Taking the morning nature walk on the road

This morning Kai and I decided to explore a nearby wildlife refuge. So instead of our usual morning amble around our neighborhood, picking up helicopters, trying to eat rocks, and splashing in puddles (Kai that is, not me), we drove about 4 miles to an area known as The Great Meadow. The very best thing of all about the Great Meadow is its public washroom (a.k.a. bathroom or restroom to my American audience ;-). Given my already walnut sized bladder and my recently acquired post-childbirth, not-kegeled-enough pelvic floor, this has become quite important and I have been missing Hawaii's beach park public lavatories - disgusting as they may be. But, I digress....this entry is supposed to be about a nature walk.

The Great Meadow really was wonderful. There are no dogs and no bikes allowed. Now, everyone knows I am a fan of both, but I did not miss their presence this morning. The place was very, very peaceful and quiet and there were few people there at 9 am. Kai and I shared the park with a painter who we stopped to chat with, and about 2 dozen Canadian geese, some birds and the tiniest painted turtle I have ever seen. Kai was enamored with the big geese and put up a bit of a struggle when I wouldn't let him walk over to make friends with them. Maybe I am an overprotective parent or maybe it is my own childhood memories of those bully birds hissing in my face and eating buttons off my jacket!

I returned to the refuge tonight for an evening run. There are so many fabulous trail running opportunities here. Now only if all those horse flies would kindly take a vacation somewhere else, anywhere else, it would be great! I guess I'll be saving the deep woods running for the cooler fall weather. After my run I climbed up the bird watching look out for a beautiful view of the marshlands and impending sunset. There is something about this area that really resonates with me. I think perhaps it is how similar the landscape is to where I grew up (Ontario, Canada). It is very different from my homes of the last 15 years (west coast, mountains/prairie and hawaii) but still very beautiful. It is actually pretty amazing how much beauty can be found in so many different areas and landscapes. I feel incredibly lucky to have experienced so many beautiful places. Makes it hard to decide where to finally grow our roots....