browsing around in a few of the galleries and an antique store.  Then we stopped by the lovely orange bridge.

On the way home, Dave took back ways so we could enjoy more of the countryside.  We saw these wild swans out grazing in a field, and these cattle  enjoying their lunch.

It was a terrific day!