After the relatives left on Sunday the husband and I spent the morning getting ourselves in order.  He swept the kitchen floors, vacuumed the family room and started laundry.  I headed to the grocery store and the farmer’s market.  We spent the early afternoon at the house because the Sounders were playing and the husband wanted to watch the game.  They lost.  Again. We’re going to a game later this month.  Hope things improve by then.

By late afternoon we were ready to get outside.  We needed some exercise as all we’d really done the last few days was eat and drink.  We decided to take a walk down at the Nisqually Refuge.  One of my favorite places that I’ve shared with you here and here and here.

It was a beautiful day.  83 degrees with a nice breeze to keep it from getting too warm.  As we approached the Refuge we eyed the parking lot that was Northbound I-5.  Summertime afternoons suck on Northbound I-5.  There were a lot of people going no where fast today.  We were glad we weren’t one of them.

The parking lot was fairly full at the Refuge, but there are enough boardwalks and paths to go around, so it didn’t feel crowded.

The husband gets rather bored with the Refuge.  I don’t really understand why.  It’s always changing and there is always something different to see.  I think it has something to do with the fact that we often hit it when the tide is low, so we’re winding out on mudflats.  Today the tide was in and just changing, and there were lots of birds taking advantage of the goodies being revealed by the changing tide, so there was lots to look at.

The tide had also brought a seal or two with it, which was really cool.  We’ve not seen a seal in this area before.  I even managed to get a decent shot:

We took our time, spending almost two hours on the almost 4 mile walk.  I took 100+ photos, beginning with my 50mm lens and changing over to my 70-200mm for some zooming.  My sense of awareness is definitely heightened since taking the photography class, though I’m not going to tell you that I have it all figured out.  Far from it.  Years of practice are going to be required.

Anyways, as I was saying, we saw lots of birds today.  I don’t know what any of them are called (besides heron, which I’m not even posting a photo of), but I can admire them without naming them, right?

The ponds near the visitors center also had it’s annual batch of frogs available for my photographing pleasure.

Such a fun place.