Birds, Butterflies, Bugs, and Flowers! Beautiful Tule National Wildlife Refuge!

My last post was all about the beautiful ducks, ducklings, and other majestic creatures at Tule Lake.  

This one is taking things close up.  Like REALLY close up in some cases with some gorgeous macro photography along the shores of Tule Lake.  Some of the flowering bushes were so tall you couldn't see through them, but when that happens, you have to look at what's right in front of you and see the beauty that is sometimes overlooked. 

Like magical, colorful dragonflies!

Is this how they mate?  I feel like they're doing it wrong...

Make a wish! 

This one is one of my absolute favorites!  I love everything about this photo and how it makes me feel. 

Next up, join me and Wiley Coyote at the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge!

xoxo

Nikon D600

It's All About the 'Noochie! Well, Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge & Wynoochie Dam, Anyway...

Welcome back to my latest trip to beautiful Washington State!  

To catch up on my trip thus far, click the links below!

Here we go to Washington!

Beautiful Multonomah Falls and Columbia River Gorge

Westport Elk Herd and Sunset on the Beach

And for today's installment, we'll visit Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge and then Wynoochie Dam and Lake in the gorgeous Olympic National Forest. 

Sabrina and I started the morning off by grabbing a couple Caramel Apple Red Bull Smoothies (yes, they are absolutely delicious) and heading off for a stroll along the boardwalk at the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge.  The weather in Southwestern Washington could not have been better for a day outdoors. 

Being August, there weren't a lot of birds.  But there was a lot of beautiful foliage and flowers!

We did see a plethora of beautiful purplish barn swallows!  

The boardwalk itself is quite picturesque.  It would be a perfect place for portraits or wedding photos!

There was a small downed tree across the path, so we had to go around.  But I snapped a shot first.  I think it looked cooler in person.  haha 

Ah ha! Wildlife!  This slug bug was pretty gigantic...at least to me.  It was about 6-8 inches long.

After our lovely stroll, we stopped by Ida's house to say hello to the family and then headed to meet Lee, Trinity, and Logan at Wynoochee where they were camping with Lee's family.

The drive was just amazing with so many gorgeous flowers, pristine farms with horses, and random deer appearing.  Sabrina and I knew we had to stop to get some photos on the way back, but in the meantime, we were already later than we meant to be so we hurried on up.

Just in time to head for the lake with the kayak, paddle board, family, and dogs!

That's none of the above, but it was beautiful sitting on the grass and pine needles so I had to capture it.  :-)

Wynoochee Dam

Trinity and Logan on the paddleboard (is that one word or two?  I don't know so I'll use both at random.) in the sparkling water.

This old guy just loved to swim!  Elsa did her best to harass him the entire time, but he pretty much just ignored her.  lol

This is Lee setting out in the kayak.  I amazed myself by kayaking around the entire swimming area twice!  And I even swam, but I confess I am in way worse shape than I believed and had to holler for Trinity to come rescue me on the paddle board. haha

Trinity leaving Logan in the dust....errrr....water. 

So she could catch up with her dad!

These two absolutely spectacular kids had a blast flipping off the swimming platform!  Is there anything these guys can't do??  

After a delicious family dinner of carne asada tacos, Sabrina and I headed out to capture some photos.  It was just about sunset and originally we were going to walk to Wynoochee Falls, but we didn't have time.  So we had to settle for some beautiful photos!

And I even got a deer!  Although the shot ain't the greatest.

But the day sure was!!!

xoxo

Nikon D3300

Road Trippin' in Washington - Elk and Family and Beaches!

The Pacific Northwest!  Awww, what a great land of beautiful animals!  Beaches you can drive on!  Bald eagles! And family of course.  

My niece happened to see a large herd of elk just of the road near her house and, bless her heart, ran home to get me so I could see it too!

Look closely at this next picture...it's a little family!

Baby was nursing and we tried to stay as still as possible so as to not disturb them.  Mama was the last elk near us with baby feeding, but as the rest of the herd meandered further into the brush, she got nervous and off they went. 

And now they caught up and feel much safer. 

Later that night we headed out to watch the sunset at the beach.  We were hoping to find some bald eagles, but we got distracted by the beauty so we parked and walked around.  

This is Lee being a real trooper.  You will NOT believe this, but we found a small American flag in a dead porcupine on the beach (no, I did not take a photo).  Sabrina and I talked Lee into taking the flag to the water line because we thought it would be a cool addition to the photos.  And of course WE didn't want to touch it.  

While Lee planted the flag on our newly claimed territory, we watched the kids (especially Logan) run around on the beach. 

LOL!  So the flag is backwards and doesn't look as cool as I thought it would.  

Meanwhile, Lee took pictures of the love of his life.  No, not my gorgeous niece.  His gorgeous truck!

He had the bright idea to capture the sunset in the window, which I thought looked pretty cool so I joined in. 

My beautiful great-niece found a bunch of sand dollars, and I took one of my favorite photos of the day!

As we were driving down the beach, I actually saw what we had originally came for!  A bald eagle!

I hollered and Sabrina backed up, but then he flew away just as I started to take his photo.  lol

I call this "Abstract of Eagle on Waves".

Yay!  And that's the story of the only eagle I saw.  haha

xoxo

Nikon D3300