A Three-Park Outing

Yesterday Truman and I went out on another local expedition.  We started at Magnuson Park, where a Solitary Sandpiper had been seen for several days at a specific pond.  Well, there are many ponds in the wetlands area there, and after reading the various reports, I thought I was at the right one, but no sandpiper could be seen.  (When another report came in later, I realized we were in the wrong spot.)

That was okay, as I've seen Solitary Sandpipers before (was just hoping for a photo, which I don't have).  But there was compensation -- as I was strolling back to the car, I glanced over at a stretch of dry yellow grass, and noticed a very dark lump that didn't quite fit.  I often see good birds this way -- by looking at the landscape and seeing something that looks a little off.  This time, when I got my bins on the lump, I was rewarded:

The lump was a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk strolling through the grass.  Wonderful sight.

Next, we headed off to my main goal for the day -- to check out the Woodland Park rose garden as a potential sketching spot.

It was nice and quiet and not too hot.  Truman and I enjoyed our stroll around the gardens.

It did have wonderful views for sketching.  I tried to draw the pool below, but it turned out way too complicated (there's a stone wall behind the pool with classical relief sculptures which I tried to include) and turned out messy so I'm not sharing it!

Instead, I'll share the mausoleum I drew back on Saturday when Tina and I visited the Washelli cemetery:

By the time we headed back to the parking lot, it was getting to lunch time.  I had brought a sandwich along, and I realized that I could take a route home that went past Carkeek Park -- we could stop there to eat.  So we did!

We had lovely views of Puget Sound.

Someday I will get back to the rose garden and do a better drawing there!