Bird Watching at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge

August 4, 2013August 4, 2013 ~ Crystle ~ 6 Comments

With only five weeks left here in Washington, it looks like we won’t be able to kick off all the items on our Pacific Northwest Bucket List. There is only so much you can get done on the weekends, especially with a baby. To our credit, it was a pretty long list, and we got most of it done.

At this point, priorities on our to-do list have changed. We hired a property management company to rent out our home, had movers survey our belongings to ensure a smooth moving day, and bought a trailer to haul behind our Subaru so we can have a little bit of home with us when we arrive in Alaska. I won’t go more than two weeks without my kitchen stuff, and with having a baby and a dog comes lots of extra gear. When did we become so conventional?

In an effort to savor the scenery of the South Puget Sound, we went down into the valley outside of our neighborhood to tour the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. It’s a shame we hadn’t done it sooner.

The Refuge is nestled in a fertile valley where the coniferous rainforest meets South Puget Sound. From this place, when visibility allows, the snow-capped mountains of the Olympic National Park jut into the sky across the water, and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge spans the aquatic horizon to the north.

Rain or shine, birds skim the surface of the water, while jellyfish float gently below. The salty breeze carries waterfowl, sandpipers, hawks and kingfishers over the delta where bird watchers and their telescopes collect like barnacles.

At this particular refuge, a boardwalk two miles long, takes tourists out over the water to get a better view of the birds that frequent the shallow waters.

European Starlings, Canadian Geese, Blue Herons, and Great Egrets freckled the delta, while Sharp-shinned Hawks soared above. Bunnies hopped across walking paths, then disappeared under the ferns while Morning Doves feasted nearby on Wild Blackberries.

It was lovely to see them all independent of one another and not actively demonstrating their roles in the food chain.

After we leave the Olympia area, it may be a while before we experience the salty maritime breeze.

I am, however, confident there will be no lack of wildlife to enjoy in land-locked Fairbanks.

Procession of the Species

April 30, 2013July 22, 2013 ~ Crystle ~ 9 Comments

On a scale of one to ten of crunchiness, I am a solid four. I wear Chacos with skirts when the weather is nice, I enjoy hiking and camping, and I recycle diligently. I used to compost back in Oklahoma, but since the garbage disposal came into my life, composing, for me, has gone the way of the dodo.

My suburban sympathies have increased lately, mainly because after too many college years living in virtual squalor, or living sustainably as I used to say, having a new home in a beautifully manicured neighborhood is a luxury I don’t want to give up. I’m also a mom now. That’s my crunch-factor explained.

My love for Olympia, WA runs deep, probably because its residents are crunchy to every degree, delightfully so. The scale of normalcy is tipped in this area: you have your hardcore vegans, deadheads, potheads, animal-lovers, retired liberals, young adult leftist-liberals, off-the-griders, music junkies…the list goes on and on. Regardless of their subtle differences, this weekend they all combined forces to celebrate Life in the Procession of the Species in downtown Olympia.

A friend told me about the Procession of the Species going on this last weekend, which I hadn’t heard of before. The website describes it as a ‘joyous, spontaneous artistic pageant where community members celebrate their relationships with each other and with the natural world’.

Locals create costumes of creatures and dance, march and parade through the streets as a sort of nod to Mother Earth. Twice a year this Procession goes on, once in Spring and once in Fall.

I was super impressed by the creativity and effort that went into the floats, and costumes — many of which utilized recycled materials. Particularly interesting were the large scale floats depicting a whale, giraffe, sea slug, and virus. I’m still wondering how many plastic bags went into the weaving of the whale.

Flamingos on stilts, hopping frogs, and dancing flies all punctuated the lively procession. Participants of all ages (even babies in carriers!) animated the colorful costumes, in a fun and celebratory way.

And true to Oly form, vendors on location sold vegan sweets and healthy eats. Isaac and I split a chicken & vegetable plate from the Quinoa Kings. It was impeccable street food, the likes of which I haven’t seen in Bakersfield, CA or Norman, OK, the two less crunchy cities I’ve lived in.

