Marion's Miscellaneous Musings

One of the things that got completely lost in all the brouhaha of the last month (new computer, getting a photo editing program, vacation bible school, car vandalism, a lost friend, a friend passing away -- and calling and calling and calling for host families for exchange students and getting absolutely nowhere) is that I was going to post pictures of a week on the wet side of the state.

I like zoos. I like animals. Tami likes zoos. Tami likes animals. Jack takes pictures.

This is a good thing.

Northwest Trek is a zoo southwest of Seattle in which you can walk around and see predators that are contained (although there appeared to be nothing between the bear and you!) and ride a bus and see the prey animals lounging around and doing what prey animals do when they know they are safe. The zoo also takes in animals that are hurt, so there were a couple of bald eagles there which could no longer fly. And, of course, there are the opportunists, like the caterpillar, which had no yet been stepped upon. It is primarily northwest species, although northwest is very broadly defined since we also saw caribou and moose.

The next zoo was the Olympic Game Farm, which has a cool history. These are all animals that were stars in those classic Disney films. Not only were they not harmed in the filming, they were not humanely put to sleep afterward! They trainer lives there (he and his wife are in their 90's) and we got to see the sets for some cabin sequences. And a lot of set lighting that the crews just left behind. Somehow, peacocks always gravitate to these kind of things. There are always plently of opportunities to photograph a peacock while he is looking for a girl. I have never seen one from behind. So I took a picture. It is really obvious just how much hot air is in such a display!

We rented a beach house in Sequim. This was also a loose definition, since it was on a bluff and you had to walk down a narrow steep trail to get to a beach that had rocks and waves and driftwood. But when you looked up, you saw bald eagles and more bald eagles and more bald eagles. Plus deer in the yard of the house.