Okay, so that blog title might be a little optimistic. With the summer we’ve had it would more appropriately be titled “Fun in the not rain” however the day was over 65, I’m pretty sure the bright, shiny ball in the sky was the sun, and there weren’t any rain clouds so I’ll take it.
By the way, I’ve given up trying to catch-up the blog. That obviously isn’t going to happen so the choices are never blog again (since with that mindset if I don’t catch-up I’ll never post again) or just start from today.
This weekend the boys, my Mom and myself headed to Northwest Trek. We had always heard how fun it was but had never been there (due to the fact that it is an almost 2 hour drive to the middle of almost-nowhere). We spent about 4 hours there and didn’t see near all 700+ acres but we did have a lot of fun.
I always amazes me that my kids, who can run around for hours on end outside at the house, run out of energy after about 4 hours at places like this. I need to figure out which part exhausts them so I can use it at home.
Northwest Trek has a number of very open looking exhibits, but the main attraction is the tram ride through a free roaming area. The ride is 50 minutes long and while the boys were very enthusiastic for the first 20 minutes, the middle 20 minutes weren’t as thrilling. I think because we were seeing fewer animals towards the middle of the trip, riding on the tram had lost it’s thrill and the slow rocking motion of the tram was a little too relaxing. During the last portion some more animals came into view and they perked back up.
I have to say I was a little worried about the tram ride because the free range area is 400+ acres, some through forests, and there is no guarantee that the animals are going to want to be on exhibit. There are plenty of places for them to hide if they don’t want to be seen. The driver/guide said that we saw every animal in the free roaming area, including two moose. According to him (whose word I’m taking with a grain of salt) there are people who ride the tram 3 and 4 times on different days and never see a moose as they are the animals most likely to hide in the woods.
It was hilarious how accustomed to the tram the animals were. As we left the tram station a caribou started walking right in from of the tram and didn’t seem to be in any hurry to move over, obviously not at all concerned that something could happen. Several of the animals we passed, including a moose, a bison and a big horn sheep, were literally lying on the edge of the tram road. Had it been allowed you could have stuck you hand out of the tram and touched them as you went by.
Our driver/guide was a little crotchety, but also amusing and knowledgeable. I was never sure if I was going to be annoyed by his tone of voice or fascinated by the new fact I learned, none of which I remember right now.
After the tram ride we walked around and saw black bears, grizzly bears, wolves, foxes, lynx, bobcat (so they say, we couldn’t find it), cougars, raccoons, river otters, fishers, wolverines, coyotes, badgers, beavers (the boys favorite), a golden eagle and a bald eagle. There was also a snowy owl and some other animals we could have seen but by this time the boys were tired and even the prospect of seeing “Hedwig” wasn’t enough for them to walk down the path. It was a close call but in the end going home won.
I have a love/hate relationship with my camera. Some of the photos turned out very nice, while others, which I thought should have been easy shots, turned out horrid. The boys also had my camera for quite a bit of time so I have a number of shots that look like this…
along with shots of trees, my derriere (which no, I’m not dumb enough to post), the inside of the tram, and, when the little one had the camera, photos of every sign in every exhibit. Not the whole sign or a necessarily in focus sign, but photos of the signs none-the-less.
Here are a few random photos from the day.
I think I’m going to save this one until his first date and then make a poster size print to hang in the living room.
Gorgeous lake in the free roaming area. View from the tram station.
A bison (I know, like you didn’t know)
A moose. That shadow you see is the shadow from the tram. That is how close we were.
A caribou, aka reindeer. Aren’t those antlers spectacular?
Everywhere near the exhibit that the boys went this beaver followed them. Thank goodness they don’t have an adopt-a-beaver program or I’m sure the boys would have begged to bring it home.
It’s hard being a wolf.
K trying desperately to escape his brother’s paparazzi-like stalking
Bald Eagle (I know, again like you didn’t know)
Tired kids. Why can’t they sleep like that at home.
Overall it was a long drive and I’m not sure it is somewhere I’d want to go more than once a year but it was fun to see those animals so close and it was great to walk around in the sun and just have fun.
Next week my in-laws are here and rumor is we are painting the house. At that point I will be known as the ‘daughter-in-law who slacks off and doesn’t help’ since I will be working all day and then have Cub Scout Twilight Camp in the evening with the boys every day next week. The theme is Frontier Days and it should be a lot of fun. The boys can’t wait and K got very excited when he learned that in addition to archery, which they do every year, they will get to fish. Truth be told, I am excited too. As tiring as it is watching over a group of boys I love seeing how excited they are and watching them learn things and gain confidence. K just heard about the theme while were out shopping tonight and he can’t wait to yell “YeaHaw” all week along. Maybe I’ll let him borrow my cowboy hat one day.