For this, and many other reasons, Olympia, WA is a strong contender for the city we plan to retire in.

Why Pregnancy is Like Backpacking, So Far

February 20, 2013 ~ Crystle ~ 13 Comments

Once upon a time, I used to love backpacking. Packing up my food and shelter and carrying it up a mountain in hopes of reaching a summit above the tree line was exhilirating. Slowly but surely, and a few days later, the mountain would run out of up and I’d be at my destination atop an archive of new memories. But the backpacking experience can also be very humbling. Weather and wildlife, the angry variables, will inevitably have their way with your trip, regardless of your expectations.

Pregnancy resembles backpacking in so many ways; if you’ve experienced one, you can gain some understanding into the level of difficulty involved with the other. For the sake of brevity in this analogy, I’ll skip straight to the moment you find yourself at the trailhead on the mountain, or starting point of your pregnancy.

At the foothills of the mountain, you may notice that the air is thinner. This is kind of like the first trimester of pregnancy. You just need to become acclimated to the new environment. It takes at least a day (for me, at least) to re-train your lungs to deal with the lesser amount of oxygen on the mountain.

Fortunately, by the time you get used to the fatigue and nausea associated with the first trimester of pregnancy, it’s over.

That’s when you hit your stride. It’s easier to take in the wonder of your changing world at this time.

The ascent up the mountain is relatively predictable, but there may be a thunder storm here and there, a mob of mosquitoes, or a patch unexpected snow. The second trimester of pregnancy is the same. Aches and pains become normal, there is a child growing inside of you, after all. The weird stuff happening in your body, like baby’s somersaults, and heartburn hasn’t become freaky yet.

Still, you’re taking it all in and dreaming of the spectacular view from the top.

Then the third trimester hits. Or, similarly, you reach and pass the tree line on the mountainside. Uh oh, you no longer have the tree canopy to shelter you from thunder storms.

In pregnancy, you realize you’re no longer coasting on borrowed parenthood time and that revelation leaves you feeling vulnerable. It’s time to get real about being a parent and make sure you’ve got the tools necessary to be a good one. No matter what, there remains a degree of apprehension around your parenting capabilities. It’s something that parents probably don’t ever get over… it may even be a stipulation to join their club.

On the mountain, now is a good time to get out your rain gear so you can truck straight through the inevitable downpour. In pregnancy, go ahead and wrap up your nesting phase. In both cases, you’ve got the gear and you tell yourself you’re ready for what’s around the corner.

But, guess what? If ever there was a time for things to go awry, it’s now. You could run into a bear on the mountain, or be knocked off a cliff by gusty winds. Lightning could strike you much more easily since you’re on top of a mountain.

Your water could break IN PUBLIC, you could not know you’re in labor and end up delivering in the car, or you could end up delivering an eleven pound baby, vaginally. Or, as in my experience (up to this point), the baby drops and sudden sciatica renders you immobile. I’ve been stuck on the couch all week, unable to cook or clean or have any fun, really. Fortunately my husband is at hand and ready to help in any way necessary. He’s my rain gear, you could say. Without him, I’m not sure hiking straight through the misery* would be tolerable. Anyways, the uncertainty is daunting.

So here I am, at the point of the backpacking trip where I’d rather turn tail down the mountain in hopes of getting to a hotel at a decent hour. At the same point in pregnancy, labor hasn’t even begun, but the fear is taking over. Right now it’s looking like Backpacking is easier than pregnancy, because now I have no choice but to head straight into the storm of labor and delivery, unsure of what’s on the other side. No turning back!

I’ll be sure to let you know when this baby comes, and whether or not there were any bears.

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*I refuse to indulge any of you in the freaky things that my body is doing right now, but if you’re a mother, you undoubtedly know the disgusting (and painful) things your body does when you’re edging closer to labor and delivery.