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I've had enough of all coronavirus news all the time. I declared a moratorium on paying attention to it today. Instead it is time for another segment of my November trip report. Having finally made it across the mountains to the west side of Washington in my last post, this one starts out at my uncle's house in Lacey on November 13.
I wanted to get up and out early in the morning but my cousin N. wanted to join me and she's not an early riser. (As far as I know, none of my Washington family are early risers. Getting people related to my mother to get up and moving in the morning is difficult or impossible.) We did eventually get out of the house and headed over to Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. We stopped at the refuge store where we borrowed binoculars for my cousin then went for a walk. The weather was overcast and gray but not actively raining. (November is not the right time to go to western Washington if you want to see the sun.)
This is the marshy area behind the office/store building. There were a few ducks and a heron there, but not much going on in comparison to my past visits.
( More scenery )
I took photos of birds, of course.
An immature Northern Shrike was hanging out on a dead snag out in the marsh. It was a long way away, so my photos aren't great. It eventually flew over the path and into the area on the other side of it, but my efforts to get a photo when it was closer came to naught.
Cackling Geese
( More birds )
Afterward we went back to my uncle's house. I let him talking me into going out to a "quick inexpensive lunch" with him. It was around 4 PM and the place we went was actually a fairly expensive seafood restaurant on the water front. He was right that it was possible to get a relatively inexpensive meal of clam chowder there, but overall it was not cheap. Once we were there he told me to go ahead and order whatever I wanted, which ended up being halibut with mango salsa. Halibut is one of my favorite fishes to eat and I never get to have it at home so I do try to eat it when I'm in Washington. It was really, really good.
I wanted to get up and out early in the morning but my cousin N. wanted to join me and she's not an early riser. (As far as I know, none of my Washington family are early risers. Getting people related to my mother to get up and moving in the morning is difficult or impossible.) We did eventually get out of the house and headed over to Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. We stopped at the refuge store where we borrowed binoculars for my cousin then went for a walk. The weather was overcast and gray but not actively raining. (November is not the right time to go to western Washington if you want to see the sun.)
This is the marshy area behind the office/store building. There were a few ducks and a heron there, but not much going on in comparison to my past visits.
( More scenery )I took photos of birds, of course.
An immature Northern Shrike was hanging out on a dead snag out in the marsh. It was a long way away, so my photos aren't great. It eventually flew over the path and into the area on the other side of it, but my efforts to get a photo when it was closer came to naught.
Cackling Geese
( More birds )Afterward we went back to my uncle's house. I let him talking me into going out to a "quick inexpensive lunch" with him. It was around 4 PM and the place we went was actually a fairly expensive seafood restaurant on the water front. He was right that it was possible to get a relatively inexpensive meal of clam chowder there, but overall it was not cheap. Once we were there he told me to go ahead and order whatever I wanted, which ended up being halibut with mango salsa. Halibut is one of my favorite fishes to eat and I never get to have it at home so I do try to eat it when I'm in Washington. It was really, really good.
